| Volume 1, Issue 2 |
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Fall 1994 |
Interview: Glenn Smickley,
Robert Trent Jones Golf Club
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Most people think of the New Jersey shore as a summer haven of warm sunny days and sandy white beaches. For Angelo Petraglia
of the Deal Country Club and many other superintendents in the
area, it's ripe with its own inherent set of turf management challenges.
Angelo has been at Deal, located just a mile off
the New Jersey shore line, since 1990 and has seen his share of
weather conditions ranging from "Nor-Easters" to tornadoes,
hot, humid summers to ice covered winters, this past winter being
one of the worst. "We had a lot of winter damage on our greens
this past winter, loosing about a quarter of the greens, but we've
come out of it very well. A lot of guys pushed a lot of soluble
nitrogen this spring, but we stayed with the natural organics
(Earth Works 5-4-5) and small doses of ammonium sulfate and had
very little problems this summer."
The Greens at Deal are old "push-up" style
soil greens. The course was first built in 1898 and re-designed
by Donald Ross in 1920. The soil in the fairways vary from the
east to the west side of the course, the east being a sandy loam
and the west a heavier clay loam. "For a small club we get
a good amount of play and these greens take a beating. Compaction
has always been a problem."
Angelo began looking into alternative programs when
he came to Deal to help relieve some of the compaction problems.
He looked into the use of natural organics such as Milorganite
Angelo Petraglia
Deal Country Club
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and started to see some improvement. Pleased with the success
"Since using Earth Works, we have had fewer
uncontrollable disease problems..."
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he received, he started looking further into the whole concept
of biological soil management. "I saw Earth Works at a local
trade show and it sparked my interest. I really liked the idea
of the mineral based product, it seemed to have what the others
lacked."
Fighting Poa is a struggle for many courses and Deal has been no exception.
"One of the best things about using the Earth Works 5-4-5 is that it
fits very well into our program of frequent over-seeding of greens started
in 1991." Angelo follows an aggressive over-seeding program on his
greens. "We seed every month from May through September in combination
with aerification then back fill with top-dressing and broadcast 1 pound of
seed per 1000 sq. ft." His Poa management program has been tough but is
working.
"The reason I feel the 5-4-5 fits into a frequent
over seeding program is, not only are we providing good nutrition
for our established turf, but we are also helping to boost our
new seedling growth."
Angelo is a graduate of Delaware Valley College
of Agricultural Sciences with a degree in agronomy. "Del
Val was good at bringing all the disciplines together and relating
them to what we do as turf managers, but I did not know as much
about the complexity of soils as I do now. The Neal Kinsey book
(Hands on Agronomy) has really helped put this all into perspective."
Deal has been working with Earth Works for three
years. The greens and fairways all receive the 5-4-5 natural organic
as the base fertilizer and the greens are supplemented with N-HANCE,
KICK and POTENT-SEA PLUS (kelp & fish meal). "We follow
a program of 1/4 pound per 1000 sq. ft. of the 5-4-5 every 3 weeks
starting in mid May and continuing through October. We also dormant
feed with 1 pound per 1000 sq. ft. in mid November."
The focus of a biological soil management program
is in feeding the soil and providing a haven for beneficial bacterial
and higher forms of life. When this is accomplished, nutrient
mobility increases, compaction and plant stress decreases providing
for less management problems. "The reason I know the program
is working is not only an increase in our bentgrass populations
but also a return to life of our soil as evidenced by a healthy
earthworm population. Before using the natural organics, there
were no earthworms and there was no seedling survival to speak
of." The crew whips the greens in the morning before mowing
to remove the worm castings. "I don't mind the worm castings,
the added work doesn't take much time and I know that material
is beneficial"
Earth Works has been performing soil audits on the
"Before using natural organic fertilizers
there was no earth- worm activity and there was no seedling survival
to speak of. Something here is working!"
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course since fall of 1992. In tracking these tests, the base saturations
have fallen into balance, nutrient mobility has consistently increased
and the humus levels have risen. Humus is the ultimate goal of
a healthy soil, it not only is a plant usable nutrient source,
but it is a wonderful soil buffer holding water and nutrients.
