Ready, set, spray

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A good spray job looks simple: a boom glides across the field, spray sweeps down, a pest is controlled, and turfgrass is healthy. But if one simple thing goes wrong, results can be awful. Bad herbicide spraying can cause turf

Goosegrass (Eleusine indica) control with Revolver (foramsulfuron)

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Busey, P. 2004. Goosegrass (Eleusine indica) control with foramsulfuron in bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) turf. Weed Technology 18: 634-640. Abstract Field studies were conducted to evaluate foramsulfuron for postemergence control of goosegrass in bermudagrass turf as a possible replacement for MSMA.

Herbarium specimen collection and preparation

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What is an herbarium specimen? An herbarium specimen also called a “collection” or a “sample” is a pressed, dried plant or plant parts suitable for storage and future reference accompanied by a label with the collector’s name, the number of

Scientific publications

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Below are listed citations of refereed scientific papers and book chapters authored or co-authored by Philip “Phil” Busey from 1971 to 2024, sorted by authors and years. Here is also a larger list of publications including non-refereed scientific papers and

Off-types in bermudagrass

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Off-types in bermudagrass—genetically distinct patches differing in color, height, or texture—disrupt turf uniformity and performance on golf courses and sports fields. While sometimes called “mutations,” most off-types I’ve observed in 49 years of Florida turfgrass research are likely contaminations from

Pros and cons of synthetic athletic fields

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(Comment: This is adapted from a 25 Sep 2013 letter that I wrote to the Mayor and Commissioners for a friend concerned about her city’s plans to replace natural turfgrass fields with synthetic. I have since been engaged in consulting

Gestalt plant identification

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Gestalt plant identification is fast-thinking identification based on the perception of the wholeness of form. Form is not only the size and shape of plant parts but their grouping and patterns that their shapes form in aggregate. Gestalt contrasts with

A course in irrigation

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What are the basic learning goals in irrigation proficiency? Having taught for years “Landscape irrigation and design,” at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus, I find that the biggest challenge is to foster students’ quantitative understanding. Sprinkler selection, layout, and scheduling

Scientific names

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Scientific names of plants have two words, the genus name and the species name, often called the specific epithet. The scientific name, with two words, is also called the “binomial.” The goal of plant identification., besides recognizing a species, is

Potassium availability declines rapidly in calcareous soil

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South Florida sports field soils are generally calcareous, sand, have high (> 7.0) pH, and have insufficient potassium (K). For such soils the medium sufficiency range for turfgrass is reported as 75-175 ppm K by ammonium acetate extraction, which is

Goosegrass suppressed by turf canopy

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This month, I published a scientific paper in the journal HortScience showing that canopy light gaps in bermudagrass turf, in the form of divots, stimulate goosegrass seed germination and growth. It is only common sense that maintaining dense turfgrass canopy

Measuring organic matter: Weight or volume?

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Organic matter is the most valuable part, by weight, of soil. But organic sources in soil mixes are specified by volume which is mostly air. What is the price of the air part? What made me wonder was an 80:20