sand

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

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.

Grass clippings, fresh, weigh from 300 to 350 g per liter in a clipping volume bucket. Sand, dry, weighs about 1.6 kg per liter in a clipping volume bucket.

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.

When you do OM246 testing to find the total organic material at known depths of the rootzone, you can use those test results to find the net accumulation rate of organic material in the rootzone.

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.

I bought a new book last year in January and got my hands on it in December. It’s the Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases, Fourth Edition, published by APS Press in 2023.

I used three sets of slides at this conference. You can download them at these links. MLSN: modern turfgrass nutrition Clipping volume, GP, and nitrogen OM246, organic matter/material, & sand topdressing See more about OM246 testing, including sampling instructions and a sample report, at the OM246 project page.

There are a lot of reasons to apply just the right amount of sand topdressing. Too much is no good, and too little is a problem too. The starting point with figuring out the right amount of sand to apply to your turfgrass is to know exactly how much you’ve been applying.