research

No core aeration, no deep verticutting, and surprise! No summer decline
Perspective. It’s funny how that works. When I first read this research report in 2011, I skimmed over some parts, and cherry-picked what I was looking for — that 15 to 20% surface area removal was required every year in order to keep soil organic matter under control.
2021-01-15 2 min read
No core aeration, no deep verticutting, and surprise! No summer decline
Soil test showdown
A recent PACE Turf update mentioned this research project by Jackie Guevara and Kevin Frank: Effects of different soil testing interpretation philosophies on creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass putting greens.
2020-12-21 1 min read
Soil test showdown
Fun on my front steps
On February 28, I took Wana—a fine-bladed putting green type manilagrass—rhizomes and cut to a two node length. Then I planted these cut rhizomes, each with two tiny plants on them, in the center of sand-filled pots.
2020-10-14 2 min read
Fun on my front steps
This is why you replicate
On February 28, 2020, I cut some Wana manilagrass rhizomes to a two node length and planted those two node rhizomes in four sand-filled pots. After eight days, I applied the first fertilizer treatment.
2020-09-14 3 min read
This is why you replicate
Three #rturf projects: green speed & clipvol, zoysia response to fertilizer during grow-in, and report automation
You may have seen a few posts about #rturf on my personal site. I’m writing about that topic over there so I don’t clutter up the ATC site with too much data analysis and computer code.
2020-08-26 6 min read
Three #rturf projects: green speed & clipvol, zoysia response to fertilizer during grow-in, and report automation
Hollow-tine cultivation and solid-tine spiking both failed to alleviate summer bentgrass decline
A late July solid-tine spiking treatment of a creeping bentgrass green in Hokkaido, Japan. How’s this for a lede? “Hollow-tine coring and solid-tine spiking practices may not alleviate creeping bentgrass summer decline.
2020-07-24 2 min read
Hollow-tine cultivation and solid-tine spiking both failed to alleviate summer bentgrass decline
Have we been doing it all wrong? Soil testing and composite samples
After I wrote the seven part series about soil sampling for turfgrass, I formatted the posts into an easy-to-read 11 page PDF brochure. The take-home message is yes, we’ve been doing it wrong.
2020-07-20 1 min read
Have we been doing it all wrong? Soil testing and composite samples
Twice the growth at a different mowing height
Bill Kreuser shared a fascinating update from one of the experiments he is conducting this summer. I wouldn’t have expected to see such a big difference in growth rate with a mowing height difference of 0.
2020-06-24 1 min read
Twice the growth at a different mowing height
Roots on grass supplied with N, P, and K
The N-only pot looked pretty good when I showed roots after 184 days. But that same grass grew a lot more, and produced a lot more underground roots and rhizomes, when P and K were added.
2020-04-06 1 min read
Roots on grass supplied with N, P, and K
Roots on grass kept deficient in P and K
Regular readers of this site will remember the grow-in experiment I started on 1 October 2019. I wrote about it in these posts. Fertilizer response at planting Experiment update: fertilizer response at planting
2020-04-03 1 min read
Roots on grass kept deficient in P and K