GREENKEEPER BLOG

Smart Irrigation Strategies to Save Water

Water conservation is a top priority in the golf industry, as superintendents seek innovative ways to maintain high-quality turf while reducing overall irrigation. It is an active area of research and development at GreenKeeper, too. Advances in technology now allow...

Understanding Clipping Volume: How to and Why Explained

Measuring clipping volume is one of the simplest yet most impactful practices in turfgrass management. This straightforward process provides valuable insights into plant growth, nutrient uptake, and overall turf health. There is no more actionable piece of data for...

Target Pests and Save with GreenKeeper CIS

Turfgrass sprayer systems with GPS guidance can do more than reduce over-spray. These high tech platforms can be used to precisely target specific pests on your course or fields. The mapping software within GreenKeeper CIS makes it easy for users to map pest...

Shade Management is Growth Management

Turf growing under shade stress is difficult to manage. Most grass species evolved in sunny growing environments. That means shorter day lengths and lower sun elevations during the fall can quickly lead to problems. The cause is simple, really. Energy in (sunlight) is...

Grow-in Guidance: Tools to Track Overseeding Progress

The process of seeding newly renovated turf areas or overseeding dormant bermudagrass can be stressful. Golf course and sports fields operators need these surface back in-play quickly. Turf managers are tasked with several decisions regarding seed variety and pricing,...

Mad-Tiller Disease

Bacterial etiolation or "Mad-Tiller" disease is a very frustrating growth disorder that has perplexed many turfgrass managers and researchers. While the Kerns and Vargas labs have independently shown the rapid leaf growth rate is most likely the result of bacterial...

When Half an Inch Is Not

Not all precipitation events are created equal. That was definitely the case in Southeast Nebraska during the last week of July 2024. The high temperatures had been around 100F with dew points were in the 70s. Any storm that develops during those conditions can...

HOW-TO Guide: Water Resource Planner

The Water Resource Planner in GreenKeeper App is the most powerful irrigation scheduling tool in the professional turfgrass management market. It uses advance agronomic and meteorological models to predict changes in soil moisture with hourly resolution. While the...

Nightly Irrigation Guidance Comes to GreenKeeper App

It's always a tough call. Should we irrigate tonight or stretch it another day? Make the wrong decision and you'll be hand-watering wilt tomorrow afternoon. So you decide to water, but how many minutes are required? Over-watering not only wastes water and money, but...

One Easy Task Will Transform Your Management Program

I can assure you that this simple task, taking less than one minute each day, will provide valuable insight that directly impacts agronomic decisions. It is the most valuable piece of data that I collect, and it’s my biggest pet peeve when it’s skipped. This measurement predicts putting green performance, helps schedule mowing and topdressing frequency, and guides PGR and nitrogen application rates. It also helps me manage high and low performing greens differently. Still, there are a lot of questions about how to collect, log and use the data. This short article will help answer those questions.

Simplify Your EOP Planning

Simplify Your EOP Planning

Love it or hate it, Early Order Program season has returned. Personally, l’m relieved to have survived another hot Nebraska summer. The last thing I want to think about is the plan for next year. Still, the discounts, rebates and rewards can be tough to pass up each...

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August Sugar Lows

August Sugar Lows

It’s the middle August and many turfgrass plants are feeling as tired as their turfgrass managers. The recent extreme heat is taxing cool-season grasses like ryegrass, bluegrasses and bentgrass while summer weeds like goosegrass, foxtail and crabgrass are thriving....

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How much grass WOULD have been in the buckets?

How much grass WOULD have been in the buckets?

For years, golf course superintendents have asked the question to their greens mowing crew, "How much grass did you get today?" Common answers usually included "a lot" or "a little" or maybe more precisely how many times they needed to dump the mower buckets. But have...

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Growth Rate Goals

Growth Rate Goals

We have been advocating daily measurement of growth rate on highly maintained turfgrass to improve management precision. Clipping volume measurements provide actionable data to help guide PGR applications and evaluate the efficiency of a fertilization program. But how...

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Simple but Actionable Data: Part One

Simple but Actionable Data: Part One

The word is getting out. Data collection and analysis can improve turf management efficiency. The team at GreenKeeper are excited to bring artificial intelligence and mower-mounted sensors to the turf management industry in 2023. These forms of data and analysis will...

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Evolution of Data-Driven Turf Management

Evolution of Data-Driven Turf Management

The thought of using data and models to guide turfgrass management decisions may seem daunting, but golf course superintendents have been using both to improve course conditioning for centuries. Superintendents are incredibly observant, and data are simply a set of...

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