"An added benefit to getting on the Earth Works program was
the soil testing and analysis service provided. I like to track
our base saturation levels and Earth Works has helped me to understand
the importance of a balanced soil. To correct a high magnesium
problem, they recommended only high calcium lime and gypsum. Even
if your pH is correct, it is still important to apply calcium
as a nutrient."
Calcium mobility can have a major impact on disease
suppression. Keeping base saturation levels up, improving nutrient
mobility through increased microbial populations and supplementing
with liquid calcium, such as N-HANCE, as part of a program is
so important.
In his first year at Deal, Angelo was constantly
battling diseases and almost lost all his greens to summer patch
and that was followed by root pythium in the fall. "I knew
something was seriously wrong. Working with the soil first made
a lot of sense."
"Since using Earth Works, we have had fewer
uncontrollable disease problems and this is on greens that were
known for having serious summer patch and root pythium outbreaks.
We have virtually no dollar spot problems now".
CALCIUM
THE OTHER 'MACRO' NUTRIENT
Nothing can live without large amounts of calcium.
Still, calcium gets no respect. Why do we focus so
much attention on NPK and so little attention on calcium?
Lets look at the facts of calcium:
- Used more by weight and volume than any other nutrient.
Builds and strengthens cell walls in stems, roots
and leaves.
- If present in ample amounts within the cell, calcium
can significantly help to fight off fungal attack preventing disease
outbreak.
- Improves soil texture and helps make phosphorous
and micro-nutrients more available.
- Improves environment for beneficial micro-organisms.
- Improves the photosynthesis of the plant.
- Is involved in critical relationships with other
nutrients such as phosphorous and magnesium.
Calcium also plays a role in pH but is too often
looked at ONLY as a pH buffer. This is unfortunate, because in
the whole scheme of soil management, pH plays a small (but important)
part of the big picture. The other fallacy about calcium and pH
is that often it's not calcium that is driving pH. Soils high
in sodium or magnesium and low in calcium can have a high pH.
In these situations, it is often prudent to apply calcium to help
balance the base saturation percentages and push out the excessive
nutrient.
Colloidal sites need to be saturated with calcium
in order to provide adequate nutrient mobility.
When evaluating the soil's calcium requirement,
the first place to look is the base saturation percentages on
the soil test. Base saturation is a measurement of cation exchange
capacity (CEC) and measures the percentage of Ca, Mg, K, H and
other cations. These percentages always add up to 100%, which
may sound obvious, but this is significant. When one nutrient
is high, the other is low. It works as a balancing act, the way
to move out an excessive nutrient is to add a competing cation.
This helps to explain why using calcium can help reduce an excessive
level of magnesium which could help reduce potential pH problems.
The ideal base saturation percentages are: Ca: 65
- 75%, Mg: 10 - 20%; K: - 3 - 6%; H: 10 - 15%; The ratios between
Ca:Mg should be close to 7:1 while the ratio between Ca:K should
be close to 14:1.
There are many sources of calcium available for
use, but few know the differences and how best to use each in
a program. Let's look at what is available:
Dolomitic lime - this is by far the most popular
of all liming materials on the East Coast, but commonly the wrong
choice. Dolomitic lime is calcium and magnesium, but the
Mg is usually around 20%, which is too high for most soil profiles
in this area.
High calcium lime - not as well known than dolomitic
but higher in calcium and lower in magnesium. In high Mg soil
(common in the North East) this is the lime best suited to balance
soil cations.
Gypsum - calcium sulfate, an excellent source of
calcium and sulfur and will have less effect on pH. Gypsum can
not be used at the same high rates as lime but the calcium tends
to be more available. Gypsum is also well known as a soil conditioner
because it does a very good job of opening tight soils.
Foliar sources - There are many advantages in using
a foliar source of calcium (EARTH WORKS N-HANCE).
Foliar calcium can help combat the problem of poor calcium mobility
and by putting calcium into the cell of the plant where it is
needed most.
Products like N-HANCE can actually
help to pull calcium out of the soil and into solution so that
the plant can take it up.
