The Virginia Tech Turfgrass Weed Science lab recently had the opportunity to attend the International Turfgrass Research Conference (IRTC) in Beijing, China and were host of Dr. Kehua Wang of the Department of Grassland Science at China Agricultural University and visited for several days in South Korea with Dr. S J Koo and all of the employees of Moghu Research Center. Dr. Askew presented a keynote presentation to over 300 golf superintendents and over 100 students and industry personnel at Dankook University in Chungnam, Korea. This event was largely coordinated by Dr. Joon Soo Choi, Professor of Turfgrass Science at Dankook University. Dr. Askew, and three of his Ph.D. students also presented research findings at the IRTC in China. In this article, you will learn a bit about the East Asian turfgrass industry and selected experiences from the Virginia Tech team's visit to the region.

Remember the old story from childhood about digging a hole to China? It turns out that anyone in the lower 48 states, especially Virginia, would end up off the west coast of Australia in the Indian Ocean. I wonder if the kids in South America were told the same thing because Beijing is aligned perfectly opposite of Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Even if our antipode is not China, we do share something with China, particularly around Beijing and to its south. We have a similar latitude and thus, similar climate. If Beijing were rotated to our side of the world, it would be only 70 miles north of Washington DC. Seoul South Korea would be south of DC and only 20 miles north of Roanoke, VA.

Generally speaking, whatever temperatures we are experiencing in Virginia will be the same in much of South Korea and south of Beijing in China on the same day. They just get to experience those conditions 13 hours before we do. Notable differences between our climate and that of China and Korea is the East Asian Rainy Season, which is typically a two-week rainy period caused by moist air from the pacific ocean meeting cooler air from the continental land mass and the winter drought period influenced by the Siberian mountains. So, it's a transitional climate similar to Richmond or Roanoke with a slight twist in early summer and mid-winter. Keep in mind how similar our climate is with these countries because the turfgrasses that are currently not used in these countries may surprise you.

Korea's turfgrass industry is booming and I'll talk about that in a bit but China is the sleeping giant. As of 30 years ago, China's primary policy regarding grasses in the landscape was to pull them out. There was no concept of the grass lawn. This would be similar to the United States before the 20th century. Much has changed in recent years as China's government now considers turfgrass to be a symbol of prominence. Turfgrass has been installed around most government facilities and turfgrass science is now taught at more than 20 Chinese universities and there are over 1000 enterprises that identify as part of China\'s turfgrass industry today. The one problem shared by both China and Korea is the lack of available land. There are just too many people and land is needed for housing and food production. Despite this limitation, the growth of China's turfgrass industry is still mind boggling.

"Presently, China is undergoing the new phase of development of the construction of ecological civilization. A beautiful China with blue sky, green land, and clear water is the common goal of all the Chinese people. And the development of the turfgrass industry plays an important role in this cause."

Yingnan Liang, Deputy Minister of the International Liaison Department
of China Association for Science and Technology

The cool to transitional climate and winter drought means zoysiagrass is the most common grass in Korea and parts of China. Most modern golf courses will include Zoysiagrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and creeping bentgrass. Aside from buffalo grass, few other grasses were observed on our trip to China. Although tall fescue cultivars are under evaluation at Chinese Universities and have been used in some locations. The only place we observed bermudagrass as a turf was in the Olympic stadium commonly known as the "birds nest" in Beijing. We also continued to notice several areas of quality turf, especially in shady areas, that turned out to be sedges. There was several sedge species used in the landscape as turf, apparently due to natural adaptation. When asked about this phenomenon, Dr. Wang said that a common practice was to transplant newer species/cultivars of turf and in areas of the landscape where they died; sedge would be transplanted in their place as it was known to perform well.

In China, few turf grasses are established via seeding. Instead, they are transplanted similar to how rice is planted in the field. It is quite an odd site to see tufts of creeping bentgrass evenly spaced in every direction in efforts to establish lawns around high-end complexes. Tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass were planted in the same fashion. Apparently, import tariffs make shipping seed of US varieties into China very expensive. Chinese turf companies grow grasses and transplant, rather than buying seed.

Besides, labor is cheap. In Beijing, we were told that complaints abound about the ever increasing cost of labor compared to other parts of China. For example, if you hire a laborer to pull weeds all day on your golf course you must pay them a whopping $10 in US currency for that days' work. Despite this enormous cost, one Beijing golf course that we visited employs 200 workers. All jokes aside, it is clear that the low labor cost will factor into turfgrass management in ways that we have never experienced. Putting greens each have assigned attendants and most topdressing is done by hand on an 'as needed basis' to address thinning or imperfections.

There were no weeds, much to Dr. Askew's disappointment, on the golf courses that we visited in China. Some areas in China do use herbicides but there is a limited concept or understanding of preemergence herbicides. Chinese turf managers struggle with applying a herbicide when no weed is present. Also, fewer herbicides are available in China, largely because the country has a unique policy regarding pesticide registration. In China, pesticides are registered for use and then may be used anywhere you like. So turf herbicides are subjected to the same toxicology and worker exposure requirements as crop herbicides. This policy will make it hard for herbicides that don't have a broad application but rather are catered to more specific uses or specific pests.

In Korea, most turf areas are found on golf courses, athletic complexes and cemeteries. The most common turf is zoysiagrass and over half of Korea's 400 golf courses have zoysiagrass fairways; although all new construction is Kentucky bluegrass or creeping bentgrass. A cheap golf course in Korea will cost about $200 US per round and most have double green complexes and lights for night play. Over 100,000 rounds per year is not uncommon compared to about 35,000 for the US (based on a 20 year average). Our rounds are declining but that is certainly not the case in Korea or China. The new annual bluegrass product, PoaCure (methiozolin), that is under evaluation for use in the US has been registered in Korea for three years and is used on 75% of Korean golf courses at gross sales of over $6 million USD per year. The Virginia Tech Turf Team will undoubtedly continue to collaborate with researchers and industry personnel in China and Korea owing to similarities in our climate and turf problems that need solutions. Benefits of these collaborations are only just starting to become evident, but will increase substantially in coming years.