In this episode I picked some of my favorite photos from 2024, and I remembered what I learned from them. From roots, layers, OM246, zoysia greens, and drought, to loupes, turf farms, compost, and bermudagrass.
Find Turf Without Borders at https://turfwb.asianturfgrass.com/
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
There have been a lot of conversations about soil water content and surface hardness (firmness). I discuss some measurements that I have made, and suggest some of the old posts on the ATC website that discuss this topic.
Specific posts discussed include:
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Jason came up with the GvX idea in a flash of inspiration that he describes here. This is the actual growth of the grass compared to the expected growth of the grass, and it has surprising practical implications. We discussed the development and use of the #TurfGvX in this episode.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Achieving the lowest possible #OM246 total organic material value is not desirable, because the living plant material is part of the OM measured with this method.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
A common way to calculate average daily temperature is to take the sum of the daily maximum and daily minimum temperatures, and to divide by two. A better statistical approximation of the average temperature is to take measurements made every hour and then to find the mean value of those continuous measurements.
This blog post shows a comparison of the three methods for 2024 data at three locations: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/calculating-average-daily-temperature/
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Joe Gulotti joined me to discuss his new job, The Talking Greenkeeper, and the ten posts on the ATC website that no one (practically) read in 2024.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Although turf research is often done with fertilizer treatments applied at constant rates and on a fixed calendar schedule, that way of supplying nutrients seems strange to me now. I explain why in this episode, and suggest a better method.
We discussed this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/fertilizer-schedule-seems-strange-to-me-now/
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
I recommend 4 podcast episodes and one useful app that calculates sand topdressing amounts, then quickly discuss the top 10 new posts from the ATC website in 2024.
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Here are topic links:
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/top-10-posts-2024/
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/the-rodney-lingle-system/
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/almost-like-a-seminar/
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/the-talking-greenkeeper-holiday-extravaganza/
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/om246-calculator-updated/
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/mlsn-and-lawns/
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Green speed varies because of many factors. One of those factors is clipping volume. I discuss that relationship and give some advice for those getting started with clipping volume and wanting to know how to adjust it.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Did you know there was a time when up to to 2 lbs N per 1000 square feet per growing month, the equivalent of 100 kg of actual N per ha per month, was a standard recommendation for putting green turf? I talk about this and some implications in this episode.
The ATC post getting the double cut treatment is https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/nitrogen-rate-as-a-pendulum-swing/
I also took a look at the Historical Nitrogen Rates post from PACE Turf at https://www.paceturf.org/memberedition/historical-nitrogen-rates
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Bill Kreuser from GreenKeeper joined me to discuss how much grass grows, the complicated problems involved when sand is mixed with clippings, growth regulator adjustments, leaf nutrient content, soil surfactant effect duration, and more. #ClipVol
We discussed the "Sand in clippings" post from the ATC website: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/sand-in-clippings/
You can read more about our discussion of topics such as PGR and soil surfactant scheduling at https://www.greenkeeperapp.com/
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Frank Rossi, Ph.D. is the New York State extension turfgrass specialist at Cornell University. We talked about mentorship, potassium, turf nutrition, smoothness of putting greens, dogma, data, budgets, and more.
Here are some links:
- https://cals.cornell.edu/frank-s-rossi
- New podcast, Turf Without Borders: https://turfwb.asianturfgrass.com/episodes/st-andrews-old-new-jubilee-with-jon-wood
- https://doublecut.asianturfgrass.com/episodes/frank-rossi-and-i-discuss-what-ive-called-my-least-favorite-experiment-ever
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/do-you-have-an-idea-why-they-recommend/
- Video with Dr. Rossi & I on smoothness and trueness of putting greens: https://youtu.be/xIlgspZfzbg?si=9iPeueL5Y16Uk5qv
- https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/five-different-ways-to-measure-smoothness-trueness-ball-roll/
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
The PACE Turf growth potential equation has one variable (the actual air temperature) and two constants. The constants are optimum air temperature and a term for variance that controls the shape of the curve as the actual temperature moves away from the optimum temperature. It's a little more complicated than that, because the constants change depending on whether you are making the calculation for cool-season grass, warm-season grass, and on whether you are using the Fahrenheit temperature scale or the Celsius temperature scale.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
You can expect soil organic matter to be 5% nitrogen, and you can expect from 1 to 4% of that organic nitrogen to mineralize in one year. You can also calculate estimated daily mineralization and sum it to get weekly, monthly, and annual totals.
The blog post discussed is: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/estimating-nitrogen-mineralization-an-example/
Subscribe to the Turf Without Borders podcast: https://turfwb.asianturfgrass.com/subscribe
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
This episode introduces multiple experiments that have demonstrated a link between rapid measurement of clipping volume and the clipping yield. Clipping yield is typically expressed as dry weight per area. Links to the articles discussed are in the blog post.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Leah Brilman, Ph.D., is the Director of Product Management & Technical Services for Seed Research by DLF. We discussed velvet bentgrass, creeping bentgrass, and browntop bentgrass, along with seed production and grass performance.
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Andrew McDaniel has been watching webinars to get education points, and some of these have been about management of soil organic matter on putting greens. We discussed a particular article and whether that method is something that seems reasonable today.
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Here are four specific things to look at with total organic material by depth (#OM246) test results.
The blog post I discussed is this one: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/om246-reports-explained/
The video in that post is https://youtu.be/wUtpJC1YPU0
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
Matteo Serena is the Senior Manager of Irrigation Research and Services for the USGA. We discussed drip irrigation, growth regulators and soil surfactants, water use, overseeding, and bermudagrass vs. zoysiagrass water use.
We discussed this ATC blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/zoysia-and-water-use/
We also discussed these articles:
- https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/61/issue-15/measuring-and-comparing-the-water-requirements-of-warm-season-gr.html#
- https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2018.03.0148
See this zoysia video with Dr. Kenworthy: https://youtu.be/R6ZXW85mm84
Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/
Get ATC newsletters at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/newsletter/
Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https://www.paceturf.org/
PACE Turf YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/paceturf
ATC's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/asianturfgrasscenter
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
I checked the top episodes, discussed turf terminology, and discussed the 2025 GCSAA Outstanding Contribution Award winners Dr. Wendy Gelernter and Dr. Larry Stowell.
The four posts discussed in this episode are:
More about ATC soil tests at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/project/soil-tests/
