This episode goes through a lot of updates from both the ATC and the PACE Turf websites. Topics discussed include OM246, the problem with frequent soil testing, the problem when getting soil tests done by some fertilizer companies, normal N content of grass leaves, and coefficient of uniformity (Cu) of rootzone sands. More information and and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/, this episode's sponsor. Blog posts discussed...

Adam Moeller joined me to discuss how to manage greens in 2024. We talked about his research at Purdue University on sand and bentgrass and coring and N rates, and about clipping volume and OM246 testing and how we might manage turf and look at sands today. This post got the Doublecut introduction, about how to figure out an estimate of N harvest from clippings, and how to systematically adjust N rate based on turfgrass growth ratio:...

Brian joined me to discuss his recommended soil sampling strategy for an 18 hole golf course. We also discussed what he teaches in a 2 hour GCSAA seminar on physical testing. Mavis Consulting website with lots of resources: http://mavisconsulting.com/ This blog post on soil sampling got the Doublecut treatment: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/composite-samples-1/ Brian's article on turf testing techniques from GCM magazine:...

The 2018 article by Bryan and Tyler Hopkins, "Carbon: the next frontier in fertilization?" concludes that we "should not be fertilizing with carbon." Bryan joined me to discuss this article. The blog post about their article remains one of the top viewed on the ATC website, six years after publication: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/is-carbon-the-next-frontier-in-fertilization/ Original article from Crops & Soils: https://doi.org/10.2134/cs2018.51.0307 My calculation of how much...

Zoysiagrass can seed year round when the conditions are right. In this episode, I discuss what those conditions are, share some tools for getting a site-specific sand topdressing estimate, describe the reshuffling of top posts on the ATC website, and discuss using a line laser to measure the effective height of cut. I have also recently been the guest on The Tie podcast and on The Talking Greenkeeper. Listen to those episodes and then let me know if you think the philosophy of greenkeeping I...

Joe Gulotti, The Talking Greenkeeper, joined me to discuss the ATC blog posts that received the fewest views in 2023. We give these topics one more chance, while talking about quality of ball roll, playability, fertilizer, surface firmness, seminars, translation, and much more. The blog post with these 10 blog post "bombs" is https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/ten-posts-no-one-read-2023/ Joe's The Talking Greenkeeper podcast is at...

With Google Analytics I can check the pages on the ATC website that get the most views. These were the ten posts from 2023 that got the most pageviews. These posts are listed, with direct links to each, at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/ten-posts-no-one-read-2023/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/Get ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newslettersTurfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/PACE...

I looked through my "Flights and favorite turf photos" post to see what I learned, or what I was reminded of, through these photos. I discuss N rate, grass species, dormancy, traffic, leaf area, crew size, Poa annua, pesticides, and a lot more. This is the post I discussed: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/flights-favorite-turf-photos-2023/ I mentioned my book "A Short Grammar of Greenkeeping" https://leanpub.com/short_grammar_of_greenkeeping Here are some related videos: - About spouter...

In 2018, I delivered four presentations/classes at the Continue to Learn education conference in Harrogate, England. Deb Burnett and Sami Strutt from BIGGA joined me to discuss how an education program gets put together and evaluated. The Doublecut post was: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/four-presentations-at-btme/BIGGA website: https://www.bigga.org.uk/BTME website: https://www.btme.org.uk/Continue to Learn website: https://www.btme.org.uk/continue-to-learn.htmlRead more about all...

Chris Tritabaugh joined me to discuss sand topdressing, a long-running conversation we've been having with Dr. John Kaminski, the quantities of sand and N that are recommended vs. the amounts that seem to be required in modern turf maintenance, and much more. We discussed this post from the ATC website about nitrogen, coring, and sand: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/i-was-surprised-to-read-this-about-nitrogen-coring-and-sand/ Chris and I spoke about a similar topic in this ATC Office...

Janne Lehto from Hirsala Golf joined me to discuss robotic automowers. Hirsala Golf currently has a fleet of 36 machines, mowing all fairways and 75% of the rough with these autonomous mowers. We discussed mowing heights, some of the interesting benefits that come with using these types of machines, and discussed a few drawbacks. Find Janne on Intstagram at https://www.instagram.com/gcc_jannenestori/His website is https://turfgrassmastery.fi/ Janne and I talked about automowers in this Cart...

I talked about some recent blog posts, including updated #OM246 sampling instructions, there is no such thing as an MLSN nitrogen rate, soil samples cannot dry too much, and more. Links to these posts are:- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/mlsn-is-not-gp/- PACE climate appraisal form https://www.paceturf.org/journal/climate- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/updated-om246-sampling-instructions/- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/seminars-and-conferences-past-present-and-future/-...

