| Volume 1, Issue 1 |
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Summer 1994 |
Interview: Tom Breiner,
Fiddlers Elbow Country Club
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It's 5:30 am on a cool March morning. Tom Breiner, golf course superintendent of Fiddlers Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, New
Jersey sits in his office anxiously waiting for the last few inches of snow and ice to thaw off the course. "It's been one of the toughest winters in a long while and we can smell the anaerobic soils on the sites that have cleared. All I can do now is rely
on our program and hope for the best." The course opened
for play on April 8th and as Tom notes "this place
has never looked this good this early in the season."
Fiddlers Elbow is a 36-hole course with a new 18 scheduled to
open sometime late this spring. The fairways are bentgrass and
the greens are a combination of USGA spec sand and older push-up
style soil. The new course is all sand greens. The native soil
is heavy clay and shale providing for very poor rooting and drainage.
"Considering these soil types, the bent is extremely prone
to wilt, a problem that we were constantly fighting."
Tom has become committed to a well balanced program that focuses
on soils by stimulating biological activity and balancing nutrient
mobility. "We start with a base fertility program of Earth
Tom Breiner
Fiddlers Elbow Country Club
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Works 5-4-5 Natural Organic on all our greens, tees and fairways.
"Clearly the greatest benefit that I receive from this
program is control and safety"
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This provides us with a stable slow release source of macro and
micro nutrients and the mineral content has definitely helped
to open these tight soils. Our wilt problem has all but disappeared.
We now can use water soluble fertilizers to supplement when we
have to but with great control, taking the highs and lows out
of the program."
Tom is a Rutgers graduate and worked at Oak Hill for 13 years
prior to moving to Fiddlers Elbow in 1986. "I've come from
a very conventional background, but I was always open to good
ideas, especially if they work. A program that focused on soil
just makes sense to me."
Tom first started working with Earth Works in the summer of 92
just after 20 days of drought and temperatures in the upper 80's
and 90's. "The fairways were wilted and the greens we just
hanging in there. We were ready to try anything. We had some
pretty positive results with a sludge product in the past and
really like the rich mineral content of the 5-4-5." They
started with one of the worst fairways on the course and applied
the Earth works 5-4-5 at a high rate of 20 lbs./1000 sq. ft.,
equal to 1 lb. of N/1000. Within two weeks, that fairway was
growing vigorously and wilting was now minimal when everything
around it was wilting and purple. Needless to say, I was convinced.
We started working with other biological products and we have
really seen an improvement."
A continued program of soil testing has been carried out since
the fall of 1992. A standard CEC test is used side by side with
a water soluble test to compare not only what is in the soil but
also to provide indications as to nutrient mobility. "The
Earth Works soil tests have been a great help in our understanding
the whole biological soil management concept and providing information
that guides us in fine tuning the program, especially in the sand
greens."
Sand greens and native sandy soils require a unique management
approach, and presents the turf manager with an interesting paradox.
On one hand they need a lot of soil building material and at
the same they need to be pushed with soluble fertilizers. The
limiting factor being CEC.
"It's not easy for any superintendent to manage sand greens
and it's harder still when half the course is soil and the other
half sand. The (Earth Works) soil tests have really shown some
interesting results in the sand. The total nutrient levels have
only moved slightly, but the mobility is clearly up and the greens
are rooting better and showing less stress."
Tom has taken a progressive approach with his sand greens. After
seeing poor rooting and limited water and nutrient holding capacity,
he started incorporating such products as DESERT GREENS to help
build CEC and provide a quickly available source of carbohydrate
to soil microbes and JUNGLE GREENS to help control thatch and
suppress disease.
"The bio-stimulation that these products have provided us
is certainly helping. Sand greens are not easy to manage and
"Within two weeks that fairway was growing
vigorously… when everything around it was wilting and purple.
Needless to say I was convinced…"
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it has taken longer to turn them around than it has the soil,
but this year has definitely started out great."
