| Volume 2, Issue 2 |
|
Fall 1995 |
Interview: John Chassard, Lehigh Country Club
|
|
 |
Lehigh Country Club is a private club that was built in 1927 in the heart of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Designed by William
Flynn, this majestic club is steeped with history and has survived
the many changes that its 66 years has offered.
As is true of many clubs built in this era, Lehigh Country Club
has made many changes to its original design. During WWII the
greens were downsized to help support fuel rationing. The bunkers
fell victim to years of use and the effects of weather, and the
original design started to fade away.
In 1991, in his fourth year as superintendent, John Chassard took
on the task of building a master plan to help bring the course
back toward its original design. "Over the years a lot of
changes were being made to this course with little long range
planning or a direction in mind. We wanted to establish a direction
that would integrate the original Flynn design and establish a
plan that the members could agree to, and stick with over the
long term," explains John.
At this point the Donald Ross Society was contacted and Ron Forse
was hired to help with the re-design plans. According to John,
"Ron is a real historian and actually began by working with
aerial photographs of the course from back in 1938. His ideas
were to bring back as much of the original design as possible,
still keeping in mind today's game."
John is a Penn State graduate and started at Lehigh Country Club
as an intern in 1983. He took over as superintendent in 1987.
John Chassard
Lehigh Country Club
|
"I think a lot of young superintendents get overwhelmed
"Having a real plan and direction long term has made all
the difference."
|
with simply growing grass and keeping the course in good shape.
Too often rebuilding a bunker or tee becomes a welcome diversion.
What we found was that this is being done for the wrong reasons.
Having a real plan and direction long term has made all the difference.
The first step in the new master plan for reconstruction was to
set priorities, John explained. "We knew we could only do
so much at any one time so it made sense to set priorities. We
decided that the number one priority was our bunkers. From the
years of degradation we had many problems with the bunkers, the
worst of which was that they were high faced, poorly drained and
full of soil contamination." They also made the decision
to help to reduce maintenance by using fescue grasses on the edges.
A close second in priority was the greens. As John described,
"the greens had gone through a down-sizing over the years
and we wanted to bring back the original greens. We also wanted
to take care of some of the problems that we had consistently
been dealing with, such as Poa and an ongoing battle with soil
borne diseases." This lead to the decision to fumigate all
the greens and start from scratch. 200,000 square feet of greens,
edges and approaches were stripped and treated with methyl bromide,
then either re-sodded or seeded.
Finally, the tees were addressed and concerns here included elevation,
with an interest to increase their size. Two years earlier, in
September of 1991, the practice tee had been re-built to an 80/20
USGA specification of sand and sphagnum peat moss. The decision
was made to re-build 9 ladies' tees and 8 men's' tees, a total
of 17 tee boxes in all, to the same construction material as the
practice tee. Construction started on August 9, 1993.
The greens were fumigated on August 16th and re-seeded
with Penn Links by Labor Day. All but three men's' tees were
seeded with Dominant in the fall of 1993. The course was re-opened
May 20, 1994.
"The new practice tee had never given us any real problems
and we were all very confident that the new tees would respond
in the same manner. June, however, was a very hot and humid month
and the newly seeded greens and tees were not handling the traffic
well," John explained. "The new tees were tough and
very demanding. We were spraying a lot but it wasn't lasting
very long and we were really pushing the fertility. We basically
threw everything at them!!!"
By the middle of that summer they had lost 40 - 80% of the grass
on the collars of five of the new greens and the tees were weak
at best. Much of this was due to mechanical damage, although
the University of Rhode Island did find some sheath pythium present
in some sites.
"The results have been great! We have less stress problems,
fewer disease outbreaks and both turf and soil look better."
|
With certain frustration John explained his thinking after all
this: "Once the smoke cleared I started really thinking
about what we had done to the soil. The fumigation and the sand
construction mix had taken away all the beneficial bacteria in
the soil and really set us up for some serious problems. This
is when I started talking with EARTH WORKS and began building
a biological soil management program."
