Dr. Unruh’s programs also address the influence of increasing urbanization and its impact on natural resources as it relates to the green industry. He does this via developing, implementing, and refining Best Management Practices (BMPs), understanding and changing consumer preferences and behavior, and promoting adoption of new and novel grasses that have improved performance characteristics (i.e., color, quality, density, growth rate, etc.) and require fewer inputs (i.e., fertilizer, water, pesticides). His program is at the forefront of this endeavor aimed at providing practical, real-world solutions to the challenges encountered by turf managers working on golf courses, sod production farms, athletic fields, and landscapes. His role as a state extension specialist affords him the opportunity to have a high level of interaction with extension agents, consumers, commodity groups, and regulatory agencies. Dr. Unruh is an excellent speaker, and he regularly speaks across the country on issues such as water quality, water quantity, and pesticide safety. He backs his presentations up with the research conducted at his facility, providing up-to-date and useful information for his clients.


In his role as a state Extension specialist, Dr. Unruh has clearly demonstrated his abilities to provide leadership for knotty issues. In addition to the leadership, he provides results. An example is his co-organization of the Turfgrass Best Management Practices group. Formed in July 2000, Dr. Unruh co- conducted the inaugural meeting of the group, which included membership from Florida’s Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services and Department of Environmental Protection, Water Management Districts, industry leaders, and UF/IFAS faculty. Tis productive and collaborative effort led to the development of three turf industry BMP manuals. He has used the manuals to help train county faculty (train-the-trainer approach) and industry practitioners on the merits of BMPs. Over the past four years, Dr. Unruh has served as one of the primary educators for the Florida Golf Course Industry BMP Certification Program. His extensive involvement with BMP development, implementation, and training led to his team being selected by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America to develop the national Golf Course Industry BMP Planning Guide and Template that was deployed across the United States in 2017. Te end-goal of this endeavor is for all 50 states to have golf-centric BMPs by 2020.


Linked to Dr. Unruh’s extension program is his solutions-oriented research program that produces results used to improve and validate BMPs. He has recently completed three PhD students whose work was aimed at elucidating drought and light response mechanisms of known and novel turfgrass cultivars and


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germplasm accessions. He recently completed an MS student who studied key populations (landscape company employees, homeowners, and policy advocates) to determine perceptions and behaviors related to landscape management. Results from this work will improve the ability of extension educators to tailor extension programming, resulting in better adoption of science- based information.


His educational efforts have resulted in an increased awareness of water quality and quantity issues and UF/IFAS Extension resources. In 2016, Dr. Unruh’s extension publication page hits totaled 214,308. Tree of his publications were in the top 15 publications for UF/ IFAS Extension (ranked at #8, #10, and #13 of 6,907). In a survey of Florida Golf Course Superintendents, 99 percent were aware of the Best Management Practices for Florida Golf Courses publication. One-half of the superintendents stated they were following 75 – 99 percent of BMPs and 34 percent indicated they were following 50 – 74 percent of BMPs. Additionally, 100 percent of Florida Sod Producers responding to a survey were aware of the Best Management Practices for Florida Sod publication.


As part of the UF Turfgrass Fertilization Task Force, Dr. Unruh helped to review turfgrass publications about nutrient management. Publications and data were identified, all to help strengthen recommendations for turfgrass fertilization, adjusted for grass type, use, location in the state, and level of management. Additional nutrient management information has been developed through a series of research studies, all of which provide region-specific best fertilization and irrigation practices.


It is hard to overestimate the impact that Dr. Unruh’s work has had, and continues to have, on turf production and management in our state and beyond. He continually seeks out aspects of sod production and turf management where scientific data may be lacking. He asks the hard questions, then sets about figuring out a way to find the answers.


And he is generous with his time and expertise, always seeking ways to share and to collaborate, to educate, and to advocate.


Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS. TPI Turf News March/April 2019


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