Note: This site is for reviewing legacy plan of work data from 2007-2011. If you are looking for the current plan of work interface, visit pow.nmsu.edu.
Environmentally sustainable turfgrass management
Plan Goals
Providing turf professionals and homeowners statewide with information regarding sustainable turfgrass maintenance practices with emphasis on turfgrass selection and irrigation water conservation.
- Owner
- Bernd Leinauer
Impact Reports
Of all participants in the 2009 Master Gardener Program that have attended turf maintenance courses for 3 or more years, 96% reported that repeated training changed and enriched their understanding of turfgrass management more greatly than did one time training would have and 81% admitted that repeated training changed their attitude towards turfgrass.
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2009 Master Gardener Program and that have attended turf courses for 3 or more years. Statements were collected after the turfgrass training seminar and were provided anonymously:
“Always learn something new”
“Very informative session, very well presented”
“Good presentation”
“Very interesting - a lot of information”
“Very thorough - Thank you”
“Always new information in each presentation! Thanks.”
“Terrific presentation and information.”
“Wonderful presentation - very informative.”
“Excellent presentation. Dr. Leinauer has become an excellent speaker, very confident and knowledgeable. One of my favorite presentations”
“The training today provided great info that enlightened me further about the benefits of turf. Especially that turf is an option - xeriscape is not the only answer.”
“Great overview presentation.”
“Excellent information not received from other sources. Thank you.”
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2009 Master Gardener Program and that have attended turf courses for 3 or more years. Statements were collected after the turfgrass training seminar and were provided anonymously:
“Always learn something new”
“Very informative session, very well presented”
“Good presentation”
“Very interesting - a lot of information”
“Very thorough - Thank you”
“Always new information in each presentation! Thanks.”
“Terrific presentation and information.”
“Wonderful presentation - very informative.”
“Excellent presentation. Dr. Leinauer has become an excellent speaker, very confident and knowledgeable. One of my favorite presentations”
“The training today provided great info that enlightened me further about the benefits of turf. Especially that turf is an option - xeriscape is not the only answer.”
“Great overview presentation.”
“Excellent information not received from other sources. Thank you.”
A total of 62% of the participants in the statewide 2009 Master Gardener program believed that traditional turf areas waste great amounts of water that could be better used elsewhere. After a 3 month period of seminar series, the opinion that turf wastes water dropped to 24% among all surveyed Master Gardeners. A total of 59% of all participants in the statewide program requested additional training in the area of turfgrass irrigation. In Santa Fe County, the preconceived notion of turf representing an “unnecessary and water-guzzling” ground cover is widespread and prevalent and 67% of all participants in the Master Gardener program considered this statement to be true prior to the training seminar. A total of 53% of all participants reconsidered their opinion and only 19% of the participants believed that turf wastes water after the training.
Master Gardener turf management and efficient irrigation seminars will raise awareness on the importance of turfgrass irrigation water use and lead to an increase in knowledge about adequate turfgrass selection and maintenance practices.
When surveyed, 85% of the 154 participants of the 2009 Master Gardener turfgrass training program in New Mexico report that the turfgrass training course changed and enriched their understanding of turf maintenance issues to either a great extent or to a fair extent (immediately following a 3 hour training program).
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2009 Master Gardener Program and that have attended the turf training course for the first time. Statements were collected after the turfgrass training seminar and were provided anonymously:
“Excellent! Changed my mind about turf. Being a restoration ecologist I really disliked turf. Now, I wouldn't mind a patch of grass.”
“This class was very beneficial to me.”
“Real good presentation.”
“This topic needs more time because the public needs much more education, particularly as concerns about water conservation increase.”
“Very interesting and pertinent lecture.”
“Excellent presentation. Thank you.”
“Thank you. A great learning experience. Changed my view point - think I will put in some grass.”
“I found this lecture very useful.”
“Extremely enlightening”
“Wish we had the whole session for this topic”
“Great presentation and info. Sorry you were cut from 3 hours to 1.5”
“Wow - lots of great ideas”
“Enjoyed the presentation – informative”
“Excellent information”
“This was quite contradictory after the Xeriscape class”
“I attended your lecture at the Sandoval County Master Gardener program. Your perspective has had a huge impact on our landscape design (re-design) of a recently purchased property in Corrales. (We just moved here from Rhode Island.) I was advocating for the removal of the turf, much to my husband’s disapproval. You have helped me to realize the myriad benefits of turf grass.”