The first step EARTH WORKS took was to take soil tests of both
the sand tees and the newly re-built greens to look at both the
chemistry and the biology of the soil. Imbalances on the chemistry
side of the tests were found and adjusted and weaknesses in soil
biology were addressed.
"We started feeding the soil and tried to rebuild some of
the lost biology. The approach that EARTH WORKS took was to balance
the chemistry first and then feed the soil, which was what I was
looking for but wasn't sure how to do. We use the EARTH WORKS
5-4-5 Natural Organic fertilizer to feed the soil and plants,
N-HANCE for foliar calcium and soil conditioning,
Desert Greens
and Greensand to feed the soil and high calcium lime and gypsum
to bring the calcium levels into line," according to John.
"The results have been great! We have less stress problems,
fewer disease outbreaks and both the turf and the soil look better.
I'll keep watching but so far so good!"
BEYOND pH!
Too often when evaluating soil tests, the first and commonly only,
evaluation that is made is one of pH. Universities and conventional
wisdom has taught us that soils are best evaluated on a pH/NPK
basis. Unfortunately this type of evaluation is a very narrow
view of the dynamics of soils. The pH is important, but is a
very small piece of a very big picture and should never be the
sole source of evaluation when building a soil management program.
pH represents the "power of hydrogen" or perhaps better
stated the "percentage of hydrogen". This is a cause
If a soils' base saturation is properly balanced the pH will always
fall in the 6.0 to 6.5 range, which is where the most nutrient
availability is found.
|
and effect relationship and is relative to the percentage of cations
on the base saturation. For example: base saturation percentages
will always add up to 100%. Therefore if one cation is low another
is high. If we add one cation to the soil it pushes out, or masks,
another. Since hydrogen is a major cation, and pH is being driven
by the percentage of hydrogen, it is easy to understand that the
way to affect pH is to adjust the balance of the base saturation
cations.
An important question is: "what is really driving the pH?"
If pH is being driven by this balance of cations it goes with
reason that any one of the cations can and will affect the soil
pH.
A good example of the complexity of this situation is a soil
recently tested where the soil pH was 7.5. The recommendation
was ½ ton per acre of high calcium lime. Needless to say,
conventional wisdom will tell you that adding calcium to a high
pH soil is not going to lower the pH. But this is exactly what
happened and it dropped down to 7.0 in only six months.
When evaluating this soil it was found that the base saturation
of calcium was only 54%, but the base saturation of magnesium
was as high as 34%, when it should be down around 15%. In this
case it was the Mg that was driving the pH; not the calcium.
By adding the high calcium lime (low Mg) the calcium levels came
up and the Mg levels dropped to 24% base saturation and the pH
followed.
Dr. William Albrecht, former head of the Agronomy Department at
the University of Missouri, found that if a soil's base saturation
is properly balanced the pH will always fall in the 6.0 - 6.5
range which is where the most nutrient availability is found.
That balance of base saturation percentages is as follows:
| Ca | 60 - 70% |
| Mg | 10 - 20% |
| K | 2 - 5% |
| Na | .5 - 3% |
| H | 10 - 15% |
| Others | 2 - 4% |
|
|
Perhaps the most important elements to consider here are calcium
and magnesium and their relationship to each other. They should
make up 80% of the base saturation on any given colloidal site.
If Ca, Mg, K and Na are all within this range hydrogen can only
be 10 to 15% of the soil make up. Therefore, pH is going to fall
within that 6.0 to 6.5 range.
There are always exceptions to the rule. If the cations are within
this desired range and pH is off in either direction then the
question must be asked "what is driving pH?" It could
be an excess in Aluminum or Iron…
The simple key here is focus first on balancing base saturation
cations and not pH. Only by doing this can a true picture of
the soil be seen.
***NEAL KINSEY SIGNS ON***
|
Neal Kinsey has joined the EARTH WORKS and SOIL FIRST CONSULTING team as a soil consultant.
