Joel Simmons chats with Sam Ferro, President of Turf & Soil Diagnostics, one of the leading physical testing laboratories in the country. We at Earthworks are very strong believers in the Three Legged Stool agronomic model which explains how soil chemistry, physics and biology must work together to build a well balanced soil profile. We know that chemistry can affect physics by helping air and water move through the soil. This movement creates a good environment for the soil biology, so when soil physics is a limiting factor, soil biology will not proliferate. This is why testing the physical environment of a sports turf site is so important.

Sam walks us through what we need to know when it comes to physical soil testing. We talk about basic sand, silt and clay tests, water release curves and the importance of testing sand top dressings. It is very important to test the sand that will be used for constructing golf course greens or sand built sports fields and Sam gives us a lot of advice on the process. Physical testing is one of most important agronomic practices for any turf manager to understand. This conversation can help!

One of the biggest conversations today in the turf industry is water. How do we manage water usage on a golf course or sports complex to preserve the commodity? Water bills are rising in all areas of the country and that trend will only continue. A west coast golf course can spend over one million dollars a year on their water bill!

Everyone from EarthWorks to the seed breeders are working on ways to lower water usage. On this podcast we talk with Chad Adcock, a former golf course superintendent and current Vice President at Sod Production Services. Chad’s company is the exclusive marketing agent for the bermudagrass Tahoma 31, which was bred to be drought resistant and cold tolerant. Chad shares with us where this increasingly popular bermudagrass was developed along with its traits and characteristics.

Tahoma 31 is finding homes in northern climates where bermudagrass was not common until recently. Today you will find it in the Mid-Atlantic region including on the Philadelphia Eagles stadium field. This conversation can be important information for anyone growing grass.

Adam Miller, the Director of Agronomy at Berkeley Hall Golf Club in Bluffton, South Carolina, started his career working with warm season grasses in South Carolina. He then spent a number of years in the Mid Atlantic working with cool season grasses before returning to South Carolina. Adam has been a “soils guy” most of his professional career and is known for his line “the soil has to breathe!”

In this EW Podcast, Joel Simmons and Adam talked about the transition from cool to warm season grasses and the challenges and differences that poses to a superintendent. They also discussed soils and what he found when he arrived at Berkeley Hall. His soils range from sand capped fairways to dense “Pluff Mud” which is really a gumbo type heavy soil. In South Carolina, where it can rain heavily throughout the summer, a heavy tight soil has drainage challenges making growing grass in that hot climate difficult.

Adam also shared the challenges of managing dormant warm season grasses through the winter months when play is at its heaviest. The conversation with Adam was full of great stories and agronomic advice, well worth the listen!

Kevin Hicks sits down with Jeff Jensen, GCSAA Field Staff Rep for the Southwestern United States. His involvement with the GCSAA chapters in that region make him an important voice in some of the "front line" issues facing the golf industry today. Our discussion covered the broad topics of water rights, land use, and what the industry needs to do to ensure they have input regarding who gets the dwindling water supply in the southwestern US. We discussed Jeff’s path to his current position, which has set him up to be a valuable asset to the industry and its interests.

There’s lots of great information in this interview that can serve as a template for other regions that will be facing many of the same issues in the near future.

In this podcast we visit with EarthWorks chemist, Lawrence Mayhew and talk about something we are very excited about: our newly reformulated Foliars+ products that are now using Eco-Adaptive Technology. This new technology follows nature's path to nutrient balance in the soil which allows for optimum nutrient uptake.

Many liquid products are weighted heavily on one or two nutrient formulations and that restricts nutrient uptake. The chemistry of Eco-Adaptivity follows natural balances of elements in the soil and is heavily weighted on carbon inputs to carry the inputs into the plant. Lawrence talks about the science of this natural balance, stoichiometry, bio-geo chemistry but also simplifies the tough chemistry to help us all better understand how to improve nutrient uptake and plant health.

We also talked about the concept of “funny proteins”. This is the phenomenon that occurs when only a few elements are being taken up by the plant not allowing complete amino acids to be constructed intracellularly. This situation leaves the plant very vulnerable to disease attack, but Eco-Adaptive Technology resolves this problem.

Another fascinating "science talk" with one of the leading humic specialists in the country.

Craig Moore, golf course superintendent at Marquette Golf Club on the UP of Michigan joins Chad Kuzawa to discuss the challenges and beauty of managing golf courses in the harsh climate of “America’s North Coast”. They discuss golf architecture and history as Craig walks us through the happenings at Marquette Golf Club.

Help us bring in the new year with a new guest but old friend, Craig Moore. The EarthWorks team wishes everyone a very successful 2023!

Over the past two and a half years we have had the pleasure of interviewing some of the best in our business. Doing a "Best of Podcast" was very difficult because there were so many great interviews that were informative, funny, and often very serious.

We took a couple from each of our four EarthWorks hosts so that you hear the diversity that you will find on our podcast each week. We want to say thank you to all of our guests and wish everyone in the industry the best year possible.

Traditionally, at year's end, the EarthWorks team of agronomists gets together to look back and review. This year we talked about the weather around the country and the struggles that many of our friends in the turf business battled through. We also discussed the state of the industry and what we have heard may be emerging trends. Most importantly, we want to thank all of you for helping us continue our journey.

In 2022 Billy Bagwell had a very big year: President of Carolina’s GCSA, tee to green construction, and a shop fire that threatened all of it.

Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky is one of the true gems in the golf course industry, a Jack Nicklaus design built over the beautiful rolling hills of central Kentucky. Joel Simmons recently chatted with John Ballard,  golf course superintendent, about the rich history of Valhalla, its partnership with the PGA, and the extensive history of tournaments the property has hosted including several PGA Championships and Senior Opens.