“Excellent, informative presentation. Need to translate research to public officials in Santa Fe to balance anti grass/tree viewpoints”
“Excellent presentation which challenges many pre-conceived notions - very thought provoking”
“Excellent presentation - handled negative questions/statements well”
“Good class”
“Very interesting and informative”
“very good speaker”
“very informative”
“Great”
“Excellent content - very interesting presentation”
“Excellent - I wish the speaker had more time”
“Very useful lecture - give this speaker more time”
“Thank you - great information”
“very good speaker”
“very informative”
“Great”
“Excellent content - very interesting presentation”
“Excellent - I wish the speaker had more time”
“Very useful lecture - give this speaker more time”
“Thank you - great information”
When surveyed, 85% of the 154 participants of the 2009 Master Gardener turfgrass training program in New Mexico report that the turfgrass training course changed and enriched their understanding of turf maintenance issues to either a great extent or to a fair extent (immediately following a 3 hour training program).
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2009 Master Gardener Program and that have attended the turf training course for the first time. Statements were collected after the turfgrass training seminar and were provided anonymously:
“Excellent! Changed my mind about turf. Being a restoration ecologist I really disliked turf. Now, I wouldn't mind a patch of grass.”
“This class was very beneficial to me.”
“Real good presentation.”
“This topic needs more time because the public needs much more education, particularly as concerns about water conservation increase.”
“Very interesting and pertinent lecture.”
“Excellent presentation. Thank you.”
“Thank you. A great learning experience. Changed my view point - think I will put in some grass.”
“I found this lecture very useful.”
“Extremely enlightening”
“Wish we had the whole session for this topic”
“Great presentation and info. Sorry you were cut from 3 hours to 1.5”
“Wow - lots of great ideas”
“Enjoyed the presentation – informative”
“Excellent information”
“This was quite contradictory after the Xeriscape class”
“I attended your lecture at the Sandoval County Master Gardener program. Your perspective has had a huge impact on our landscape design (re-design) of a recently purchased property in Corrales. (We just moved here from Rhode Island.) I was advocating for the removal of the turf, much to my husband’s disapproval. You have helped me to realize the myriad benefits of turf grass.”
“Excellent, informative presentation. Need to translate research to public officials in Santa Fe to balance anti grass/tree viewpoints”
“Excellent presentation which challenges many pre-conceived notions - very thought provoking”
“Excellent presentation - handled negative questions/statements well”
“Good class”
“Very interesting and informative”
“very good speaker”
“very informative”
“Great”
“Excellent content - very interesting presentation”
“Excellent - I wish the speaker had more time”
“Very useful lecture - give this speaker more time”
“Thank you - great information”
“very good speaker”
“very informative”
“Great”
“Excellent content - very interesting presentation”
“Excellent - I wish the speaker had more time”
“Very useful lecture - give this speaker more time”
“Thank you - great information”
Of all participants in the 2008 Master Gardener Program that have attended turf maintenance courses for 3 or more years, 94% reported that repeated training changed and enriched their understanding of turfgrass management more greatly than did one time training would have and 69% admitted that repeated training changed their attitude towards turfgrass.
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2008 Master Gardener Program collected after the turfgrass training seminar:
”Exceptional speaker, information, explanation, material, and most specifically interesting, informative and opinion-changing (mine)”
“Excellent presentation, best ever in 27 years, we need this online”
“very useful information”
“Great class, instructor very knowledgeable, learned more than I thought & would. Thank you.”
“Dr. L. is an excellent speaker and provides a great deal of useful information in a concise, interesting manner. All examples are excellent as well.”
“Excellent presentation and invaluable information.”
“Great class.”
“… I have learned new information each of the 3 years I have seen him speak. Very good speaker, valuable information.
The following are examples of comments from participants in the 2008 Master Gardener Program collected after the turfgrass training seminar:
”Exceptional speaker, information, explanation, material, and most specifically interesting, informative and opinion-changing (mine)”
“Excellent presentation, best ever in 27 years, we need this online”
“very useful information”
“Great class, instructor very knowledgeable, learned more than I thought & would. Thank you.”
“Dr. L. is an excellent speaker and provides a great deal of useful information in a concise, interesting manner. All examples are excellent as well.”
“Excellent presentation and invaluable information.”
“Great class.”
“… I have learned new information each of the 3 years I have seen him speak. Very good speaker, valuable information.
A total of 54% of the participants in the statewide 2008 Master Gardener program believed that traditional turf areas waste great amounts of water that could be better used elsewhere. After a 3 month period of seminar series, the opinion that turf wastes water dropped to 19% among all surveyed Master Gardeners. A total of 64% of all participants in the statewide program requested additional training in the area of turfgrass irrigation. In Santa Fe County, the preconceived notion of turf representing an “unnecessary and water-guzzling” ground cover is widespread and prevalent and 60% of all participants in the Master Gardener program considered this statement to be true prior to the training seminar. A total of 48% of all participants reconsidered their opinion and only 12% of the participants believed that turf wastes water after the training.