soil test

When I make nutrient recommendations, I recommend a quantity of each element that ensures the grass can get all of that nutrient that the grass can use. I also make the recommendation with a thought about the soil.

The usual way of thinking about soil nutrients and turf quality is something like this: when the amount of a soil nutrient is low, the turf quality won’t be as good as it would be if that nutrient were more abundant in the soil.

This is one of the many interesting things I’ve been working on recently. A standard soil test for turfgrass is taken to a 10 cm depth (4 inches below the soil surface).

Frank Rossi and Carl Schimenti had a discussion on the Cornell Turfgrass Show about soil testing, fertilizer, the Park Grass experiment, weeds, and some good ways to sell fertilizer. Also, that perennially hot topic of silicon.

Normal range of test results Soil test phosphorus (P) is present across a wide range in golf course putting green rootzones. I looked at ATC data from putting greens for the past five years.

Soil nutrient levels are dynamic. They change. In non-saline situations, the nutrient levels go down as the grass grows and uses some quantity of the soil nutrients.1 This is why the SLAN medium ranges seem so high, and why the MLSN method of soil test interpretation is so much more precise when making fertilizer recommendations for turfgrass.

The Green Section Record (Volume 62, Issue 4) has an interesting article by Chris Neff making a case for year-round soil nutrient analysis. Specifically, he wrote that: To adequately make decisions regarding these crucial fertilizer applications, it is imperative to conduct soil sampling throughout the year to assess soil properties and current nutrient levels, which play a pivotal role in the overall health and performance of the course.

I was collecting OM246 samples at sunrise on a busy golf course near Bangkok on Tuesday, and I remembered that I was going to update the OM246 sampling instructions. That update is now made, so when you download the sampling instructions, you’ll get version 0.

Dried soil samples from the Park Grass experiment at Rothamsted that were collected in 1876. I recommend drying soil samples before sending them to the lab for testing.1 There are a few reasons for this:

I was teaching a seminar about the distinction between soil organic matter (humus) and total organic material, and how to make use of those test results, when this question was posed: