PACE Turf - Turfgrass Information Center

MLSN and GP at the 2017 GIS

Jason Haines (@PenderSuper on Twitter) and Larry Stowell (@paceturf on Twitter) taught a half-day course on Minimum Levels for Sustainable Nutrition (MLSN) guidelines and Growth Potential (GP) to more than 100 golf course superintendents from around the world. The slide presentation and handout materials used for the course have been provided at the links below:

Tissue Analyses: Guidelines and NIRS Revisited

Bottom line: The use of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for analysis of plant tissues has the advantage of providing answers rapidly, and of providing accurate estimates of tissue nitrogen content.  However, NIRS is not sufficiently accurate to provide accurate estimates of ten other key tissue nutrients. For this reason, standard wet chemistry methods are more reliable indicators of serious imbalances in turfgrass nutrition han is the NIRS method. It is also important to remember that tissue analyses by any method should always be used in conjunction with – but not instead of soil analyses.

Printable version of full report

by Larry J. Stowell, Ph.D. and Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D.

Turfgrass Tissue Testing: Pros and Cons

Bottom line: Making sure that turf is receiving optimal nutrition is one the most important activities that turf managers carry out. If the correct nutrients are applied at the right times and in the right amounts, turf health is maximized, while run-off, negative environmental impacts, high costs and high clipping yields are minimized. There are several different tools that are useful in nutrient decision making. Analysis of turf tissues as a means of determining fertility requirements has been popular in the past, but is plagued by sampling errors and by the fact that it does not detect some parameters that are important in turf health. For this reason, anaylsis of soil chemistry is usually a more useful indicator. If tissues analyses are conducted, however, it is important to distinguish between two methods. NIRS (near infrared reflectance spectroscopy) provides a rapid and accurate analysis of tissue nitrogen, but is not accurate for any other nutrients, while conventional wet chemistry provides somewhat better estimates of a wide spectrum of nutrients in turf tissues. Tissue analyses by any method can be useful, especially for investigating specific problems, but should always be used in conjunction with – and not instead of soil analyses.

Printable version of full report

by Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D. and Larry J. Stowell, Ph.D.

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