Geoponics Blog

Geoponics Corp recently caught up with Superintendent Billy Bobbit, of Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, VA to see how things were going on his course.

This gorgeous course is made up of mostly cool season grasses. As Ballyhack’s superintendent, Bobbit said he struggled with the high sodium, sandy soil and bicarbonates. These issues led to challenges with water management, nutrient absorption and algae.

The solutions to all three, said Ballyhack Superintendent Billy Bobbit, were found with Geoponics products. Agriox, Penterra and Detox turned the greens around in just one or two applications.

Bobbit’s colleagues recommended he try Geoponics about a year ago, so he did. Now, he’s recommending Geoponics to others.

BOBBIT ON THE CHALLENGES:

The high sodium and high salt levels caused water infiltration challenges. Water wasn’t getting into the green cavity. The water standing on the surface was causing multiple problems, one being algae. That was from the water not getting down into the soil cavity. We had sodium toxicity from the turf taking up so much salt.

THE SOLUTIONS:

The Penterra was allowing the water to get through that layer on top and actually get down into the root zone where the water was needed. Most of our root zones here are down 6, 8, maybe even 10 inches into the sand. We really needed the water to move through the profile. Penterra did that, which also helped eliminate the algae. We were spraying the Penterra every 10 to 14 days.

The Detox helped flush out the sodium.

We always kind of struggled with algae here. We typically sprayed a fungicide on them—which checked the algae if you will, but we never really got any results out of fungicide like we wanted to see. We were cultivating—spiking and aerifying—and we still didn’t get the algae. Once we started using the Geoponics it really started to get the results we were after ,even with the first to second application.

We started using Geoponics last year when a colleague recommended it.

We started with Penterra.

THE STELLAR RESULTS:

But I have to say, what really, really turned the greens around was the Agriox product. It freed up the nutrients in the soil, or in the sand I should say, and we really got a good growth response out of that. We saw a difference after the first application.

The greens kind of perked up and the health of the greens really changed. Then after we did the second application it really, really came to life then.

There was just so much with the salt build up in the soil, the bicarbonate, once we were able to break up those chemical bonds and free up those nutrients that were in the soil, the greens just really started to grow and out-compete the algae.

The first week in July I thought we were going to do a lot of seeding and plugging on the greens, but really after that second application of Agriox, the greens really responded well. I would definitely recommend it.

The greens just really did a 180. They just turned around. We thought, like I said, we’d be doing a lot of seeding and plugging on the greens just to get a uniform turf coverage out there. But it just really grew out of that funk and we haven’t looked back since.

I can see where the fertilizer spending is decreasing and we’re lowering the input of fertilizer on the greens. I can see us not having to use nearly as much as we’re keeping the water moving through the soil profile and getting those nutrients from being bound up in the sand.

Try for yourself. Contact Geoponics Corp, info@geoponicscorp.com, to see how these and other products may solve the challenges you face as a turf manager.

   Follow us.         Friend us.    Subscribe.

Geoponics Corp.

3425 Radio Road No. 202

Naples, FL 34104

877-667-6330

info@geoponicscorp.com

www.GeoponicsCorp.com

Soil Wetting Agents

Property:

Five Ponds Golf Club of Warminster Township, Pennsylvania.

Website:

www.5pondsgc.com

About:

Public golf course built in 1988, features bentgrass greens and several water features. Architecture by Xenophon Hassenplug.

Superintendent:

Eliezer “Papo” Rodriguez

Challenges:

Low-laying land leads to holding a lot of water and flooding; tight taxpayer-based budget.

Product:

Penterra  is a soil penetrant and soil surfactant for addressing hydrophobic profiles and horizons. Penterra keeps soils from locking up, aggregates clay soils, improves soil structure and allows water and oxygen to better reach plant roots by reducing the surface tension between the water and the soil. Penterra assists fertilizers and plants by increasing plant nutrient uptake and keeping the soil aerobic by increasing the amount of oxygen exchanged with the soil profile.

