We provide soil testing services for clients around the world through Brookside Labs, and have an active research program in the area of turfgrass nutrition, soil and plant analysis, and sampling methods.
I’ve been making estimates of N mineralization from soil organic matter for the past few years using the method described by Gilmour and Mauromoustakos in Nitrogen mineralization from soil organic matter: a sequential model.
You’ve probably listened to one of my seminars in which I explained why conventional nutrient guidelines for turfgrass are broken. Jackie Guevara’s thesis on “Effects of Different Soil Testing Philosophies on Creeping Bentgrass and Annual Bluegrass Putting Greens” is an excellent demonstration of this.
I’ve written a lot about OM246 testing for total organic material by depth in the soil, and why I think this test is so useful. Something I hadn’t written, until this week, is my own set of sampling instructions.
When Bernd Leinauer introduced me prior to this talk, he mentioned that I’m one of the most controversial turfgrass scientists today. And the reason for being controversial happens to be the very topic of this presentation1 that I’ve uploaded today to my YouTube channel.
GCM Magazine has another article about the SLAN and MLSN methods for soil test interpretation. The article summarizes Jackie Guevara’s research (with Kevin Frank at Michigan State University) into turfgrass response when P and K applications are made based on MLSN.
I’ve explained how MLSN works by telling a story about beer. Specifically, about a natural and logical method to figure out how many beers to buy at the store prior to an upcoming party.