Although they have been cut back significantly, pesticides are
still a very real part of Tom's program. "This is not an 'Organic' program, but more
importantly a biological one. We have cut back our pesticide
usage and we have seen a lot less disease problems."
"I feel very strongly about the success we have had with
the soil conditioner 5-4-5. The humic acid and wetting agent combination
has generated better water movement and rooting."
One of the strongest features of Tom's program has been a very
aggressive calcium fertility approach. Calcium can provide significant
disease suppression if it's plant available. "EARTH WORKS
has really pushed the idea of balancing calcium levels in the
soil and focusing on base saturation levels. We have brought
up the calcium levels with high calcium lime and gypsum. I'm
really becoming a big believer in the foliar calcium of N-HANCE."
"There is no question that this program has provided us with
some very impressive results. Clearly, the greatest benefit that
I receive from this program is control and safety of application
in all seasons. I'm avoiding high salt, overly reactive fertilizers
and gaining the tremendous advantage of the minerals. The soil
re-mineralization that I have seen has really opened these soils
and allowed me to cut back on aerification. I really feel in
control for the first time. No more roller coaster rides!!!"
PROTOPLASM MANAGEMENT???
You have heard about landscape management, perhaps poa management
and maybe even biological soil management, but here's a new one
for you: Protoplasm management!!!
Webster describes protoplasm as: "the essential
living matter of all animal and plant cells." He continues
by describing it as a "semifluid viscous colloid."
In fact, it is what holds soil together, providing friability.
What we are leading toward here is a topic that too few of us
truly understand. The mysterious "nitrogen to carbon
ratio."!!! Protoplasm is a critical pivoting point
in this balance between the "grow foods"
(nitrogen, or proteins) and the "go foods"
(carbon, or carbohydrates).
Another description of protoplasm is that it is the ideal composite
of true proteins (amino acids) and simple and complex carbohydrates
which provide the optimum medium for the spontaneous occupation
of beneficial micro-flora and fauna. These organisms are capable
of producing a host of benefits such as: a) enzymes - to digest
organic raw materials (e.g. plant residues, top dressings, thatch,
compost, etc.); b) mobilize fixed (tied-up) nutrients such as
phosphorous, calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, copper,
etc.; c) convert free, unstable ammonia into nitrate; d) fix nitrogen
from the atmosphere; e) produce anti-pathogenic compounds which
buffer the plant from disease causing agents and f) buffer the
plant from extremes of temperature, moisture, drought, and compaction.
This is the key to a healthy soil - build a program that
provides for the creation of protoplasm and everything will fall
into line.
By initiating the above dynamics, protoplasm produces soil friability
(note the mucilaginous coating of well-granulated soil). This
creates pore space with oxygen which quickly leads to vigorous
root mass. Root secretions (exudates) in turn produce various
Metabolites which stimulate the proliferation of more beneficial
microbes creating a self-reinforcing and self-sustaining biological
cycle.
The main impediment to this cycle is the mis-use (over use) of
nitrogen which causes the destruction of the reserve carbohydrates,
which organisms use as their energy source ('go foods").
One pound of excess nitrogen is capable of solubilizing up
to 100 pounds of soil humus. It is critical to note that
carbohydrates are present in healthy soil in a number of forms
from the very simple (sugars and polysaccharides) to the most
complex (lignins and humates). When providing a quickly available
source of nitrogen, it is wise to present simultaneously a quickly
available source of energy such as is found in invert sugars (cane,
molasses or corn syrup), kelp meal, fish meal and biologically
activated humic acids. These are most often applied in a liquid
presentation. However, soil applied sources of both simple and
more complex carbohydrates are the optimum raw materials to build
protoplasm, since the many life forms present in the soil depend
upon these varied sources of carbohydrates.
