UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION
GREEN SECTION
Southwestern Office

Texas A & M College
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS

 

MARVIN H. FERGUSON
SOUTHWESTERN DIRECTOR
NATIONAL RESEARCH COORDINATOR

Southwestern Turfletter
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BeARD

COLLECTION No. 6 — December 1954

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NOTICE !!! The Southwestern Turfletter has been sent to all USGA
member clubs in the Southwestern Region regardless of whether or not they
were Regional Turf Service subscribers. THIS IS THE LAST TURFLETTER THAT
kILL BE SENT TO NON-SUBSCRIBERS. If your club has not made application
for Regional Turf Service, please bring the matter to the attention of
those responsible. You will not want to be without this service in 1955.

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YOU COULDN'T FIND A BETTER TIME..,..It becomes more important this year to do a good
job of winter clean up around the course. Most areas suffered an extremely hot sum-
mer and many trees and shrubs were either completely lost or severely damaged by the
high temperatures. Those that survived need attention. Dead limbs and branches
should be pruned by making clean cuts close to the trunk of the tree. A long stub
may rot and later cause the decay of the tree or be attacked by insects. Wounds
which are larger than a square inch in area should be dressed with a high quality
roofing asphait, shellac or other suitable wound dressing material to hasten heal-
ing and reduce the possibility of decay, Of courses, those trees that did not make
it should be removed and replaced now. Your local nurseryman should be able to
suggest the best species for your area. Don't overlook the importance of trees on
your course. Wherever possible, use evergreens as they will cause no leaf raking
problem in the fall.

FERTILIZER IS IMPORTANT...People will always be faced with the prodlem of wanting to
buy more things than they can afford. The wife wants new living room furniture and
you absolutely need a new "over & under" shot gun. Of course, the same holds true
for the golf course, only in a different way. Membership interests vary and there
are always more places for the money to be spent than there is money available. When
it comes to matters pertaining to the golf course, you're the man who must recommend
so much for new equipment, re-designing of holes, water and irrijation increases,
fertilizer, new grasses, insecticides, fungicides, soil conditioners and amendments,
and so on. Embarking upon a new program of course improvement, it is easy to be
¢€ carried away and cut corners by saying "Well, we can get by for one year with less
of thie and less of that." This reasoning process occurs every year and often works
out ail right. Nevertheless, as superintendent, there is one item in your budget

 

 
 

 

2.

© that you should never cut back on; one item which should always be on the top of your

list - are we thinking of the same one - it's fertilizer! That's it - second to none
for turf maintenance from Maine to California. Of course water is necessary; new
equipment important; good soil condition, insect, direase and weed controls are all
vital factors. But when your fertilizer budget is reduced in favor of some other
item you are losing the best tool you have in providing good turf for good golf.

GYPSUM AND THE WINTER SCHEDULE...Back in September an article appeared in your South-
western Turfletter on Gypsum and its use on soils that are high in sodium. Gypsum
tends to neutralize extremely alkaline soils such as those of West Texas and New
Mexico. Now that late fall or early winter is upon us - the suggestion still stands
that an application of 150 to 250 lbs. of high grade gypsum per 1000 sq. feet will
help those who have soils as described above. Try a small test plot this year and
apply now.

SOIL TESTING - PRO OR CON
Where do You Stand?

The value and accuracy of testing soils has alweys been a controversial subject. It
came up at a recent get-together and perhaps you have wondered about some of these
same points;

Question: It seems to me that most soils men from our “tate Colleges leave the
impression that soil testing is a waste of time. What is the Green Section's stand
on this?

Answer: Perhaps you have misunderstood the meaning of men from the State Colleges
who have comented on soil testing. Certainly, soil testing is not a waste of time,
though it is subject to many faults in the way of interpretation of tests. The
Green Section recommends periodic soil testing because it is believed that this is
desirable in keeping up with the needs of your turf.

Question: How accurate are soil tests? Are the rapid tests sufficiently accurate,
and what are the difficulties as far as accuracy is concerned?

Answer: Laboratory soil tests are quite accurate and even rapid soil tests are
accurate enough to give good indications of soil nutrient status. However, all of
the tests depend upon the use of an extraction agent for determining the amounts of
the various nutrient elements available for plant growth. These extraction solutions
are supposed to extract the same amount of nutrients that are available “Uo the grow-
ing plants. Naturally, these extracting agents never have exactly the same "extract-
ing ebility" as the plants. Therefore, the soil tests must be coupled with long
experience and correct interpretation before we can place complete reliability in them.

Question: I've been told that the test for nitrogen is of no real value. Is
this true and, if so, why?

Answer: The tests for nitrogen are of questionable value. This does not come
from the difficulty in measuring the amount of available nitrogen present but from
the fact that the soil will change from day to day. Much of the nitrogen in the
soil is contained in an organic form, or in a form not available to plants. Nitri-
fication proceeds in the soil as a result of bacterial activity and therefore more
nitrogen is becoming available all the time. Ordinarily plants will use this nitrogen

 

 
 

as it becomes available or it will leach out of the soil. If you sample the soil on
any given day you might find a relatively small amount of available nitrogen present.
However, if you took a sample of that soil and stored it for two days you may find
considerably more nitrogen present. If the soil were stored in a can for a week in
a warm place where nitrification could proceed, you would find much more nitrogen in
the soil. Therefore, the figure for available nitrogen does not give a real indica-
tion of the nitrogen status of the soil. Fortunately, turf is an excellent indicator
of the amount of nitrogen present and it is quite easy to see when turf is in need of
nitrogen. It will be pale green in color and will grow rather slowly when nitrogen
is low. On the other hand, when sufficient nitrogen is present, it will grow rapidly
enough to require frequent clipping and the color will be good.

Question: If nitrogen cannot be tested for accuracy - how can phosphorus and
potassium? They're all elements.

Answer: Phosphorus and potassium are generally present in the soil ina
different state than is nitrogen. A large part of the nitrogen in a soil is present
in an organic form, whereas in most soils phosphorus and potassium are present in
mineral form. Phosphorus and potassium do not depend completely on a process of
bacterial activity to become available; therefore, the phosphorus and potassium
stetus of a soil does not change nearly so rapidly as does nitrogen.

Question: How long has soil testing been going on?

Answer: Soil testing was conducted as early as 1845 in England by Daubeny.
He used carbonic acid as the extracting .'sagent.

LOOK FOR MORE Q & A'S ON SOIL TESTING LATER

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MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS - LOUIE....Superintendents and their chairmen should make their
plans now for the trip to St. Louis and the 26th National Turfgrass Conference and
Show. The dates are January 16 through 21, Hotel Jefferson, St. Louis, Missouri.
Further information.may be obtained by writing to Mr. Agar M. Brown, Golf Course
Superintendents Association, St. Charles, Ill.

AND COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - TOO....At the Annual Texas Turfgrass Conference -
December 13, 14 and 15. Many already have this meeting on their travel agenda.
This year's program has an outstanding group of speakers and panel members.
Don't miss this one.

BILL BENGEYFIELD, who has recently joined the Green Section Staff, has been working
in the Southwestern Office during the last month. The greater part of this Turf-
letter represents Bill's journalistic efforts. Thanks, Bill.

 

 
 

Southwestern Turfletter

USGA GREEN SECTION

Professor James Tyson
Dept. of Soil Science
Michigan State College
East sing, Mich.

 

 

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