Word of the Day......Evapotranspiration

What in the world does the word evapotranspiration mean (ET for short)?  Well for turf managers and those involved in agriculture it is a word well understood and meaningful.  Courtesy of wikpedia the definition is as follows:

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies. Transpiration accounts for the movement of water within a plant and the subsequent loss of water as vapor through stomata in its leaves.  An element (such as a tree) that contributes to evapotranspiration can be called an evapotranspirator.^[1]

MTI field day hosted at CC of Peoria

In our case it is the amount of water (in inches) lost from the turfgrass system calculated on a daily basis.  Over the last week or so I have seen some of the highest ET rates in my career as a turf manager.  In the last 7 days we have recorded 3 days over .3 inches and today we are looking at over .4 inches of ET.  A typical ET rate for this time of year is .12 to .15 inches daily so these extremely high ET rates are concerning to say the least.  The course will require much more attention and water over the next 5 days through the holiday weekend so we are preparing for the stressful conditions as best we can. 

The course is showing some signs of drought stress but remains in very good playing condition.  We are beginning to manage the greens for more speed as they have healed up 14+ days after Aeration. 

This morning we hosted a field day for Toro MTI out of St. Louis.  A number of Superintendents and Turf manager from around the area attended to see the newest equipment improvements in Toro's equipment line.  Hybrid mowers and electric mowers were some of the featured highlights.