Introduction - Early Years - 1940's - 1950's - 1960's - 1970's - 1980's - Conclusion - Literature Cited

Although inaugurated in 1957, the vegetative Turfgrass Certification Program came of age during the 1960's. The new St. Augustinegrass Floratine had been distributed in 1959, and developers Nutter and Allen described the Blue Tag certification program under which the new grass was available (20). Ousley Sod Company was the largest producer of certified grasses during the 1960's, and was also the first to commercially produce the salt tolerant siltgrass Paspalum distichum [= P. vaginatum] (See Fosberg, (13), regarding the use of this epithet). Ralph W. White, with Ousley Sod, had obtained the grass from Dr. G. C. Horn, at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Horn, in turn, had obtained the grass through Mr. O. J. Noer, who had gotten it from Mr. T. Miesse Baumgardner, at the Sea Island Golf Club, Sea Island, Georgia (19). Noer was also instrumental in distributing siltgrass to other golf courses. Unfortunately, as Mr. Otto Schmeisser (superintendent at Gulfstream Country Club) observed, siltgrass was sensitive to the arsenical herbicides (such as MSMA) to which bermudagrass was tolerant. In 1962 the University of Florida released Everglades-1 and Ormond bermudagrass varieties, also under the Turfgrass Certification Program. Ormond became very important in golf courses, and it appears today that in many areas it grows where 'Tifway' (Tifton 419) had been intended (Busey, personal observation). It is unfortunate that the University has never issued a circular on this grass.

During this period, the 2000-acre Triangle Sod Farm (Roy Crumb, Jim Farquhar, Carl Grisham, Joe and Arthur Wolf) was developed near Belle Glade. This farm became one of the most successful operations in the area. In addition, other large sod nurseries began to evolve south and east of Lake Okeechobee, including Mace-Weekley (now Mace Sod Services), Evergreen Sod, and King Ranch (now Big B Sod).

For a number of years, the southern chinch bug (Blissus insularis Barber) had been a problem on St. Augustinegrass lawns, and in some areas it was becoming resistant to the commonly used insecticides. During the sixties, some growers also experienced problems with this pest. Because of the chinch bug problem, more and more bahiagrass began to be marketed, particularly on the west coast and in central Florida. But in the 1970's, a shift back to St. Augustinegrass occurred, because Scapteriscus mole crickets would cause heavy devastation to bahiagrass, and because the University of Florida would develop a chinch bug resistant St. Augustinegrass. Lawn caterpillars, "worms", were the most common pest on all varieties of turfgrass. The most serious problem on zoysiagrass and bermudagrass was billbugs, although nematodes and eriophyid mites would also be recognized as major problems. Brown patch, dollarspot, and gray leaf spot diseases could be found in the sod fields at different times of the year, but few growers sprayed for these diseases. Major weed problems that plagued growers of St. Augustinegrass were bermudagrass and other grassy weeds.

The first palletizing of sod began in 1961 or 1962 (A. R. Wolf, personal communication). Triangle Sod Farms may have been the first to fully develop palletizing. In Davie they found that they could fill half a semitrailer in the field, and complete the loading up on a firm road. In the EAA they had to do all the loading out of the fields. A & H Equipment built the first four-pallet trailer for hauling the sod from the field; it used aircraft tires. Charlie Osborne was the first to demonstrate a tractor mounted forklift.

At first the landscapers rejected the use of pallets, because it forced them to return the wooden pallets to the same producer from whom they had obtained them (Ed Davis, personal communication). But within two years this practice swept the entire industry. Palletizing was a labor saver, eliminating excessive handling of the product. It was also possible to use the pallet as a means of documenting piece work wages. Sod stackers must have liked the incentive; production doubled (A. R. Wolf, personal communication). Some growers tried using corrugated cardboard on top of the pallets to avoid the necessity of leaving the wooden pallets on the job. For delivery, some growers used the typical concrete block truck with a boom unloader. This allowed the driver to set the pallets off the truck rather than dumping the grass, and to carry multiple orders. Another method was for the delivery truck to tow a fork-lift on a trailer to be used for unloading at the delivery site.

A great interest in "automatic" sod harvesters emerged in the late 1960's. Some growers pooled their money to have one engineered and built, but it didn't work. Later Brouwer Equipment Company demonstrated a new automatic harvester at Triangle Sod Farm. This was the first "combine" sod harvester, because in one unit it consolidated all operations from cross-cutting to lifting, and palletizing. In 1969, Martin Beck, Beck Manufacturing, Auburn, Alabama, developed and marketed a PTO driven sod cutter in both single- and three-gang units, which was chain-driven. This was the first sod cutter designed to lift more than one row at a time. Later a hydraulically driven three-gang unit was developed by Hooks Welding in Belle Glade. The three-gang units made it easy to preserve an uncut ribbon, usually 3 inches wide, from which the field would regenerate in about 1 year.

A recession hit the economy in the early 1960's, and building construction was hard hit. This turned out to be a bonanza for turfgrass producers. In order to boost sales, housing developers advertised that lawns would be solid sodded, in contrast to being plugged (Ed Davis, personal communication). This practice held on, and the Federal Housing Administration began to require that at least the front lawn to be established before they would approve residential mortgages. Eventually municipal planning and zoning departments began to require that lawns be sodded before a Certificate of Occupancy could be granted.

The first survey of the sod business was conducted by Robert H. Brewster and Cecil N. Smith in 1963 (3) and summarized in 1968 (26). This study was the first to consider the economic characteristics of the turfgrass industry in Florida. At that time there were reported 14,700 acres of sod producing a net 7400 acres sold, of which 58% represented St. Augustinegrass and 20% bahiagrass. The average price was 2.6 cents per square foot. By 1963 only a small number of producers were not using pallets.

The first, and to date the most complete, Florida report on the agronomics of turfgrass production was written in 1961 (14). Also on the research front, the University of Florida began a turfgrass research program in the Fort Lauderdale area, first in 1961 with the work of Dr. R. R. Smalley at the Plantation Field Laboratory site on Peters Road in Plantation, later with the transfer of programs in 1968 to the present location in Davie, which is now called the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. The scope of the research was to find solutions to the problems of water management, in the delicate Biscayne Aquifer, to develop new pest resistant varieties of turfgrass, and to control pests. Beginning in 1962 at Plantation Field Laboratory, the Florida Turfgrass Association held an Annual Florida Turf-Grass Trade Show, which was later combined with the Annual Turf-Grass Management Conference formerly held in Gainesville.

Introduction - Early Years - 1940's - 1950's - 1960's - 1970's - 1980's - Conclusion - Literature Cited