The PGA Championship returns to Valhalla in 2024 and John shared with us the work that goes into the preparation, including his philosophy on how to recruit and maintain a top-quality crew and how to build a culture around that team. For the next year and a half John will be the busiest guy in turf!

What began as a need to help himself, turned into an opportunity to help others. In this Earthworks Podcast, Dave “Mr. Bear” Wilber shares his extraordinary story of true caring that came out of a very basic need of Dave’s for affordable health insurance.

To obtain insurance, Dave took a "side hustle" job as a bus driver in the Littleton, CO school district. He soon began relating to and helping kids he saw on his bus every day. They soon began calling him "Mr. Bear".

Justin Woodland (superintendent at The Barn Golf Club in Ogden, Utah, and owner of Airgronomics, LLC) recently set up a GoFundMe page — The Giving Bus Driver — to help Dave make an impact in his community.

Kevin Hicks spoke with Justin and Dave about this mission. We hope you enjoy and it motivates you to donate to the cause.

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us, and we wanted to thank you all for supporting EarthWorks over the past 35 years. It is also important to us to remember, and express our gratitude, to Jerry Brunetti who we lost to cancer in 2014. Jerry was our founding partner and the driving force behind EarthWorks. As our original product formulator we would not be here without him. Jerry's formulas remain the backbone of our company, and are still years ahead of their time!  

We would like to celebrate his life and contributions by rebroadcasting a podcast from July of 2020 where we used some clips from some of his talks. Jerry is still one of the biggest voices in sustainable agriculture and his book The Farm as Ecosystem is still widely read.

Jerry was a soil scientist, a horticulturist, and a specialist in animal husbandry. But most importantly he was a friend and mentor.

Time to change it up on the EarthWorks podcast and feature your crazy, funny, wild stories related to golf course maintenance. Kevin Hicks narrates this silly stuff that we all have witnessed on our golf courses. We want to thank all the listeners, and friends, for contributing the content for this edition. It’s important to laugh in the face of some of the seriousness that dominates the career of a turf manager.

If you are looking for a detailed soils and golf talk then this convo between Jack Higgins and Matthew Kerens, golf course superintendent at Paramount Country Club (New City, NY) will not disappoint. Matt started his job right after the culmination of a multi year, mainly in-house renovation. He talks about the specific processes to blend newly renovated areas to maintain continuity. Kentucky bluegrass tees posed a problem and Matt explains how he overcame that without disruption.

All of this was accomplished with a minimalist’s approach to fertility and water. Biological soil management at its finest!

You always remember your first! For EarthWorks that’s Green Pond Country Club in Bethlehem PA. It was the first place that EarthWorks fertilizer was ever spread. This took place before Rodger Zellner joined the team as golf course superintendent. When we first met Rodger, he had a pretty good idea of how to grow grass. After walking him through the EarthWorks program, that was being used on the property, we got the feeling that we may not hear from him again. As Rodger tells the story he would fertilize by sight – a technique that always worked for him. After starting his new job, he found himself very busy and realized that he hadn’t gotten to fertility - then he also realized that he didn’t need to! So, we heard from him again asking us what it was we had been doing. Today he is a biological soil management believer!

Rodger is a great success story in the golf course management business. He started at Green Pond CC 2 twenty-five years ago as the golf course superintendent. Green Pond is a busy, beloved public golf course in Bethlehem PA. It isn’t known for its big budget or Augusta type conditioning, yet it is always in great shape and has a very loyal clientele. As the years passed, Rodger moved up in the club first to General Manager and then to President and Chief Operating Officer. Now he runs the daily operations of the club. Rodger walked us through his career, an inspirational story of perseverance in an industry that can sometimes be tough on the strongest of us.

In this week's podcast Kevin Hicks is joined by David Druzisky, ASGCA, whose work can be found all around the western United States. This puts him on the front lines of designing for dwindling water availability. David describes his process for design from concept to finished product, which includes hand drawn sketches all the way to construction documents on autocad.

They also covered a number of topics related to the latest renovation trends, including the role of the superintendent in achieving a successful outcome on a renovation or construction project, the benefits and pitfalls of in-house construction and what should be tackled by the staff.

David also offers his thoughts on how current labor, resource scarcity (water and fertilizer), and technology changes are influencing his work. It’s a fun conversation we hope you enjoy.

Oxygen may be the most important nutrient in all of turf management. If there is too much water in the soil, oxygen will not be present, and few plants can survive. In 1984 Dennis Hurley founded Turf Drainage Company of America. By using novel patented products, he started helping golf courses move unwanted water off of playing surfaces.

Today Dennis, along with his National Account Manager, Zach Boudreaux, are fixing drainage problems with their Turf Drain system. They discuss how water moves across a watershed and how it can best be moved away from turf surfaces. By applying the principles of hydrodynamics, water can be redirected away from sensitive areas of the golf course allowing the superintendent to avoid the problems of anaerobic soils.

Dennis discusses some of their tools that they run through drainage lines that work to move water away. He also covers some basic principles of how to lay out a drainage strategy on any golf course.

Ken Lochridge, golf course superintendent at Glen Head Country Club, tells some stories about fortitude and steadfast work as a turf student and young greenkeeper in the Long Island golf course industry.

Good things come to those who wait and work hard and Ken’s experience reinforces that great notion. He discusses the challenges of limited budget and manpower, working for demanding bosses, and making a mark on what is already a wonderful golf course. All makes for a fun and informative interview.