Being that we haven't blogged anything useful, we will post twice today and explain one of our newer cultural practices, topdressing compost.
For the last few years we have been experimenting with compost as a fertility source, primarily on our fairways. We have sent off a number of samples with a wide range of results, with a Hageman Earth Cycle compost coming out as the best product for our purposes. It has nice balance of macronutrients (NPK), a good C:N ratio, and a very tolerable amount of sodium.
We typically try to apply 5 cubic yards per acre per application using our large TyCrop topdresser following core aeration of our fairways. Though it does leave a bit of a mess immediately following the application, after it has been drug in it quickly disappears into the canopy. It is not uncommon to have small amounts of pebbles and bark chips in 200yds of compost, so after a few irrigation cycles we clean up the remaining excess with our turf sweeper.
The benefits of topdressing compost are numerous, but our primary motivation is building our soil with organic matter, beneficial fungi and bacteria that also serve as a slow release form of fertilizer. These microorganisms improve soil structure, make nutrients already in the soil available to the plant, and create a "living soil" that synthetic fertilizers destroy over time. On top of all this, our soil can store hold more water as a result of compost and humus being introduced into the profile.As a fiscal decision compost makes a lot of sense as well, the nutrient content of our Hageman compost would cost many thousands of dollars more in a synthetic form, and we wouldn't see all of the other benefits I mentioned above. Overall, incorporating compost into fairway aeration (another fairly unpopular cultural practice) has proved to be very beneficial for our course, benefits that should be enjoyed for many years to come.