However, while it is significant to pay attention to these carbon:nitrogen
issues, it is quite important to not discard the vital agronomic
principles of balancing basic soil chemistry, and the four basic
principles of a sound agronomic program; good air management;
water management; decay management; and finally, good nutrient
management. One is a good building block of another and a good
soils program cannot be achieved without the other.
The diagram below helps to describe the levels of available carbon
both short and long chain sources, which is key in balancing the
C:N ratio in any turf program.
The EARTH WORKS product line has been built around this concept. When evaluating the formulations
of the majority of the EARTH WORKS products, you will see that
most follow this pyramid development. The 5-4-5 and the JUNGLE
GREENS products, the best soil building products in the line,
follow this pyramid development to the fullest by incorporating
sugars (short chain) as a quickly available carbon source, compost
for moderate availability and humic acids (long chain) for slowly
available carbon.
By incorporating these materials into your program, you will feed
the soil the material it needs to build protoplasm, thereby feeding
beneficial soil micro-organisms that will release nutrients into
plant usable forms. This results in a healthy soil, less plant
stress, and lowered pest problems.
HANDS-ON AGRONOMY
by Neal Kinsey
"HANDS-ON AGRONOMY" by Neal Kinsey is
one of the most comprehensive books available on the complex and
often boring subject of soils. But he has made
it understandable and easy reading with his first person story
telling style. Neal was a student of Dr. William Albrecht, who
many consider the father of biological soil management. A consultant
to farmers, Neal has written this book for his clientele, but
it deals with basic soils issues which clearly crosses all professional
disciplines in the grounds management business.
"HANDS-ON AGRONOMY" is available from:
EARTH WORKS for only $20 plus shipping.
If you're interested in learning more about biological soil management
you will find this book to be a valuable investment in your future.
To order call Claudia at 1 800 732-TURF
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THE EARTH WORKS 'SPECIAL SHEET'
JUNE - KICK The Ultimate Soil Conditioner - 5 gallon
case for $29 per gallon (normally $34/gal) save $25/case,
and as always free delivery
JULY - POTENT-SEA PLUS Introductory price of
only $25 per gallon (normally $30/gal) save $25/case…
See description below.
AUGUST - N-HANCE Liquid Calcium in a Humic Acid
Base $17 per gallon very helpful in disease suppression,
providing foliar calcium and soil conditioning.
INTRODUCING - 'POTENT-SEA PLUS' Combines
the powerful bio-stimulation properties and the trace nutrients
of POTENT-SEA with the added values of increased amino acids and
macro-nutrients of fish meal. POTENT-SEA PLUS can
be used to stimulate weak greens and tees or landscape plant material.
It is also very valuable in tank mixes to help provide needed
nutrient mobility.
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WELCOME
It's our very first SOIL FIRST newsletter and we would
like to welcome you to our quarterly publication. We hope that
you find this publication both entertaining and informative.
Our plans are to help you understand what the EARTH WORKS concepts
are all about and if we're lucky we will help you make your job
a little easier by taking the SOIL FIRST approach to your
turf management problems.
We will feature an interview in each issue with an EARTH WORKS
user from a variety of turf management situations. Also featured
in each issue will be a timely article written to inform you on
basic agronomic or horticultural topics. We will also take liberty
to talk about new or improved products from EARTH WORKS.
Our goal is to make available the most complete soils products
and technical information that we can. Please let us know how
we're doing!
I would like to thank Tom Breiner for his gracious consent to
being our first SOIL FIRST interview. He is someone
who has supported us and believed in our work long before even
we knew where we were going with this whole project.
EARTH WORKS is a manufacturer of a complete line
of Natural Organic products with the technical expertise to help
you in all aspects of your soil/turf management position.
Please give us a call at 800 732-TURF
if you have any questions or comments.
SOIL FIRST
is published by
EarthWorks
Natural Organic Products
6574 S. Delaware Drive, P.O. Box 278K
Martins Creek, PA 18063
1 800 732-TURF
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