NORTHWEST TURFGRASS TOPICS
VOL. 10, No. 2

PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON

From The President's Corner

SEPTEMBER, 1968

THE EFFECT OF SAWDUST
IN TURFGRASS SEEDBEDS
BY ROY L. G O S S

The question has been asked over the
years what the effect of various types of
sawdust is on seedling germination and
emergence. Various references in the literature have pointed out that pure cedar
and pitch pine sawdust could be toxic to
some seedlings. As recent as 1967 an
article published in the Agronomy Journal
under the authorship of D. D. Waddington,
W. C. Lincoln and J. T. Troll indicates
that sawdust from ash and red oak can be
very toxic to most seedlings, and particularly so to Merion bluegrass.

BY GEORGE HARRISON

It is a source of great satisfaction
to see the results of a great combination
of effort and interest such as was displayed at our last Northwest Turfgrass
Conference, The program rolled on schedule, The speakers were well prepared and
qualified, and the setting was well nigh
perfect. Even the weatherman cooperated
to give us a beautuful autumn week.
It seemed that the choice of new
directors was excellent and reflected a
great deal of thought on the part of the
nominating committee and those doing the
voting. Placing three people from different segments of the industry on our
board should make the future of the
association look very bright.
Tom Keel presented a paper quite
unusual in its approach, in that the usage
by people was indicated as a measure of
(Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

The value of sawdust as a soil amendment
has been reported over the many years.
Some of the favorable changes which can be
expected when sawdust is used as an amendment are: increases in humus, cation exchange capacity, aggregation, moistureholding capacity, and aeration porosity.
There is a possibility that adverse effects
from sawdust can exist as well. Nitrogen
deficiency often occurs when undecomposed
sawdust is attacked by microorganisms.
Usually this condition can be corrected by
the addition of soluble nitrogen fertilizer.
Sawdust from hardwood (alder, maple etc.
in the Pacific Northwest) decomposes more
rapidly than that of softwoods. Thus,
nitrogen tie-up and the need for supplemental nitrogen is greater with hardwood sawdust. Care should be exercised in the
amount of sawdust used in any soil mixture.
The usual recommendations from Washington
State University do not go above 20 to 25%
sawdust by volume in such things as athletic
fields or putting green seedbeds.
PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS OF SAWDUST
In addition to the chemical advantages
that sawdust can impart to a soil, there
are other physical advantages to be considered. Resiliency of a soil, particularly
athletic fields or putting greens, must be
considered. Hard surfaces can interfere
with the holding ability of a well-hit golf
ball; likewise, hard surfaces are injurious
to players on athletic fields. Hard sur(Continued on Page 2, Col. 2)

SAWDUST

Oregon
Compost
Heap . . .

from Page 1

faces usually indicate also, that there is
a lack of porosity, which in turn affects
root growth and oxygen relationships. Sawdust is very beneficial in helping to
build in more resiliency.
OTHER ORGANIC MATERIALS

BY
BYRON
REED

Sunday, August 25, 1968 in Salem, Oregon
at the Marion Hotel, the Board of Directors of the Oregon Turf Managers Association met to discuss and form the meeting
places and speakers for the 1968-69 Turf
Managers monthly meetings. This is the
second annual meeting held and affords an
excellent opportunity to exchange ideas
and thoroughly plan the coming meetings.
A social time followed the meeting.
The regular October meeting is being
moved to September 30, 1968 to host the
guest speaker, Mr. John Escritt, from
England. Location of this meeting is
Arrowhead Golf Club, Molalla, Oregon. I
urge all to attend and enjoy the deluxe
appointments of this fine club which is
owned by Mr. Gilbert Kappler. The date
again, September 30, 1968 at 10:30 a.m.
sharp.
Since the last writing a new golf club
is opened in Salem, Oregon. This club,
"Salem Towne," a deluxe senior citizens
development, was constructed by Mr. Bill
Schafer. Bill is now involved in constructing another new club at the Santiam
junction of 1-205.
A new golf club is under construction
at Seal Rock, Oregon. The principals are:
Mr. George Stovall and Mr. Terry Gaither.
Just south of this location another golf
club is under construction at Waldport,
Oregon.
Hope to see all you readers at the Northwest Turfgrass Conference at Union, Washington.
W A T C H FOR THE NEW TURFGRASS!

