‘A Greener Future’: Register Now for Ohio Green Industry Short Course

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Prepare to grow greener professionally.

The combined Ohio Turfgrass Foundation 2015 Conference and Trade Show and The Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course are Dec. 7-10 in Columbus. Together, their theme is “A Greener Future.” Registration is open at otfshow.org/registration.

The joint event is for people who work in such fields as lawn care, tree care, landscaping, and golf and sports turf management, said Amy Stone, one of the organizers of the short course and a horticulture educator with Ohio State University Extension.

The short course offers more than 160 sessions by experts from the green industry, agencies and universities.

Coordinating the short course is Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Stone’s employer, OSU Extension, is CFAES’s outreach arm.

The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation is a nonprofit group that promotes the state’s turfgrass industry and supports related research and education.

Lawn care, tree care, sports turf more

Sessions in the short course will cover a range of topics related to growing and managing turfgrass and landscape plants, from the high-tech — like robotic mowing of golf greens and using drones in managing sports fields — to the Earth- and profit-friendly, such as protecting and conserving water and minimizing fertilizer and pesticide use.

The sessions will be divided into 12 tracks: Golf, Lawn Care, Sports, Turf and Landscape Pest Management, Plant Selection and Care, Trees in the Landscape, Ornamental Plant Health Management, Spray Technology, Equipment Technician Training, Fertilizer Strategies, Business Management, and Hort Shorts (hands-on demonstrations).

Experts from CFAES on tap

A sampling of sessions by CFAES experts, for example, includes:

• “Turfgrass Insect Pests: The Worst Offenders and Cost Effective Controls of Lawn Pests in 2016” by David Shetlar, professor in the Department of Entomology.
• “Annual Bluegrass Control on Sports Fields” by John Street, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.
• “Small Shrubs for the Landscape” by Pam Bennett, horticulture educator with OSU Extension.
• “Chemical Application Technology,” an all-day session by Erdal Ozkan, professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering.
• “What Turf Managers Need to Know for Answering Questions on Pesticides and Fertilizers to Clients and the Public” by David Gardner, associate professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science.
• “Managing Wildlife Damage in the Landscape: Moles, Voles and Other Critters” by Marne Titchenell, wildlife program specialist with OSU Extension.

Many other experts as well

Other session speakers will be from Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Florida, Cub Cadet, the Toro Company, West Virginia’s Oglebay Resort, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, and the U.S. Golf Association, to name a few.

A complete list of the short course’s sessions, topics and speakers is at go.osu.edu/2015GreenShortCourse.

Tom Ryan, Ohio State’s wrestling coach, will give the event’s keynote address, “The Pursuit of Excellence in Our Lives,” at 2 p.m. Dec. 8.

Also slated are extra-fee workshops on Dec. 7 called “Trees on Tap,” “Data = Knowledge = Power: Data Collection and Its Usage for the Golf Course Superintendent,” and “Management of Weeds in Cool-Season Turfgrass Systems.”

The short course previously was called the OSU Nursery Short Course and was held in conjunction with the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association’s annual CENTS program in January. But last year, due to some changes, the short course combined instead with OTF’s Conference and Trade Show. At that point, Stone said, “The name was changed to better reflect the audiences that attend.”

The conference and short course will be at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, 400 N. High St. in Columbus. Details are at otfshow.org.

Registration for the event is open to both members and nonmembers of OTF. It ranges from $95 for one-day registration for members to $225 for full registration for nonmembers. Discounted group registration rates are available for attendees coming from the same company.

For more information, call 614-285-4683 or email info@ohioturf.org.