Many leisure activities involve the use of turf as a surface. Grass surfaces on golf courses, bowling clubs, cricket pitches, racetracks, and parks all require maintenance by trained personnel. International Turf Management Handbook is written by a team of international experts. It covers all aspects of turf management and in particular * the selection and establishment of grass varieties * soils, irrigation and drainage * performance testing and playing qualities * issues relating to specific playing surfaces In its depth of coverage and detailed practical advice from around the world this comprehensive handbook is destined to become the standard reference work on the subject.

Written in an easily-accessible style, this book provides a practical introduction to all aspects of tropical turf management. General topics covered include climate adaptation, the physiology and morphology of turf-grasses, an overview of the different turf-grass species, soil characteristics and testing, establishment techniques, cultivation, nutrition and fertilization, mowing procedures, irrigation requirements, compaction and thatch, and turf pests. It also discusses golf-course maintenance including the different methods needed for the tee, the fairway, the putting green and the rough. The book also looks at sports field management including rugby fields, tennis courts, football and hockey fields, bowling greens and croquet-courts, and playgrounds. Numerous line drawings and photographs are used to illustrate key concepts, processes and relationships.

Turfgrass Management Edition 1.0 has been designed as a basic text for beginning students of turfgrass science and management. In covering the important features of turfgrass systems, interactions between and among system components, and principles of turfgrass management, it attempts to unlock some of the mysteries of turf and establish the role of cultural interventions for achieving specific objectives. Illustrations and images are used generously throughout the text to help students grasp concepts, processes, and relationships of importance in turfgrass systems. Each chapter concludes with a series of questions to test the reader's comprehension of the material. Turfgrass Management has been known as the most respected foundational text for students and professionals within the turfgrass industry. Published by Turfpath, LLC, it is now the most comprehensive and affordable book on the market.

Golf Turf Management provides information on major agronomic and economic topics related to building and maintaining a viable golf course. The book features basic and applied information on available grasses including selection and use; applied turfgrass physiology; soils and soil amendments; environmental concerns; and comprehensive information on turfgrass physiology, plant nutrition, turf fertilizers, and water management. It discusses managing turf diseases, insects, and weeds; turf cultural practices; managing greens and tees as well as corporate course management strategies. Color photographs throughout illustrate concepts and topics including all major pest problems associated with golf courses and various agronomic practices necessary for successful and profitable course operation. The book suggests strategies to develop best management practices for golf courses including personnel and financial considerations when developing and implementing annual budgets, leasing versus buying equipment, and managing inventory. This book features sixteen chapters organized in a logical sequence conducive for teaching and practical use. Drawing on the author's more than thirty years of experience and research, the author brings together a wealth of information on how to optimize golf turf management and performance. Golf Turf Management is the only complete, up-to-date text dedicated to agronomic practices and personnel management practices necessary for fiscal success.

This Second Edition of Management of Turfgrass Diseases has been completely revised and updated to provide the latest information on maintaining a healthy turf and identifying turf diseases. Written by a leading international lecturer on turf grasses, the book covers cultural, genetic, biological, and chemical approaches to turf management and provides practical solutions to everyday problems. Fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases; black layer disease; and diseases caused by nematodes are addressed for all major grasses. You'll learn about cool and warm season grasses, growing conditions, new diseases, symptoms, and identification and management techniques. Valuable tips on irrigation, fertilization, and grass culture as well as 72 full-color photographs and more than 100 figures ensure this book will be dog-eared from use. It's almost like having your own private turfgrass consultant sitting right on your bookshelf. What's New in the Second Edition? This second edition features new grasses, new diseases, and the latest research findings and practices. You'll have the most up-to-date information available on these major grasses:

Sports Turf and Amenity Grasses is a comprehensive reference for anyone involved with the selection and maintenance of grasses used in sports and amenity areas in all areas. It provides a means to identify these grasses through keys, descriptions and photographs, and also provides detailed information on sowing, oversowing, stolonising and mowing heights. The performance of each grass is assessed and detailed comments made on positive and negative aspects of its use. A grass’s tolerance to high temperature, frost, drought, shade, wet soil, salinity, low soil fertility, wear and close mowing is given in a table with each aspect rated. Further comments are made on how well it combines with particular grasses and on issues such as seedling vigour and sowing times.

The biota of the earth is being altered at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing wholesale exchanges of organisms among geographic areas that were once totally biologically isolated. We are seeing massive changes in landscape use that are creating even more abundant succes sional patches, reductions in population sizes, and in the worst cases, losses of species. There are many reasons for concern about these trends. One is that we unfortunately do not know in detail the conse quences of these massive alterations in terms of how the biosphere as a whole operates or even, for that matter, the functioning of localized ecosystems. We do know that the biosphere interacts strongly with the atmospheric composition, contributing to potential climate change. We also know that changes in vegetative cover greatly influence the hydrology and biochemistry ofa site or region. Our knowledge is weak in important details, however. How are the many services that ecosystems provide to humanity altered by modifications of ecosystem composition? Stated in another way, what is the role of individual species in ecosystem function? We are observing the selective as well as wholesale alteration in the composition of ecosystems. Do these alterations matter in respect to how ecosystems operate and provide services? This book represents the initial probing of this central ques tion. It will be followed by other volumes in this series examining in depth the functional role of biodiversity in various ecosystems of the world.