Many other organic materials can be used
in turfgrass seedbeds. Sawdust is certainly not being recommended as the only
source of good organic material. Sawdust
has been recommended quite extensively in
the Pacific Northwest, due to its availability at considerably lower costs than
many other organic materials. Manures are
not as suitable in specialized turfgrass
seedbeds as the relatively stable materials
such as sawdust, peat moss or bark. Manures
decompose very rapidly and will not accomplish the purposes of maintaining high
porosity and soil resiliency.
Peat moss has been a standard in the profession for many years. -When comparing new
organic materials, the usual standard of
comparison is peat moss. Good, high
quality fibrous sphagnum peat moss is difficult to beat in seedbed preparation.
Waddington and others found in their research that peat moss did not produce any unfavorable effects upon seedling germination
and emergence as compared to a number of
the fresh sawdusts. Further research indicated that water-soluble fractions in some
fresh sawdust could cause some reduction in
seedling germination and growth. No such
response was found with peat, since peat
has been leached over a very long period of
time and any phytotoxic substances removed.
(Continued on Page 3, Col. 1)

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SAWDUST

can become pale-green, yellow, and even
become completely stunted with reddened
tips, due to nitrogen starvation.

from Page 2

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR THE USE OF SAWDUST
1. Never use sawdust in quantities greater
than 25% in the construction of seedbeds
for putting greens and athletic fields.
2. Avoid the use of pure cedar, pitch pine,
or spruce sawdust, particularly those
with high resin content.
3. It is highly preferable that the sawdust
material be weathered for a period of
two to seven months before using in seedbeds. This will allow some leaching to
help remove phytotoxic soluble substances.
4. Once the seedlings have germinated they
must receive adequate available nitrogen to keep them in a healthy state of
growth with good color. Soil organisms
attacking raw organic material require
large amounts of nitrogen for the proliferation of their species. If the
nitrogen is not in sufficient quantity
the soil bacteria will exhaust this
supply at the expense of the plant
growth. For these reasons seedlings

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5. Be positive that sawdust materials are
thoroughly blended with soil ingredients so that no pockets or layers
result in the mixture. Pockets of sawdust can decompose, leaving rough and
uneven surfaces. Sawdust pockets can
also interfere with vertical movement
of water, and can result in dry spots
under periods of moisture stress.
6. The author does not recommend sawdust
as a seed mulch material. Peat moss
is more desirable and effective when
this practice is necessary.
Rules-of-thumb vary in recommendations
for nitrogen application with sawdust
materials. The safest rule is to observe
the color and growth rate of the plant.
One to 1-1/2 pounds of available nitrogen
per 1000 square feet at the time of planting turfgrasses with sawdust mixtures
will generally start the plants growing
suitably. Light, frequent fertilizations
with nitrogen (1/2 to 3/4 pound per 1000
square feet per application) will usually
keep the plants in a vigorous state of
growth. As the plants become older, rates
of nitrogen fertilization may be increased
up to 1-1/2 pounds per 1000 square feet at
greater intervals between applications.
One of the safest means for preventing
nitrogen deficiency, where raw organic
materials have been used in mixtures, is
to incorporate recommended quantities of
urea formaldehyde nitrogen. Fifteen
pounds of 38% nitrogen from urea formaldehyde will usually supply adequate amounts
of nitrogen to prevent any deficiency over
a considerable period of time. If large
amounts of sawdust are used, it may be
(Conlinued on Page 4, Col. 1)

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER

from Page 1

value of our parks and turf« It was
interesting, too, to note the variety of
park types being built in Oregon. Tom's
experience should be very valuable to
your board.
Art Elliott has been a pusher for progress in our Northwest Golf Course Superintendents Association for many years. If
his business-like approach works as well
for our group we will be very fortunate.
Art probably associates with more persons
interested in Turf than anyone else in our
organization. His job as membership chairman is very important and I am sure that
all of you will give him all possible aid.
Send him prospects and keep him busy!
Dick Malpass has more years in dealing
with the people involved with Turf research
than anyone I know. We were lucky to have
him returned for another term. He is one
of the most generous with his time and
effort. After the conference he escorted
John Escritt to Oregon for several meetings
and then returned him to Puyallup so that
the Gould's could take him on to British
Columbia. Send any ideas that you may have
for turf research needs to Dick for presentation to our research committee meeting.

SAWDUST

A big vote of thanks and appreciation
should go to our staff members, Dick Haskell
and Roy Goss. Each year brings a little
more paper work and fiscal responsibility
for Dick as our association grows. Keeping
up the mailing list and membership list is
a tedious job at best, but Dick seems to
manage and come up smiling. Roy's effort
in providing a stimulating and educational
program is unsurpassed in the field. He
provides the needle that gets the proceedings to the printer on time, provides the
guidance that gives us a well-rounded
program, and still maintains a sense of
humor that keeps the program interesting
as well as professional.
Choosing Hayden Lake as the next site
for the conference should be a big added
attraction for conference attendance. That
course is great sport to play and the setting
on the lake is gorgeous. It is going to be
hard to top the program that we had this
year but your board will do its best
to provide something of interest to
everyone. Put aside the last week of
September for the conference now!
Let's show John Harrison we appreciate
his efforts.
(Continued on Page 5, Col. 1)

from Page 3

necessary to make a small initial application of soluble nitrogen along with the
urea formaldehyde until the release rate
of the urea formaldehyde is stabilized.
At this time, no undesirable results
have been observed in the Pacific Northwest with the use of sawdust materials in
golf course putting greens and athletic
fields where the above recommendations
have been observed.

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NEW LOOK in
TURFGRASS in
Future Issues

The Turfgrass Topics has about completed its tenth year
of publication. The Board of Directors of the Northwest
Turfgrass Association feel that the Turfgrass Topics has
served a very useful purpose to the Readers. It is felt by
some of the directors that a little larger issue with a
slightly different format and style will be in order in
coming issues.

Dick Turley Passes Away
Dick Turley, formerly a staff member
of the Canada Department of Agriculture
Research Station at Saanichton, British
Columbia, near Victoria, passed away
earlier this year. Most of us closely
associated with the turfgrass industry
remember the many contributions Dick made.
He conducted part-time research programs
on the adaptation of turfgrasses to the
lower mainland areas of British Columbia
and conducted a number of management
studies, which included fertilization,
fumigation, weed control and irrigation.
Most of us recall the excellent paper
that Dick presented at the 21st Annual
Turfgrass Conference at Harrison Hot
Springs, British Columbia in 1967. We
will very much miss Dick Turley in the
vrfgrass industry and at our future conferences and gatherings. We are indebted
to him for his contributions and extend
to his relatives and friends our most
sincere sympathy.

at the same time on a golf green last
week. Skimpy maintenance practices
seemed to be the major cause, A few
dollars saved nearly cost them the
greens.
Auburn City Park Golf Course
contract was awarded to Sprague Landscaping of Lynnwood, Construction is
to start immediately - — Ray Coleman
says that both Fairwood and Twin Lakes
will have their second nines ready for
play by early next summer. He plans
to use a hydro-seeder for fairway seeding
at Twin Lakes.
Artondale Golf is
well underway on the golf course remodeling. The new arrangement should
make it a lot more fun to play and make
it more challenging, too,
seems
that every issue of the paper has something in it about new parks, remodeling
of old ones, new golf cpurses planned.
It is an exciting time we live in.

Editor's note; The editor apologizes
for not having more detailed information
but was only advised of this matter recently.

