Golf: Soil Moisture
About Soil Moisture Management
Soil moisture management is key to the safety and playability of golf greens, roughs, and fairways. The amount of moisture present in your soil, or lack thereof, contributes to the overall ability for turfgrass to absorb nutrients through the root zone. Weather also has a huge impact on turfgrass playability as too much rainwater can create unstable conditions due to excessive soil water content.
Sod: Soil Moisture Management
About Salinity Management
Water and soil chemistry contribute to the difficulty of properly hydrating the sod root zone. Soil structure plays a huge role in soil moisture management because water must pass through the soil to reach the root zone. Proper plant-available calcium helps maintain a chemical balance in the soil and allows for soil hydration and micro pore space. This is the only location where roots can absorb water and nutrients.
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS
SurCal+ helps reconstruct the soil your turf grows in so that there are micropore spaces for root development and nutrient uptake. It adds the important surfactant to carry the calcium to where it is needed most while simultaneously lowering surface tension for better water movement. It is important for a proper soil analysis and diagnosis to take place for successful problem correction and appropriate safety precautions to take place. It is also important to note that soil moisture impacts each soil texture differently. Because sandy soils have a higher infiltration rate, soil moisture may have a minimal impact on sand based root zone performance, meaning very little to no nutrients.
Golf course superintendents have long understood the importance of calcium for plant and soil nutrition with the standard treatment often being gypsum, lime or calcium nitrate. However, none of these solutions are plant available. Calcium helps maintain a chemical balance in the soil, reduces soil salinity, and improves water penetration into the soil, helping in the restoration of soil colloid flocculation.
Carbon is an important nutrient in your soil. It is one of the basic building blocks of all life forms, and with the proper mix of both carbon and proteins, all plants can benefit. A balance of carbon with the amounts of nitrogen you apply allows for overall lower N inputs and increased nitrogen efficiency.
Root Driver’s is plentiful in phosphorus, which is highly essential to all plants. It helps a plant convert other nutrients into usable building blocks with which to grow. Adding phosphorus to soil that is currently lacking available phosphorus promotes root growth and winter hardiness, stimulates tillering, and often hastens maturity.