MLSN

When I received an e-mail from Tom Sedlmeier a couple months ago, I was reminded of this update on the Sports Turf Solutions Facebook page in 2012: I just read a blog that puts every Turf Managers [sic] budget under scrutiny.

The recording of my webinar on preventing nutrient deficiencies is available in Spanish and in English. This was fun. I hope you’ll read the handout too. It is only 4 pages, with lots of white space, and gives a brief overview of this important topic.

That arrived in my inbox recently, plus a few questions about calculating K requirements using the MLSN guidelines, and whether if there are minimum levels, are there optimum levels too? Here’s how I answered.

I feel like there is something not everyone understands about the quantity of fertilizer recommended by the MLSN guidelines. A question came up in my Twitter feed and I wasn’t sure if it was about implementing MLSN, or not.

Play on frosted bentgrass greens in Japan is not uncommon. Winston Mirmow’s thesis on Fall potassium fertilization and winter traffic effects on a creeping bentgrass putting green has some surprising results.

In a series of quotes about BCSR, this conversation ensued. Allan Dewald asked about MLSN, and Travis Shaddox brought up the probability of response. We won’t provide a response probability for MLSN because it is not a fertilizer calibration.

The MLSN guidelines were developed from a large dataset of soil tests collected from good-performing turf. You’re probably familiar with the MLSN guideline as a minimum level, with fertilizer recommended to make sure the soil doesn’t drop below the guideline.

In January 2016 at the Northern Green Expo in Minnesota, I got to talk about light, water, temperature, and nitrogen. Those are the factors that influence growth, and getting the growth rate right is what greenkeeping is all about.

On a trip to China, I was browsing through Golf People magazine and noticed a familiar article —“Using Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition”—translated into Chinese. You can download the Chinese version here.

In a seminar at the Korean GIS with the title “A Modern Method for Determining Turfgrass Nutrient Requirements,” I explained how one can determine turfgrass nutrient requirements by estimating turf nutrient use and comparing that to the amount of the nutrient in the soil.