News from NESTMA

More than 120 New England STMA members attended its Annual Meeting and Lunch held March 6 in Providence, RI. President Ben Polimer provided a “Year in Review”; education committee member Andrew Walsh announced new formats and programming based on survey feedback; NESTMA’s representative to NERTF, Mike Buras, gave a summary of how the foundation’s funds help support turfgrass research across the region; and Ed Olsen facilitated an energetic idea swap where members shared their top solution-based ideas with each other. Thanks to our friends at Tom Irwin for their generous support of this important annual NESTMA event.

Awards

Sports Turf Manager of the Year

Roth Schmidgall

Assistant Head of Grounds and Athletic Fields

Wellesley College

Wellesley, MA

Commercial Partner of the Year

Kyle McNerney

Owner

Smart Water Management

Hopkinton, MA

Charles Mruk Scholarship Recipient

Garrett Maxey

Graduate Student

University of Connecticut

Storrs, CT

Watch for additional details about the annual meeting and awards presentations, including a list of the best Great Ideas, in the next issue of The Blade.

BLADE re-Launch

Another highlight of the NERTC was the relaunch of NESTMA’s Blade magazine. Copies were distributed throughout the conference to rave reviews. Many thanks to Brian Boesch who helped to edit the inaugural edition. Members are encouraged to submit articles, photographs, and other items of note for inclusion in The Blade. The deadline for the June issue is April 30. Commercial Partners of NESTMA receive a discount on advertising.

2019 Education Program Announced

Education Committee member, Andrew Walsh, reported that this year’s educational program will feature many of the elements requested by the members via a recent survey including several hands-on workshops; a new daylong Summer Field and Turf Education Day on July 31 at Boston College that will focus on both cutting-edge education, as well as the latest trends and technology for today’s sports turf professionals; and a winter dinner meeting that will offer members the chance to learn and network after work. Informative podcasts are also being introduced through TheTurfZone.com and the traditional NESTMA/MALCP Golf Classic is on the books for early October.

Save the Date!

Wednesday, September 3, 2019

15th Annual Joseph Troll Turf Classic

TPC Boston • Norton, MA

Honoring Mary Owen, UMass Turf Extension

 

Requests for STM Advice/Input

Bluegrass Management Focus Group

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Stanwich Club, Greenwich, CT

A critical first step in exploring possible solutions to herbicide resistance in turf systems is to learn from turf professionals about their experiences with herbicide resistant weeds in conducting their operations. Dr. Jennifer Allen of Portland State University will facilitate the focus group session and Dr. David Ervin will assist her. We sincerely hope NESTMA members will join the other focus group participants to share your knowledge and views about this emergent problem. For more information contact Matt Elmore at matthew.elmore@rutgers.edu.

 

UConn Fact Finding

John Inguagiato, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Pathology at UConn – asks NESTMA members to assist with a research project entitled “Biological Control Use for Turfgrass Disease”. UConn and the University of Maryland have jointly developed a survey to gather data, it is available at BioTurfSurvey.com. Please take time to provide your feedback for this important research project.