opinion can often be very important to justify your actions. For the last ten years I have worked closely with George Attwood Harris, an agronomist who has always provided me with good advice. George is excellent at listening to my problems and then will advise me of the way forward. He does not tell me "I should do this or do that". It is my decision in the end that matters. It is me who has to take the responsibilities for my actions, not George. I have seen some of the work George has implemented with regard to the organic management of turfgrass facilities. The results have been remarkable. At several courses, George has managed to reduce their applications of fungicides and fertilisers making significant savings for the clubs, and at the same time reducing disease attack. This was achieved by the methods we are now introducing at Reaseheath. George and I take a number of soil samples throughout the year, to measure not only nutrient macro and micro levels, but also evaluate the number of bacterial organisms / fungi populations we have in our greens.
Aerobic Bacteria
Aerobic bacteria are obvious indicators of a “healthy soil”. They will only thrive when there
is a good supply of air in the soil. Compacted or waterlogged soils will have a much lower count of aerobic bacteria than well aerated soils. This is the group of
microbes that we strive to encourage in the greens by our aeration work.
The results are quite outstanding. The count of aerobic bacteria has increased considerably, from an average of about 500 thousand to an average of over 25 million.
Our challenge now is to maintain the bacteria at these healthy levels. It would be beneficial to continue with the aeration work and our seaweed based fertiliser programme. Also we could include some granular fertilisers with an organic or biological content.
Anaerobic Bacteria
This group of bacteria has declined
significantly as our aeration programme has taken hold. Originally at an average of about 65 thousand, they now average about one thousand. This is also a great result and a tribute to the effort that we have put into the greens.
Fungi
The fungal count is perhaps the most important as organisms in this group are responsible for the disease seen in the greens. The fungal
EXAMPLE OF A SOIL BIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS REPORT USING ACTUAL DATA GENERATED FOR RICHARD MURRAY AT A PREVIOUS COURSE
Sampling date :27th of September 1999 Sample Name
Aerobic Bacteria (’000s)
Seventh Green Eighteenth Green
340 600
The numbers in the tables are per gram of soil Sampling date :28th of September 2001 Sample Name
Aerobic Bacteria (’000s)
Seventh Green Eighteenth Green
29,000 24,000
Anaerobic Bacteria (’000s)
120 9.7
Yeasts & Fungi
(’000s) 210 86
count has declined as the level of beneficial aerobic bacteria has increased. From an original average of about 150 thousand, the count has reduced to an average of about 20 thousand. More importantly, the greens suffer less from disease which is a considerable cost saving to the club.
OVERALL these results represent a considerable improvement in the health of the greens. They are a testament to the hard work that we have put in to changing their management to a more sustainable system. Now this
important milestone has been reached, we can move forward as
planned with our efforts to improve the quality of the greens’ surface We feed the greens with organic products such as seaweed, which not only provides nutrients for the plant but also helps reduce the incidence of disease. This year disease has been prolific. Many clubs who continue to use fungicides have had heavy disease outbreaks - at Reaseheath we have had just the occasional small patch of disease occurring.
As soon as I see evidence of disease I spray the plant with a small feed of seaweed (10 litres of seaweed product in 600 litres of water). This usually helps the plant recover. If the disease continues, I apply a dose of acidified water that
Richard with agronomist George Atwood-H
Harris
Anaerobic Bacteria (’000s)
3.2 0.1
Yeasts & Fungi
(’000s) 23 19
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