Can soil surfactant (wetting agent) applications be scheduled based on site temperatures? Can a growing degree day model work for this? Dr. Bill Kreuser, president of Greenkeeper, joined me to discuss his exciting progress with this research. - ATC blog post on what wetting agents really do: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/what-do-wetting-agents-really-do/- Greenkeeper website post on this new era in wetting agent programming:...

Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Perth, Western Australia has creeping bentgrass greens and sometimes sees high temperatures over 40 °C. Course superintendent Fraser Brown joined me to discuss how he and the maintenance team manage the grass in this year-round golfing climate. Find Fraser on X at https://twitter.com/FraserJBrown_ Read the ATM profile "From Kingussie to Karrinyup" about Fraser: https://files.asianturfgrass.com/2023_atm_fraser_brown.pdf We discussed growing bentgrass in tropical...

I spoke with Michael Bekken about normal nitrogen rates, why they vary so much, why that matters, what a normal N rate linked to growth potential (GP) might be, and greenhouse gas emissions from turfgrass maintenance. We talked about: - how to keep up with turf info from ATC and PACE Turf, https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/whats-the-best-way-to-keep-up/- ATC newsletters, https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/- Bekken et al. on golf course nitrogen use efficiency:...

Dr. Chas Schmid has been involved with many of the same topics I often study and consider---sand topdressing, potassium fertilization, soil organic matter, putting green performance, and so on. His data, and plenty of photographic evidence, also show that there can be completely different outcomes than what I might have expected. We discuss this, on a range of topics, in this episode. - Follow Chas on X: https://twitter.com/Chas_Schmid- We discussed as a starting point, this blog post:...

This considers fertilizer programs, whether research can be misleading when fertilizer is applied at fixed rates on calendar schedules, and why I'm excited about the utility of the growth ratio. Blog posts discussed include:- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/already-proving-to-be-more-valuable-than-i-originally-expected/- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/coring-three-times-a-year-is-recommended-when/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/Get ATC...

I was a co-author, in 2013, of an article with the title "Documenting your progress toward sustainability." Jon Wall joined me to discuss this topic, and to consider whether keeping track of annual totals of inputs and resource use in a few key areas can be a meaningful way to document sustainable land management practices in the golf industry. The blog post we discussed, with a link to the full article, is at:...

I flipped through four recent blog posts, about zoysia seedheads on putting greens, the practical question of how much organic matter (or total organic material is too much), seminars in France, circle mows, and botanical walks to find grass growing in nature. Links to these posts...

Chris Tritabaugh joined me to discuss the #bobbletest scoring scale and the overall utility of this test. It is used for assessing the smoothness and trueness of ball roll on golf course putting greens. I find the measurements useful as a way to systematically adjust maintenance work. The blog post we discussed, with a link to the "Perfectly True" article, and with the ATC scoring scale, is: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/bobble-test-rating-scale/ Two more videos on this topic are: -...

Dr. John Rowland from the USGA Green Section Florida region joined me to discuss soil sampling, seasonal soil pH changes, plus sampling and testing methodology for total organic material (#OM246) tests. We discussed this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/seasonal-soil-ph-change/ See articles by Dr. Rowland, including the one we discussed about organic material testing, at https://tic.lib.msu.edu/tgif/flink?name=Rowland,%20John Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at...

Everyone knows a golf green is smoothest right after the morning work, with some decrease in smoothness as the day goes on. How much does the smoothness and trueness of the roll decrease? I measured it. The blog post discussed here is: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/one-chatter-or-snaking-event-in-every-third-ball-roll/ Linde et.al's article on "Comparing three methods to measure putting green trueness:" https://doi.org/10.2134/itsrj2016.05.0332 ATC Doublecut episode about the GS3 ball...

Bjarni Hannesson joined me to discuss parts per million (ppm) and how that measure of nutrients in the soil can be expressed as a fertilizer rate, and vice versa. This turns out to be really useful. At least Bjarni and I think so. For more, see the #MLSN cheat sheet: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/new-mlsn-cheat-sheet/ See the Global Soil Survey results and data at: https://osf.io/ej58z See the PACE Turf MLSN page:...

The temperature-based growth potential, developed by PACE Turf, transforms the average air temperature to a growth potential (GP). The GP is conveniently scaled from 0 to 1 (or from 0 to 100%, if you prefer), and high GP values indicate that the air temperature is close to an optimum for grass growth. This episodes looks at a very interesting question: are there places on earth with a high GP for cool-season grass, all the year round? See this blog post for charts and a full explanation: ...

An anonymous golf course superintendent wrote that they were "blown away by the quality of these surfaces with an amount of nitrogen I would’ve thought was far too small." I discuss this, and some of the changes I'm made in my thinking about what is "far too small," or not. Also, I discuss some of the preventative fungicide and herbicide applications on golf courses in Japan that keep the zoysia surfaces looking so clean in winter. See:-...