Creeping Bentgrass Putting Green Response to Foliar Nitrogen Fertilization

Abstract

Within the range of environmental conditions for which creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) is adapted, cultural management signifi cantly infl uences golf course putting green (PG) growth and quality. Th e experimental objective was to identify PG quality and growth response to rate, type, and/or timing of foliarly-applied N fertilizer. In 2009 and 2010, three independent fertility trials were conducted on a sand-based PG established to a 1:1 blend of Penn A-1 and Penn A-4 creeping bentgrass. Excepting the zero-N control, treatments were prepared using amine or salt 15-0-7 liquid fertilizer comprising wholly-soluble nutrient forms and applied at 24.5+24.5, 37, or 49 kg N ha -1 . Clipping yields were collected weekly and digested for N content. Canopy refl ectance was used to calculate normalized diff erential vegetative (NDVI) and dark green color (DGCI) indices. Nitrogen rate directly infl uenced PG mean NDVI, DGCI, clipping yield, and N removal. Likewise, the amine supported greater mean PG quality than the salt fertilizer. Availability of fertilizer, estimated by PG growth and N removal rate, declined dramatically over the 6-wk experiments. Initial PG growth response to the single 49-kg N application signifi cantly exceeded the 24.5+24.5 kg N "split" application. However, benefi cial response to split applications, relative to the single 49 kg N treatment, was observed in latter weeks. While commercially-available liquid fertilizers vary in their suitability, managers are recommended to employ a <15-d reapplication interval in meeting the 15 to 49 kg N ha -1 monthly creeping bentgrass PG requirement.

Method for Flux‐Chamber Measurement of Ammonia Volatilization From Putting Greens Foliarly‐Fertilized by Urea

“…Regarding foliar application of urea-N to turfgrass, and relative to the range of published volatilization rates, the degree of volatilization observed is intermediate to rates measured by field-applied static chamber and lab-applied dynamic/flux chamber systems. Yet following foliar application of urea to putting greens in the field, these results describe a greater fraction of the typically 25-70% of unaccounted urea-N fertilizer observed in Experiment 1 and reported elsewhere [12][13][14][15]32].…”

“…Foliar fertilization, or frequent spray‐application of soluble nutrient forms, is an increasingly popular method of ensuring golf course putting green nutritional sufficiency in season . As a common component of commercial liquid fertilizers, golf course superintendents routinely apply urea‐N in support of their intensively‐managed turfgrass areas .…”

Creeping Bentgrass Fairway Wear Resistance by Granular Topdressing of Ca/Mg-rich Liming Agents

“…Likewise, Mehlich-3 extractable soil P (101 mg kg −1 ) resided within the optimal range for a mature creeping bentgrass fairway system. Thus, supplemental fertilization practices were limited to monthly applications of various urea fertilizers to ensure plant-availability of 14 to 29 kg N ha −1 per growing month each year of the study [30][31][32].…”

Complementing Late‐Season Nitrogen Fertilization of Cool‐Season Turfgrass Putting Greens with Trinexapac‐ethyl

“…Subsamples of cumulative (fall) or single (spring) clipping yields were ground to pass a 0.15‐mm sieve and returned to the desiccator before total N analysis by medium‐temperature combustion (EA‐1110 CHNS analyzer, CE Instruments, Milan, Italy). Cumulative fall or spring N removal (kg N ha –1 ) was calculated as the product of CY and leaf tissue N concentration on a per‐plot basis and analyzed as a dependent variable (Zhu et al, 2012).…”

“…All clipping yield, GNDVI, leaf tissue N, and N removal data were combined for global analysis in SAS/STAT (Ver. 8.2, SAS Institute, Cary, NC) using PROC MIXED (Zhu et al, 2012). Model fixed effects were TRT and TMG.…”