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

from

Page 4

A few observations — the sodding
job at Federal Way High School was a
success. Six weeks after the sod was
laid the football team was holding
practice. The sod was laid during the
hottest week in July and still came
through in great shape# — I saw a
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LET US NOT CONFUSE
A rather lengthy article has been written
in this issue of the Turfgrass Topics regarding the use of organic materials as
soil additives for turfgrasses. This is an
excellent opportunity to point out the difference between organic matter and humus.
There is a vast difference.
Organic matter is a term to describe all
material that has originated from a living
origin, both plant and animal, and which
may or may not have completely decomposed.
Organic matter can contain sugars, starches,
fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and
hormones. Upon decomposition most of these
materials are further broken down to basic
components or enter into combinations in
the soil. One of these combinations appears
to be a product called humus and is usually
composed of a complex molecule of ligno-

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protein. A complex organic material called
lignin and protein at a certain stage in
their degradation combine to form this
material, humus. Therefore, one basic difference between organic material and humus
is mostly its stage of decomposition.
It takes a large amount of raw organic
material to produce even the smallest
amount of humus. Peat bogs and other vast
organic deposits are not humus. As most
of us are aware, peat will undergo further
decomposition until it reaches the humic
state. Humus has a strong affinity for
cations (all positively charged elements
and compounds in the soil) and becomes an
important additive in soils with low clay
content. For this reason specialized
areas such as putting greens and athletic
fields are greatly aided by the addition
of organic materials which eventually will
decompose and build up the humus content.
This is one method of increasing the cation
exchange capacity or nutrient-holding capacity of this type of soil.
Most organic materials contain a fairly
balanced quantity of minor elements. Therefore organic material will help to take
the place of clays that hold many of these
minor elements. Organic materials, and
eventually humus, become increasingly important as the sand content of a soil
increases. For this reason we can "build
soils" from nearly pure sand and still not
be completely devoid of minor elements.

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Dr. Marvin H. Ferguson Retires
Dr. Marvin H. Ferguson retired from the
U. S. Golf Association Green Section on
gust 31, 1968 after 21 years of service,
ur. Ferguson started his career under
Dr. John Monteith in 1940 in turfgrass
management. He worked for a time at the
old Arlington Turf Gardens in Arlington,
Virginia. The U. S. Golf Association and
the United States Department of Agriculture carried out cooperative studies in
turfgrass research at this location.
Dr. Ferguson obtained his Ph.D. degree
from the University of Maryland in 1950,
then became the USGA Turfgrass Research
Coordinator and Mid-continent Director of
the USGA Green Section, a position he held
from 1952 to 1968. Dr. Ferguson was the
editor of the Turf Management Section of
the USGA Journal and later became the
editor of the Green Section Record. He
was a member of the Editorial Board of
Turfgrass Management, a book which is used
as a reference by many people in the turf-

TURF IRRIGATION
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•
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grass industry. Marvin was instrumental
in preparing the program for most of the
education conferences of the Green Section of USGA. Marv strongly supported
the research methods of putting green construction which today are standard specifications used by the USGA. Many of you
may recall that Marvin also directed the
studies of shoe spike injury to golf
course putting greens.
Dr. Ferguson leaves USGA Green Section
to become President of Agri-Systems of
Texas, Incorporated. This corporation
will provide a variety of services to
turf and to agriculture in general, which
will include golf course design and construction supervision, irrigation systems,
design and installation, laboratory services for physical analyses of soils, sod
production and sales, and consultation
services for the turf grass industry and
agriculture. He will be working with a
permanent staff of highly qualified turfgrass specialists, and this staff will be
supplemented with consultants who are
specialists in specific phases of plant
science, soil science, and agricultural
engineering.
From all of us who have known you for
these many years, Marvin, we wish you the
best of success in private industry.

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Officers of the Northwest Turf
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George Harrison
John Zoller
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President
Vice President

Dick Haskell

Treasurer

Dr. Roy Goss

. Exec. S e c r e t a r y

N O R T H W E S T TURFGRASS TOPICS is sponsored by the Northwest Turf Association and
financed through funds of this organization.
Any communications concerning distribution
of this paper or association business should
be directed to Dick Haskell, 1000 N.E. 135th,
Seattle, Wash. 98155, or Roy L. Goss, Western Washington Experiment Station, Puyallup,
Washington.
Communications concerning content of this
paper should be directed to Dr. Roy Goss,
Editor, Western Washington Experiment Station, Puyallup, Washington.

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