SportsTurf

FIELD SCIENCE 22 SportsTurf | August 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com functioning. What do fungi do? Fungi retain and solubilize nutrients to the plant in exchange for protein sugars. Fungi actually create pore space for water and oxygen and compete with pathogens that may cause disease. Why are Mowing and Aerification at the top of the list? Because these two cultural practices heavily influence biological processes more than any other cultural practice. Aerification can increase your field holding capacity for rain on non-irrigated fields or the pore space for oxygen on an over-irrigated field. FERTILIZATION Please consider the cost of a soil test versus the cost of any fertilizer product. Documenting the test results and interpretation of the soil samples annually creates a trend that can be used for sustainability in your maintenance program. I go to my physician once a year for a physical and blood test. That is what a soil test is for your turf. Diet, exercise and medicine are used to manage my health both acutely and long term. These cultural practices usually will dictate how sustainable my life is or how quickly I recover from stressful environmental conditions. In turf I prefer the private labs with Mehlich III extraction methods on P2O5, categorization of Anions, Exchangeable Cations, Trace Elements and a Base Saturation percentage. However, I keep the formula ready to interpret the Extension Lab results from Mehlich 1 so I am looking at apples to apples so to speak. Pay attention to (PPM) parts per million and (lbs./A) pounds per acre. Many folks like to say "fertilizer is fertilizer" or "nitrogen is nitrogen." I would point out that paying attention to what else is in the bag or the tank has just as much if not more of an effect on the results. If there is something in the mix that the soil already has plenty of then you run the risk of pollution or triggering a chemical or biological process you didn't intend. What is the salt index value of the material? What form of nitrogen or potassium is it? What percentages of sulfur, iron, magnesium or calcium are in the product as well? How does that influence your pH, elemental ratios and biological processes? 17-17-17 is inexpensive and the correct tool in many situations. However, take the time to take a look at what it really is: diammonium phosphate, urea, and muriate of potash. These are some of the higher valued salt index forms of nitrogen, phosphorus and particularly potassium. This does affect your soil chemistry and biological processes. Deficiencies must be corrected and elemental relationships maintained. This will allow the soil microbiology to do the work for you. It does matter if you use promag, sulpomag, high cal lime, dolomitic lime, or gypsum. Apply what the soil needs and not what it doesn't need for the crop you are sustaining. WHAT ABOUT PEST MANAGEMENT? Weeds, insects, diseases, people, equipment. Time for another quote: "Proper fertility, irrigation and cultural management decisions can greatly reduce the incidence of pests in athletic turf." I will add another quote I seem to use often, "just because you can doesn't me you should." Do you need that pesticide? Have you crossed the tolerable threshold of (IPM) Integrated Pest Management? Believe me, I use pesticides. However, using pesticides needs to be reserved for specific needs rather than cheap acute solutions. These herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc., have an influence on soil microbiology. How do you think pesticides are broken down any way? Microbiology. Which would you rather your soil microbiology be working on? Serving water and nutrients to your grass plant and breaking down organic matter or breaking down the latest pesticide applied? Remember a fungicide is most likely killing the good guys too. TOPDRESSING AND THATCH CONTROL This practice usually needs to be employed because you have invested so well in the previous four commandments. Strong healthy turf is going to produce thatch and invite pest issues such as disease and insects (no weeds though). Topdressing, dethatching, verticutting and slicing among other methods may assist microbiology in managing the successful ROI in sustainable cultural practices. I have seen many sports fields topdressed that are not being mowed consistently and certainly are not aerified frequently. The result is a beach volleyball court. You could argue verticutting be lumped in with consistent mowing and I wouldn't mind. Remember that each cultural practice has a purpose and is building on the investment made in the practice performed previously. Martin Kaufman, CSFM, is the grounds and sports field manager for GCA Services Group.

• Cover