Penterra increases the activity of aerobic micro-organisms necessary for a healthy soil profile environment secondary to water movement. Beneficial secondary effects to LDS (Localized Dry Spot) are noticed to the applied areas quickly.

Superintendent’s Results:

“Penterra dries the course very quickly. I fell in love with it! The first time I tried it, there was a big storm coming the next day, so I sprayed the Penterra the day before. It poured all night long!

I came back at 4 o’clock in the morning. I was surprised…. the fairways usually hold water and there was no water on the fairways.

It’s very fast! Plus, Penterra gives it a beautiful green color. My main concern is holding too much water though. We get a lot of rain. This left us with no puddles on there or nothing.”

Other comments:

“I’ve been in the golf business since I was 15. I’ve tried a lot of products, a lot of surfactants. Nothing worked this well and this fast. Nothing! Plus, it’s a low rate and affordable.”

More information:

Websites:

www.GeoponicsCorp.com

www.Penterra.net

www.SoilSurfactant.com

You Tube:

www.Geoponics.TV

Social media:

www.Facebook.com/Geoponics

www.Twitter.com/Geoponics

Email newsletters subscribe

Contact:

Geoponics Corp
3425 Radio Road
Naples, FL 34104
877-667-6330

email: info@geoponicscorp.com

One of the most important aspects of turf maintenance, if not the most important is proper water and/or irrigation techniques. Here we will give you some good ideas for managing soil moisture for your lawn.  

In the golf industry most superintendents will periodically take a soil probe and carefully pull a sample of the soil profile in order to observe different aspects of the soil.  One of those many variables is roots.  

Watering the Lawn for Healthy Roots

Healthy roots are the key to healthy turf.  Grass roots grow in soils that are moist and well aerated or aerobic. This means they have plenty of oxygen.

 For the most part, root growth does not move from dry soil to wet soil looking for water.  If you water your lawn deeply then the roots grow deeper. HydraHawk will help the water penetrate deeper into the soil for deeper root growth.

Keep in mind, most turf grass roots are concentrated in the first 6 to 8 inches of soil. However, some grass species, such as paspalum may grow much deeper.  As these roots grow deeper, the areas by which they can pull water from increase. This is because of the greater surface area to volume of soil reached.  

Water Warning: Too Much Water

However, if you water too much and soil becomes saturated with water and void of oxygen, the roots will not grow deep. Rather, they will stay close to the soil surface.  However, if you irrigate with just enough water to wet the first few inches of soil, then that is where the roots will stay.  Unfortunately, shallow roots usually end up with localized dry spots (LDS) and send turf into stress.

A Little Help From the HydraHawk Wetting Agent for Watering the Lawn

Using a soil wetting agent like HydraHawk can help keep water moving through the soil and allowing for some (but not too much) retention of water.  This combination will assist with keeping the soil and root zone aerobic (with oxygen) and assist with deeper penetrating roots.

 Watering Tips for Your Lawn

• Water to the right depth.  Water should penetrate to the about 6 to 8 inches in the soil’s profile. Watering to a shallow depth may result a shallow rooted lawn that can dry out quickly, however watering too much is wasteful as the roots will only grow to a certain length in general. You can check the to penetration of the water with a stiff metal rod or something similar to a long screwdriver.  The rod will usually move easily through the moist soil and then it will stop or become difficult as your probe reaches dry soil.  If you so choose, you can buy a professional soil probe.  Soil probes remove small cores of soil so that you can feel and observe how moist they are. They are also beneficial for looking at root color and health among other variables.
• Let you lawn dry some between irrigations.  Letting your lawn dry out some between irrigations creates a sustainable water-air relationship that is critical for healthy roots. The lawn, like other plants, will let you know when it is thirsty.
• Avoid water runoff.  Because of various factors in the soil, such as compaction and soil make up, you can water faster than your lawn can absorb it.  Products like HydraHawk can really be a benefit here. On top of using some type of surface active agent, try and water in intervals of about 10 – 15 mins, turn off the water and let it soak into the soil.  Afterward turn on the water again for another 10-15 mins so that you are achieving the goal of getting the water down to about 6 to 8 inches deep.
• Consider morning irrigation.   The early morning is the ideal time to water your turf because the weather is usually cooler, there is less wind and the humidity is higher hence the water is less likely to evaporate.  However, early morning does not mean midnight.  Wet grass at night can be a recipe for a disease disaster.
• Monitor irrigation water amounts in summer.   Try to irrigate only one or two inches of water per week during the growing season.  You could irrigate the whole amount of water at one time, however most folks have better results splitting the amount into two separate applications.  Please note however in sandy soils where the water percolates more rapidly it may benefit you to split the applications into three separate irrigation cycles.  You do not want to irrigate more than three times a week because you would be applying so little water the outcome would be shallow roots.
• Observe your lawn. This is pretty simple really.  Watch your lawn.  It will tell you when it is wanting water.  If the grass does not dry out between watering, stretch the intervals between waterings.  If it seems like the water is not getting deep enough into the soil profile just apply a little more water each watering, but do water less often.  Now if the lawn looks healthy and everything seems fine, try cutting back and conserving water.  You can always make adjustments as you go.

