Simple solutions to a difficult problem
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.
Soil test calibration for turfgrass is a difficult problem. There are a number of reasons for this, including the variety of turfgrass species used around the world, and the range of climates and soils for what is a global crop. There are also different performance requirements, from putting greens to football pitches to lawns to parks. In the presentation, I make the rather obvious point that conventional soil test calibration for turfgrass around the world will never be done.
Without soil test calibration, are there some alternative ways to answer the question about how much fertilizer to apply? For any site, with its combination of grass species, climate, soil conditions, performance requirement, and so on, one wants to be able to ensure the turf is supplied with just what it requires while at the same time minimizing overapplication.
In the presentation, I explained how it is possible to achieve those goals with the precision fertilisation method of STERF, and also with my preferred method, MLSN.