Neal attended the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he was fortunate enough
to meet and study under Dr. William Albrecht. He took his Albrecht
training to Brookside Labs where he was a consultant before starting
Kinsey Agricultural Services in 1977. EARTH WORKS
will now be exclusively using the Kinsey soil test, a much more
complete test designed on Albrecht research, for all of our standard
analyses. We will maintain our soluble testing and in working
with Neal will also be able to provide tissue testing in situations
that warrant. To all of our clients, we strongly suggest a copy
of Neal Kinsey's "Hands on Agronomy",
a definitive but easy reading text on balancing soils using Albrecht
methodology. Available by calling Michelle at EARTH WORKS
for only $20 plus $3 s/h.
|
THE 'ART' OF SOIL TESTING
Not all soil tests are created equal! Not all soil test results
are evaluated equally! The real 'art' to soil testing is having
a testing service that is thorough and consistent and most importantly
the evaluation must be complete.
Most of the major labs and the universities use very similar testing
procedures and for the most part are good tests. Consistency
is key. Trying to evaluate soil tests from a host of different
testing labs for the same site presents a serious problem. Each
lab is different and the results will vary making them hard to
compare.
EARTH WORKS and SOIL FIRST CONSULTING
have teamed up with Neal Kinsey Agricultural Services Labs for standard CEC
testing and will continue to use a water soluble LaMott test for soluble
testing.
The Kinsey test is conducted using strict Albrecht testing methods
and performed by a former Brookside Labs manager. Many testing
labs have moved to larger more cost effective machinery for evaluation,
a procedure that can evaluate as many as 15 to 20 elements at
one time. The Kinsey lab uses a more traditional method, evaluating
only a few elements at one time. This is in line with the methods
established by Dr. William Albrecht who created the procedures
that most established agronomists use to evaluate soil profiles.
There is a problem when Albrecht methodology is used for evaluation
but not for the actual testing procedure.
Perhaps the most important consideration when evaluating a soil
testing service is to be sure that they run a base saturation
test, but equally important is that they run a complete base saturation.
A complete base saturation test will consist of Ca, Mg, K, Na,
H and other cations. Since these are percentages they will always
add up to 100%. Many labs leave out Na and other cations which
could throw off the results by as much as 10 - 15%. When trying
to balance the chemistry in the soil this difference can be significant.
There are three major aspects of a soil that must be taken into
account when evaluating a soil. They are the chemical, the biological
and the physical properties. All are equally important and all
work hand in hand depending on each other for their own success.
EARTH WORKS developed a product line to support the biological side of the
equation but quickly realized that without completely balancing the chemical side
that the organic products would not work as well, so SOIL FIRST CONSULTING was established. Using the
combination of the Kinsey test for the chemistry and the LaMott test for the
biological evaluation, SOIL FIRST is able to create a soil profile that is
as complete and thorough as any available. Once the chemical and the biological
profiles are adjusted the physical structure will often fall in line, although
physical analysis is available.
Tissue testing is also being used but only in combination with
the soil profile. This is another valuable tool that can help
in the battle to grow quality turf but should never be considered
as a primary test without understanding what is in the soil
first!
INTRODUCING…
It is with great pleasure that we introduce SOIL FIRST
CONSULTING. This is a project that has stemmed form the work done at
EARTH WORKS. In order for our biological products to work better it became
clear that we needed to balance the chemistry of the soil first! And more
work was created!!!
In the past five years we have learned a tremendous amount about
the dynamics of the soil and how it relates to turf management.
In a further attempt at providing the very best soil profiling
service possible, we have acquired the services of Neal Kinsey.
Neal will be working with us as a consultant evaluating soil
tests and providing recommendations. We will combine this work
with our soluble tests to determine the soil's biological activity
and provide recommendations for improving microbial environments.
For more information please contact any of our distributors or
call us directly.
I would like to thank John Chassard from Lehigh Country
Club for working with us on this interview. His good nature
and expertise was greatly appreciated. I would also like to apologize
for the "Forest Gump" photograph and wish both
John and his wife Susan the very best of luck on their upcoming
addition to the Chassard household.
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
| | 