Perhaps the biggest challenge the turf manager has
when it comes to calcium is not getting it into the ground, but
more importantly, getting it into the plant. Calcium is very immobile,
which is why it is needed in such large amounts. In most soils,
it is held tight to the soil colloid. The most effective way to
make calcium available is to keep the base saturation up to 65
-75% (regardless of pH) and provide the soil the food stuffs for
increased biological activity, ie. organic material.
CALCIUM -
AVAILABLE at EARTH WORKS
HIGH CALCIUM LIME - EARTH
WORKS is now making available WHITE'S high calcium pelletized
limestone for large quantity purchases (10 - 20 ton deliveries,
smaller quantities may be available through special purchase -
please call). High calcium lime is the lime of choice in the East
Coast because it is low magnesium (only 5% Mg vs 20% Mg for most
dolomitic limes). Most soil profiles in the area show Mg levels
to be above 15% base saturation for Mg. When Mg levels are too
high, calcium is pushed out of the soil.
$3/BAG (FOB) discounts available for volume.
EARTH WORKS N-HANCE - A 12%
liquid calcium product in a humic acid base. Much research has
shown that keeping levels of calcium up in the cell is very effective
at suppressing disease. This product not only provides foliar
calcium but works as a soil conditioner as well.
DORMANT FEED - THE SOIL
Fall is the perfect time to feed your soil and provide
food stuffs for the proliferation of micro-organisms and to stimulate
roots. Conventional wisdom has taught us to dormant feed with
high levels of soluble nitrogen, but much research has shown that
urea and urea based products do little for the soil, and in fact,
most of the nitrogen is lost at this time of year due to leaching
or volatilization. These soluble fertilizers are effective at
feeding the plant but in the fall the plant will take up little
nitrogen. The breakdown of this nitrogen follows the old cycle:
UREA >>> AMMONIA >>> NITRITE >>> NITRATE >>> (UPTAKE)
All of this breakdown is performed by micro-nutrients.
When these microbes are suddenly introduced to 1-2 lbs of proteinaceous
nitrogen (in the form of UREA) they need to work 'overtime' to
try to digest it and break it down to plant usable forms. This
sudden burst of energy (on the microbes part) must be fed with
carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are found in the organic fractions
of the soil. The result is a reduction of organic matter, water
holding capacity and food available for the proliferation of microbes
and increased soil compaction and thatch.
Fall is a good time to test your soil for exchangeable
nutrients. Be sure to use a soil testing service that incorporates
a base saturation test and learn to become familiar with the significance
of this part of your test. This is where you can determine a balance
of basic cations. Pay attention to the levels of Ca and Mg as
well as K. Feed the soil the calcium it needs to bring the Ca
base saturation up to 65 -75%. Be careful not to over feed potassium,
a nutrient that is "vogue" in the industry now. Too
much K is as bad as too little K. Keep the base saturation of
K around 5%.
The EARTH WORKS 5-4-5 Natural Organic is
the ideal fall and dormant feed fertilizer. It's base is chicken
compost but it is loaded with rock minerals, humic acid and sugars
all designed to feed the soil. Many golf course superintendents
have seen significant results with this approach.
THANK YOU
Our first SOIL FIRST newsletter hit
the street in June of this year and since then we have had many
very positive comments and we would like to thank you for your
interest and for supporting us in this project.
We are finding that many golf course superintendents
and lawn care professionals are starting to pay closer attention
to managing the soil first. The overwhelming comment tends
to be "this makes sense." For that we
are grateful because our goals are clearly to make sense
of a subject that too few of us ever found all that interesting
- AGRONOMY.
Many people took advantage of our offering to make
available the book by Neal Kinsey "Hands-On-Agronomy"
The feedback here again has been very positive. We will continue
to have Mr. Kinsey's book available to you for $20 (plus shipping)
by simply calling our office. "Hands-On-Agronomy" is
a great beginning in understanding the concepts of biological
soil management.
I would like to thank Angelo Petraglia from
Deal Country Club for taking the time to sit down with
us for this interview. Angelo is truly one of the most pleasant
people that we have the privilege of working with.
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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