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Cooperative Extension Service |
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Agricultural
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Aquaculture
Dale Bumpers College
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Arkansas Agriculture Newsletters
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A fascinating trial is underway at Fayetteville to determine the optimum seeding date that ensures survival over the first winter. Plots were established in 2002 with seeding dates starting on May 10 and then at regular intervals through October 10. Just looking at the plots revealed a fascinating story. Establishment looked very good through seeding dates of August 1 which is nearly a month later than what we normally recommend. Another surprising result was the observed germination in fall-planted plots the following spring even though no germination was observed in the fall.
The planting date study also offered another interesting finding. Although preliminary, it would appear that sports field managers in Arkansas might consider seeding bermudagrass in late winter or early spring rather than summer to rejuvenate damaged sports turf. If the data bears out, this would allow sports turf managers an opportunity to spread activities to a less active time of the year.
Bermudagrass Renovation
Everyone knows what a challenge it is to kill existing bermudagrass turf if you want to establish another turf species or develop landscape beds. Dr. Boyd summarized research he is conducting on bermudagrass renovation and the results are quite clear. To be most effective in killing established bermudagrass you must use at least three applications of glyphosate. The herbicide applications need to be made when regrowth occurs.
Zoysiagrass Hydroseeding
A study is underway at Quail Valley Grasses that is comparing traditional sprigging techniques to hydro-mulching El Toro zoysiagrass sprigs or hydro-sprigging. Results from this innovative research should be available next year.
Following after our Cooperative Extension Service fact sheets for the Greenhouse Industry and the Nursery Industry, we have developed a fact sheet for the Landscape Industry on "Sources and References for the Landscape Industry" FSA6109.
What is the common theme that all of you share in the Green Industry? You are in business! I just received the Arkansas Small Business Development Center (ASBDC) newsletter for September through December. Listen to some of these great classes: "Designing Your Own Web Page," "Understanding Financial Statements," "Managing Cash Flow" and "The Use of Census Information in Small Business."
On August 27 a group of university, extension and regulatory folks met in Clarksville to discuss the emerging Japanese Beetle issue. The meeting was very productive. We plan to get appropriate speakers at the ATA and AGIA meetings in January and work on more educational efforts. The Cooperative Extension Service has produced an excellent fact sheet on the topic. Now that the Japanese beetle is here, turf and ornamental businesses need to start planning how it will affect them.
October 3-4 - Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (MTNA) Horticultural Trade Show. McMinnville Civic Center, McMinnville, TN. Contact: Ann Halcomb, MTNA Executive Secretary, 931-668-7322; e-mail mtna@blomand.net http://www.mtna.com or http://www.southeasternnursery.com/mtna
October 5-8 - IPPS Southern Region NA. San Antonio, TX. Contact: Dr. David L. Morgan, 817-577-9272; e-mail dleemorgan@msn.com or http://www.ipps.org/Default.asp
October 10 - ISA Certification Exam in Little Rock. Contact ISA at 217-355-9411 or http://www.isa-arbor.com
October 14 - Tree Care Workshop. Oklahoma Botanical Garden, Stillwater. Keynote speaker: Dr. Gary Watson. Contact Mike Schnelle at 405-744-7361
October 30-November 3 - American Society of Landscape Architects. Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana. Contact: ASLA. 202-898-2444 http://www.asla.org
Nov. 5-9 - ALCA Green Industry Conf. and Expo. St. Louis, MO. Contact: http://www.alca.org
January 4-6 - Western 2004: The Big Show. Hyatt Regency Crown Center, Kansas City, MO. Contact: Western Nursery & Landscape Association; Mary Piatt; 816.233.1481; e-mail info@wnla.org http://www.wnla.org/insidethewestern.htm
January 6-7 - Arkansas Turfgrass Association (ATA). Hot Springs Convention Center Contact ATA at 501-224-4840 or http://www.arkansasturf.org
January 23-24 - Arkansas Green Industry Association (AGIA). Hot Springs Convention Center: Contact AGIA at 501-225-0029 or http://www.argia.org
No endorsement is implied or discrimination intended for firms or references included or excluded from this list.
By: Jim Robbins, Extension Specialist - Ornamental Horticulture
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© 2006 |
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University of Arkansas • Division of Agriculture |
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Summer
is always a busy time of the year for me to travel out-of-state to meetings. In
July, I attended a woody germplasm meeting in Boston that was in conjunction
with the annual ANLA meeting. Several stops on the pre-meeting tours made the
trip very worthwhile. I saw three great new ideas at Cavicchio's in Sudbury, MA 
The
next "good idea" I viewed at Cavicchio's would mainly benefit larger growers. A
big push these days is to find ways to save labor, and a big labor issue is the
manual labor involved in moving individual containers. Cavicchio's
designed
a simple system of forks that they attach to the front of various tractors to
load and unload large numbers of containers. Manual labor is still required to
space the containers. They went so far as to have equipment manufacturer Javo
design a custom loader at the end of their potting line so carts/trailers are
filled by a machine using the same forks. 