Want even more tips on Efficient Watering for Landscaping? Check out this article on Home Landscape Watering by RE/MAX.

WEEDS! WEEDS! WEEDS! Have you caught yourself screaming these words?

An older fella that had literally decades under his belt in the landscaping industry said once, “MULCH, MULCH, MULCH! That is the secret to good gardening.”  Sound simple? Well, it is really.

Mulch is basically any material organic or not that is placed over a surface of the soil to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, moderate the temperature and make the garden or landscape more attractive.  You could say it does all of that at the same time.  In the old days mulch was meant to be natural, organic materials such as leaves, bark, wood chips, sand or stone.  Well times have changed. Now there are literally dozens upon dozen of options to include plastic films to woven or non-woven geo-fabrics.

For the most part there is a common goal in mulching and that is reduce the time and hassle of weeding. Here we have listed some common materials both inorganic or seed-free organic mulches:

• Wood Chips: Find a local arborist in your area.  Usually they are glad to rid themselves of horticultural waste.  Or the best option is to find composted wood chips from a local soil or amendment supplier.  Usually sold by the yard or truck load.
• Newspaper: Newspaper can be used either shredded or laid flat.  It is great for water retention. Make sure to wet it so that it does not blow away.  Apply a thin layer of weed free attractive mulch on top of it.
• Pine Straw: Pine straw is esthetically pleasing to the eye.  It is best used for acid loving plants.
• Shredded Bark: Use this type of mulch around trees and other noticeable areas as this type of mulch is quite attractive.
• Grass Clippings: Grass clippings can be used making sure that the clippings come from a weed and pesticide free lawn.
• Leaves: Leaves are good choice if the leaves are shredded or composted.

Inorganic mulch like that of gravel, landscape fabric, sand and stone are other options and do hold in moisture, however it should be noted that these options do not add fertility to the soil.  It is best to use this type of mulch around perennials, shrubs or trees that are naturally occurring and do not require additional fertilizer.

You can get the most out of your gardening pleasure by using fertile organic mulch.  By doing so you can control weeds and provide a small amounts of nutrients to the soil. All organic composted mulches made from plant material fall into this category. Some mulches will decompose faster than others depending on the make up of the mulch. The mulches that quickly decompose are useful in annual flower and vegetable beds.  When rain or irrigation water comes into contact with this type of decomposing mulch, the nutrients leach into the soil to be taken up by the plant.

There are other organic mulches that are more slow release or slow to decompose and provide few nutrients.  These types are usually dry and woody and are usually low in nitrogen. These are typically the bark type mulches.  The bark type mulches are for the most part resistant to rotting. Usually is best to use these around trees or paths.  Fresh wood chips can make excellent mulch, however it is suggested that an external source of nitrogen be used.

Here is a list of other mulch sources:

• rice hulls
• cocoa shells
• cardboard
• sugar cane refuse
• ground corncobs
• peanut shells
• saw dust
• hops
• Peat
• straw
• gravel
• recycled rubber tires