fertilizer

This information supplements the presentations made on these topics by Micah Woods at the Eastern Pennsylvania Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show on 7 and 8 January 2014. For general information about turfgrass management, see the Asian Turfgrass Center website.

Why use and pay for nutrients that the grass does not need or the soil does not require? That question, along with the title of this post, are quotes from the classic article by Zontek et al.

On my first visit to Iceland, I spoke at a meeting of the Icelandic Green- and Groundskeepers Association at beautiful Keilir Golf Club in Hafnarfjörður. View from behind the 18th at Keilir GC.

The short answer is no, so long as sufficient potassium (K) is present in the soil. Cisar et al. looked at Tifway bermudagrass performance when the soil contained high amounts of sodium (Na).

A waterfall chart can be used to represent nutrient availability and use in turfgrass. This waterfall chart for calcium (Ca) takes a look at the Ca in the soil and shows the various additions and subtractions of calcium over the course of a year.

Do you ever think about fertilizer cost? The amount people spend varies a lot. Jason Haines, for example, has explained how he reduced fertilizer costs by 60%: I have to say, this new way of doing things is working a lot better than the old way.

I read a post on the Golfdom Daily about soil pH in which it was suggested that it was important to maintain soil pH in the range from 6.5 to 7.

After a month of research and writing in southern Japan—my 2012 summer sabbatical—I returned to Thailand, got my mail, and in that accumulated stack of papers I found (and promptly read) the July 2012 issue of Golf Course Architecture.

We have worked with PACE Turf to develop the Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition (MLSN). These new guidelines ensure ample amounts of mineral elements are present in the soil to meet the requirements of turfgrass.

Even in soils that contain relatively low amounts of plant-available calcium, that is still enough to supply all the calcium the grass requires. Why is that? Turfgrass uses relatively small amounts of calcium, somewhere in the range of 1.