topdress

Measure exact topdressing effect, and requirement, by checking total organic material by depth.

Soil testing timelines can detect changes in product application. If you add lime, you’ll see a change in the pH timeline. If you stop adding Mn, you’ll see a change in the Mn timeline.

Field data from multiple golf courses show the 1:1 sand-to-clipping ratio lets OM246 increase over time. A revised equation, d = K · V · (100 − OM%) / OM% with K ≈ 0.106, sets sand depth from clipping volume and starting organic matter.

TL;DR: 1) Know the standard sand rate recommendations, which range from 6 to 11 mm per year at present 2) Measure the amount of sand you apply 3) Don’t apply the standard amount!

A correspondent wrote with a question about sand topdressing amounts in relation to the turf GvX. “I’m hoping you’d be able to point me in the direction of finding something on sand inputs vs.

I’ve been thinking about sand for a while now. At first I was thinking about quantities of sand (and organic matter); I’ve expanded that to also look at sand particle sizes.

I’ve updated the OM246 calculator to v2 with two substantial changes. One is an entirely new tab for unit conversions between different ways of expressing sand rates. I like mm. Others use kg/ha or tons/ha.

A text asking “Have you ever read that?” arrived to my phone this morning, along with a screen shot of the the article in question. It’s an article by Todd Pippin with the title “The five-day program: Alternative philosophy for managing your topdressing program.

Layers in the rootzone are supposed to be bad. The images above and below look awful, don’t they? A layer like that could inhibit rooting, stop water flow, and all kinds of things.

Almost every turfgrass manager knows the current mowing height. Most turfgrass managers know the annual nitrogen (N) fertilizer rate. When it comes to sand topdressing rates, some turfgrass managers have that number.