Normal manganese (Mn) levels in soil and turfgrass leaf tissue
I wrote an update about normal manganese (Mn) levels in soil and in turfgrass leaves. Mark Smith posted about Mn with some extraordinarily verdant grass and attributed the color to Mn. The soil test Mn was 11 ppm, and I was curious about that; I’m not one to quickly classify a nutrient in the soil as “deficient.”
John Kaminski and I spoke about this in an ATC Doublecut episode. I told him I would be writing an update about Mn and posting the full analysis on PACE Turf.
A soil level of 11 ppm puts a soil at a sustainability index (SI) of about 0.14. I don’t think it’s deficient, but only 14% of soils with good-performing turf are expected to be at that level or below. For the soil to be right at the middle, with half the soils with good turf having lower Mn levels, and half higher, the soil Mn would need to be about 25 ppm.