Canadian Turfgrass Research Foundation Approves $114,600 in Grants

The Canadian Turfgrass Research Foundation (CTRF) has announced a total of $114,600 in turf research funding over a three year period to help fund two new projects.

The announcement follows an eight month process to generate, evaluate and decide on which of the 18 project submissions would be funded between 2015 and 2018. The new projects will be hosted by the University of Guelph and the University of Wisconsin.

The first projects that received funding is one that sets out to determine soil potassium requirements of sand-based putting greens. This project will receive funding of $9,600 and will evaluate putting green quality and disease incidence over a wide range of soil test and tissue potassium levels. Coordinated by Dr. Douglas Soldat, the project is scheduled for completion by February 2017.

The second project, entitled “Testing Lower Risk Fungicides Against Turf Diseases,” will receive $105,000 in funding over a three-year period and will be coordinated by Dr. Thomas Hsiang at the University of Guelph. The project will research how common diseases such as dollar spot, fusarium patch and snow molds can be reduced in lab and field tests, using different application regimes of low risk chemicals. Research will be complete by April 2018.   

The CTRF also participated in the Rounds 4 Research initiative for the first time in 2015. Rounds 4 Research is a program designed to address a critical shortage in funding for turfgrass research by auctioning off donated rounds of golf. Proceeds from the auction are collected and distributed to participating turfgrass foundations (including the CTRF) to support research grants, educational programs, scholarships and awareness of golf’s environmental efforts at the local and regional level.