PODCAST: Why a microscope may be your most important tool

 

This week’s episode is a double header, starting with a quick conversation I had with last year’s winner of the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award. Dan Ashelby is a greenkeeper at The Mere in Cheshire, having been nominated at the award while working at Wilmslow Golf Club. As part of his prize Dan was invited to spend eight weeks at the University of Massachusetts and its Winter Turf School in addition to trips to the Golf Industry Show and a Toro manufacturing facility. Dan told me about it on his return to the UK recently.

Nominations for Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year – both the senior and the young categories – are open until the end of May. So if you’re a greenkeeping student or you know someone who is a talented greenkeeping student, make sure you get nominating. You never know where it may take you!

Following that, I had a conversation with Simon Parfry of SoilBioLab. SoilBioLab have been helping growers, farmers and greenkeepers inprove plant health since 2014. The company takes a closer look at microorganisms within the soil and the impact bacteria, fungi, nematodes have on soil. From nutrient cycling to disease supression, a better understanding of soil on a microscopic level will help greenkeepers make the most of the resources available to them.

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

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