Starting to figure this soil balance thing out.
There are lots of people who talk about soil balance and the biology in the soil. This is something that is really hard to quantify but as I start to measure yield and compare the growth rates to...
View ArticleCan I use clipping yield to prevent disease this September?
Managing turfgrass disease with the goal of reducing or eliminating pesticide use takes a lot of planning, careful observations and fine tuning. While we are currently in the middle of the summer turf...
View ArticleDon't knock it till you try it (or don't try it). Afternoon watering.
Some might call this overwatered, but the VMC is right where we want it and the greens are nice and firm. Watered by hand each morning during the heat. This week I quoted a tweet by the USGA and...
View ArticleThe evolution of precision fertilizer application.
Listening to @PenderSuper at @golfimoso in Iceland this morning. pic.twitter.com/4nGILz3uN1 — Edwin Roald (@EdwinRoald) November 17, 2017 I recently returned from an amazing trip to Ireland and...
View ArticleHerd Immunity and Disease Spread
Just remember… #herdimmunity — Brandon Horvath (@UTTurfPath) November 30, 2017 This tweet started an interesting discussion on twitter today. It centered around herd immunity and turfgrass disease...
View Article2017, "Oh the places you'll go"
Every year I wonder if I will run out of things to write about or keep me interested and passionate about my job. While 2017 was one of the most challenging years of my turfgrass career, it was also...
View ArticleWhy Use Less Fertilizer?
There has been quite a bit of talk on twitter lately about certain products that allow superintendents use less fertilizer. For me, fertilizer use has always been one of the most interesting, and...
View ArticleUsing Growth Potential as a communication tool
Growth potential was a game changer for me when I first learned about it in 2013. It was the first time that I was able to easily get a general idea of how grass grew in my specific climate and...
View ArticleAutomatically Updating Hargraves ETo, Pace Turf Growth Potential, and Smith...
Last week I decided to learn to code so that I could pull weather data off the internet and into my spreadsheets. This would allow my weather related models to update by themselves without me having to...
View ArticleSimplifying Soil Biology with Clipping Yield
I had a blast speaking in Atlantic Canada last week about fertilizer. Photo: Micah Woods Soil biology has always been one of those things that confuses the hell out of me. It's a complicated thing and...
View ArticleMLSN MATH Step by Step
I've done a lot of talks recently all over the world about the MLSN guidelines and a common issue I come across is people getting hung up on the math. One of the biggest advantages of MLSN is giving...
View ArticleWhy I don't charge for what I do
I get asked this question almost daily. "Why don't I charge for what I do?""You should really charge money for this" The simple answer is that the reason I don't charge for what I do is that I feel a...
View ArticleTurfgrass Maintenance HUD
I've talked about how to efficiently collect and analyze data on a golf course using google forms and google sheets on this blog. These free cloud based tools make is super easy to collect data in the...
View ArticleLow Cost Surface Firmness Tester
If you're a broke datahead like me you probably have always wanted to measure your putting green surface firmness but haven't been able to justify the $1000+ expense to buy one of the fancy testers...
View ArticleDoes Aerification Make Disease Worse?
Have you ever noticed a disease outbreak immediately following aerification? I'm pretty sure most people have and this is why it is common practice to spray a fungicide before aerifying. Why does this...
View ArticleMeasuring Putting Green Infiltration Rates
In my last post I discussed how too much aerification might be a bad thing and wondered if more is better or if there is an ideal amount of compaction that we can maintain to maximize soil health and...
View ArticleI got a drone! Thank you!
A few weeks while checking out twitter I came across the following tweet by Mr. Drone aka Thomas Bastis Now that I have upgraded, I’m selling my older Inspire 1v1 with 4 batteries and 2 remotes. DM me...
View ArticleIf I had a magic 8 ball
It would probably read, "All signs point to fertilizing more!" Why? Despite my lack of a magic 8 ball I do have the next best thing. A HUD (Heads Up Display) which shows all my course data. This is...
View ArticleIs Feast or Famine Better than Light and Frequent?
This is what I call "DiseaseyAF" weather This past week I gave my greens a reasonably heavy fertilizer application (1g n/m^2 (0.25# N/1000) as all the signs I had were suggesting that my greens needed...
View ArticleUsing indicator species to fine tune fertilizer applications
I get it. I talk a lot about turf disease and fertilizer but it is only because I think that the two things are closely related. More specifically, I think the amount and types of diseases on our grass...
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