water

I taught five seminars at the Northern Green Expo in 2016. The (New) Fundamentals of Turfgrass Nutrition Nutrient Use by the Grass and Nutrient Supply by the Soil Calculating the Fertilizer Requirement for any Turfgrass, Anywhere

There is a fine article by Karcher and Richardson in GCM about the effect of wetting agents. In the article, they point out something important: It is often stated that some wetting agents move water rapidly through the root zone while other products retain considerable moisture near the surface, but the data to substantiate such claims is limited.

When it comes to fearmongering in turfgrass, I’m not sure there is a bigger one than bicarbonate (HCO3-). One often hears of supposed problems associated with bicarbonate. I’m still waiting to see a soil or turfgrass problem associated with this ubiquitous anion.

Does adding more potassium improve drought resistance? This article by Rowland et al. takes an in-depth look at that important question. They looked at bermudagrass (Tifeagle and Tifdwarf), seashore paspalum (SeaDwarf), and zoysia (PristineFlora) grown in a USGA sand rootzone.

As a follow-up to part 1 of this extraordinary interview with Don Mahaffey on Golf Club Atlas, here’s part 2. Don knows the golf and grass-growing business from the ground up, and he knows what he is talking about.

Growing up and first working in the turfgrass industry in the United States, I naturally used US customary units: inches and feet, pounds and ounces, fluid ounces and gallons and so on.

This is an extraordinarily good video about grasses, mowing, construction, irrigation, soils, playability, maintenance cost, and more. If you are interested in these topics, watch this interview with Don Mahaffey.

@asianturfgrass many Japanese greenkeepers believe that syringing is effective to keep or lower leaf temperature. How do you think about it? — H.I.GK (@fc3s_13b) May 5, 2013 This question about lowering leaf temperature prompted an extensive discussion about the effectiveness of syringing greens.

That’s a bit of a trick question, because the answer I give is: neither. What one wants to do is apply the optimum amount of water to the turf, and that can be done by light and frequent irrigation, or it can be done by deep and infrequent irrigation.

Sand rootzones are common the world over for golf course putting greens. Many athletic fields are also built with a sand rootzone, and in Asia, many of the tees, fairways, and even roughs are grown in a sand rootzone.