Lesson 11: A Cut Below
While cultivation of the soil has been an integral part of agricultural production for thousands of years, its application to turfgrass culture is believed to have originated sometime in the early 1900s. In its earliest form, turf cultivation probably involved little more than punching holes into a green with a pitchfork to facilitate wetting localized dry spots, or to loosen the soil to accelerate the drying of persistently wet areas. Today, a sophisticated array of cultivation equipment is available for use in the management of turfgrass sites.
When an owner of a large apartment complex called for advice on methods for controlling a substantial thatch accumulation, you agreed to visit the site and provide recommendations. With him standing nearby, you've just extracted a pie-shaped wedge of turf with your pocket knife. The thatch layer measured nearly 4 cm, and the underlying clay loam soil was so dense that considerable force was required to push the blade beyond the thatch. As you examine the sample, he describes the various problems he has encountered over the past several years. These have included severe leaf spot disease, sod webworms, and generally poor turf quality, especially during the summer months. Finally, he asks: "Is there something I can do short of replanting to improve the turf?"
What to do...
In this lesson you will review information on Cultivation. Throughout this lesson you will be prompted to do self-checks. If are able to answer all the questions in the self check correctly, you will have the option to skip over some of the material presented in this lesson, of course you can review everything if you want.
When you are finished going through the lesson, access the Lesson 11 Quiz. You can take the quiz up to 5 times. Practice! The questions are just like those you will find on the exams.