PACE Turf - Turfgrass Information Center

Research Guide

A Guide to Testing Products and Practices

New products, new ideas, new pests and problems and new controversies abound in the world of turfgrass management. Combined with the currently registered pesticides, fertilizers, amendments, and various new pieces of cultivation equipment and turfgrass management approaches, the task of selecting the correct blend of products and practices can sometimes be daunting. The only way to gain more confidence that a management system is the best one for your site is to start a testing program at your golf course, as outlined in this guide.  Part I of this Research Guide, “Getting Started”, will describe the basic elements of testing program, attitude, components of an experiment, record keeping; Part II, “Experiment Design”, will provide expanded details on how to set up experiments that will be simple and efficient, plot design, replication and randomization techniques will be discused;  Part III, “Interpreting Results”, will provide a background on how to evaluate your findings and how to decipher scientific publications with an introduction to basic statistics.

Printable version of full report

By Larry J. Stowell, Ph.D. and Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D.

Research Guide

New products, new ideas, new pests and problems and new controversies abound in the world of turfgrass management. Combined with the currently registered pesticides, fertilizers, amendments, and various new pieces of cultivation equipment and turfgrass management approaches, the task of selecting the correct blend of products and practices can sometimes be daunting. The only way to gain more confidence that a management system is the best one for your site is to start a testing program at your golf course, as outlined in this guide. Part I of this Research Guide, "Getting Started", will describe the basic elements of testing program, attitude, components of an experiment, record keeping; Part II, "Experiment Design", will provide expanded details on how to set up experiments that will be simple and efficient, plot design, replication and randomization techniques will be discused; Part III, "Interpreting Results", will provide a background on how to evaluate your findings and how to decipher scientific publications with an introduction to basic statistics.

Printable version of full report (305 kb pdf)

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