Soil Test Question Cancel The title field is required!

1. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   1/30/2018 9:01 AM

   I was reminded last week at a seminar how important some soil test information was.
   
   We haven't taken soil test here at our golf course since 2005.
   
   I am proposing that we start taking them again, on a regular basis, but with a tight budget, I don't see us doing more than say 20 per year. I was thinking of proposing 6 greens, 6 tees and 6 fairways, along with our putting green, driving range tee, and or chipping green to round up to 20 tests.
   
   I figure this would give me some base line information to start looking at my agronomic programs, and give me a base line for the future. Next year I would do 6 different holes and the following year the other 6 different holes, at that point I would start back with the original 6 locations to see if anything has changed.
   
   Some background, we have 14 USGA greens with I believe two built in house at a year from the rest of our renovation back in 1993 time frame. 4 greens from the original construction in 1963-64, a practice green that was poorly constructed in house with pockets of straight sand mid to late 90's, a chipping green with a pocket of straight orange sand (that some claim was an original green on the first 9, and 3 driving range tee levels, two with warm season grasses, 1 with cool. Most fairways built on clay, with some areas of loam, former use was a farm.
   
   Greens seeded with Penncross, Meyers zoysia collars and approaches (sort of) Quickstand tees and fairways.
   
   I would love to hear opinions.
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
2. Michael Wagner

   

   0 posts
   
   1/30/2018 11:01 AM

   I agree that soil testing should be done but I think limiting it to a minimum is fine. Personally my main concern is pH when soil testing and if I get in the optimal range everything else seems to fall into place for the most part. As long as there aren't any large deficiencies I only check my soils every 3 or 4 years or so. I'm not sugar coating it when I tell you I have great soil though. It's very sandy but not straight sand has good amounts of all micro nutrients and the pH is pretty stable at about 6. The only soil that differs from that is on my greens and it's only because of all the topdressing over the last 100 years. At some point someone must have top dressed with a calcareous sand because even with the use of acidic fertilizers the pH hovers around 7.5. The pH test can be done in house if you are feeling cheap but I send mine out and get the most basic soil test.

   
   
   
   
3. Michael Anderson

   

   1 posts
   
   1/30/2018 11:01 AM

   I would consider adding tissue testing to a few of those same locations from time to time.
   
   Nice to know what the plant is and isn't pulling out of the soil.
   
   -Mike

   
   
   
   
4. Christopher Senior

   

   0 posts
   
   1/30/2018 2:01 PM

   Lean heavily on the rep(s) you use the most and they should be happy to do some testing for free (its in their best interest to do so). Fingers crossed you would be able to do the amount of testing you stated for no charge or at least a decent portion of it.

   
   
   
   
5. Kenneth Ingram

   

   18 posts
   
   1/31/2018 7:01 AM

   You're lucky Mel. MD law requires soil testing every 3 years. Consider buying a pH meter. Only $75 or so. I use them in class with very accurate results.
   https://www.grainger.com/product/8PAJ9? ... ctads-adid^50916684477-device^c-plaid^82644759908-sku^8PAJ9-adType^PLA

   
   
   
   
6. Larry Allan

   

   0 posts
   
   1/31/2018 12:01 PM

   Melvin Waldron, CGCS said: I was reminded last week at a seminar how important some soil test information was.
   
   We haven't taken soil test here at our golf course since 2005.
   
   I am proposing that we start taking them again, on a regular basis, but with a tight budget, I don't see us doing more than say 20 per year. I was thinking of proposing 6 greens, 6 tees and 6 fairways, along with our putting green, driving range tee, and or chipping green to round up to 20 tests.
   
   I figure this would give me some base line information to start looking at my agronomic programs, and give me a base line for the future. Next year I would do 6 different holes and the following year the other 6 different holes, at that point I would start back with the original 6 locations to see if anything has changed.
   
   Some background, we have 14 USGA greens with I believe two built in house at a year from the rest of our renovation back in 1993 time frame. 4 greens from the original construction in 1963-64, a practice green that was poorly constructed in house with pockets of straight sand mid to late 90's, a chipping green with a pocket of straight orange sand (that some claim was an original green on the first 9, and 3 driving range tee levels, two with warm season grasses, 1 with cool. Most fairways built on clay, with some areas of loam, former use was a farm.
   
   Greens seeded with Penncross, Meyers zoysia collars and approaches (sort of) Quickstand tees and fairways.
   
   I would love to hear opinions.
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Hey Mel, it's nice to hear that someone else has the same hodgepodge of greens like me. It makes the job challenging. . I have 3 USGA, 2 USGA built at a later date (all require watering maybe once a week), two california (one never needs water, the other burns up if it misses a night) 5 original pushups undrained, 5 XGD drained pushups, and one in house re contoured with straight sand. I pitty the poor bastard that comes in after me, who has to relearn everything he thought he Knew

   
   
   
   
7. Joshua Sawyer

   

   0 posts
   
   2/4/2018 12:02 PM

   One comment...rather than rotating different holes, if you track the greens year to year, you can see the affect of your programs. You could pick some representative greens that are 'good', 'middle', and 'worst' and see if any trends show themselves. Then track the changes of those greens with programs. With my relatively limited budget, I have always spent the money on more greens tests, less fairway and tees.

   
   
   
   
8. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   2/11/2018 6:02 AM

   I agree with Josh, while it would be nice to see all of your greens and fairways you cannot build a program while rotating your test. at minimum I would do one or two for two straight years before checking others.
   
   Your chemical rep should be able to provide for this free of charge. Mine will do so many a year depending on how much I spend with them.
   
   That being said I think it would be a good use of your budget to do every green first and then may a fairway and tee.
   
   you need a starting point and you need to know how each green is doing before you can move forward. what if you pick the best greens and the others get left behind or the worst and you end up treating the best when they do not need it. I think it cost me about $450-$600 to test all 21 of my greens. convince your club of the importance of this expenditure by all means. you can always do fairways the next year. if you are low budget anyway whats the chance of making big changes on your fairway program the first year.
   
   After the first year you can only track your worst greens and maybe one or two good greens for a guideline. after getting mine all right, I only track mine every three years unless I see a problem forming.

   
   
   
   
9. Christopher Thuer

   

   101 posts
   
   2/11/2018 3:02 PM

   We do 6 greens and once per season. It is always the same 6 greens at about the same time of the season. It started with our practice putting green, the weakest green, a green in the open, a shaded green, the healthiest green, and a couple of average greens.
   
   Always the same 6 so as to easily compare from season to season.

   
   Chris Thuer, CGCS, Bear Slide Golf Club, Cicero, IN
   
   
10. James Paresi

    

    0 posts
    
    3/6/2018 1:03 PM

    You do not need to do so many. That will scare the ones paying for it away.
    Just your select few that you can compare. Locations? or profiles you know.
    Check your base saturation's. Check and see if you have alot of anions or single charged cations in excess. (not draining properly)
    you can also look at your paste extract tests to see what the plant is actually taking up.
    Make sure your soluable K and CA is up and the NA is not above these.
    Thats your most important info.
    Make sure you do not throw out a granular right before as it will askew the real data.

    
    
    
    
11. Robert Crockett

    

    4 posts
    
    3/19/2018 12:03 PM

    I would include a water quality test also. That doesn't have to be done annually. Only during times of lengthy arid (drought) conditions. I believe that's as important as a soil test.