The ATC Doublecut with Micah Woods

The temperature-based growth potential, developed by PACE Turf , transforms the average air temperature to a growth potential (GP). The GP is conveniently scaled from 0 to 1 (or from 0 to 100%, if you prefer), and high GP values indicate that the air temperature is close to an optimum for grass growth. This episodes looks at a very interesting question: are there places on earth with a high GP for...

An anonymous golf course superintendent wrote that they were "blown away by the quality of these surfaces with an amount of nitrogen I would’ve thought was far too small." I discuss this, and some of the changes I'm made in my thinking about what is "far too small," or not. Also, I discuss some of the preventative fungicide and herbicide applications on golf courses in Japan that keep the zoysia s...

I spent nine days at the KBC Augusta golf tournament in 2023. In this episode, I introduce the blog post with the daily diary of my observations and measurements during the week. You can see the blog post at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/tournament-diary-kbc-augusta-2023/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/ Get ATC newsletters at https://subscribe...

Andrew McDaniel and I worked together at Habu CC in July 2001. We also worked together at the 50th KBC Augusta tournament in August 2023. I reflect on, and discuss, both of these, in this episode. The blog post discussed is: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/looking-back-at-a-july-with-record-heat-and-drought/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/ Get A...

Andrew McDaniel joined me from the Keya GC maintenance office to discuss firmness measurements of putting greens, using a 4 ton roller on the greens, and why the greens make a crunching noise when walking across them. See the blog post we discussed at: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/putting-green-data-from-measurement-to-summary/ See the Shorts videos on the ATC YouTube channel: ATC's YouTube...

I recorded this from Keya Golf Club, which will host the 50th KBC Augusta golf tournament on korai (Zoysia matrella) putting greens this week. I explained why I find this grass on putting greens so interesting, and some of the measurements I'll be making this week. I discussed this blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/tournament-golf-on-zoysia-greens/ Read more about all kinds of turfgra...

Jason Haines joined me for another #TurfMath episode to explain what the growth ratio is, how he uses it, and how he calibrates it. See this post for the equation and links: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/the-growth-ratio-equation/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/ Get ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters Turfgrass informa...

We discussed the ease of metric units and the utility of knowing some key numbers in turfgrass maintenance. We discussed this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/attractions-of-metric-units/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at https://www.asianturfgrass.com/ Get ATC newsletters at https://subscribepage.com/atc_newsletters Turfgrass information and decision-making tools at https:...

One of the things you can do when you are able to express soil water content as a depth of water, and vice versa, is to express the water loss rate from the soil divided by the reference evapotranspiration. Now you've got a rough estimate of a site specific crop coefficient. I explained how to do that in this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/hourly-evapotranspiration-soil-water-content-an...

For as long as I can remember, I've used the easy 1 mm = 1 L = 1% soil volumetric water content (VWC) relationship when converting between water use by grass, ET, irrigation, and soil VWC. Bill Kreuser shared the simple calculation to work this out in inches, for any rootzone depth. The post discussed here is https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/soil-water-content-turf-hacks/ Read more about all ki...

I gave three reasons for my preference that sand topdressing amounts be expressed as a depth. One is consistency and standardization. Depth means the area to which the sand has been applied is already accounted for. Others include easy calculation and integration with #OM246, plus clear communication. The posts discussed here include these: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/three-reasons-sand-de...

Did you know Japan has as many golf holes as England, Scotland, and New Zealand combined? I visited 11 golf facilities in Japan and discuss some of the interesting equipment and numbers related to the maintenance of those courses. The blog post getting the #ATC2x treatment is: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/japan-golf-by-numbers/ The roller with "landing gear" and the 126 hole facility are in...

For any date, time, and location, it's possible to calculate the amount of light grass would get in full sun. I describe how this is done, and show a calculator that will find this value for you. Direct link to the blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/shade-and-sun/ Direct link to the PPFD calculator: https://asianturfgrass.shinyapps.io/ppfd_by_time/ Read more about all kinds of turfgras...

A research article recommended two spring and one autumn hollow-tine aerification, supplemented by solid-tine aerification during summer, for creeping bentgrass putting greens in the transition zone. I discussed this, and include links to the article, in this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/coring-three-times-a-year-is-recommended-when/ Read more about all kinds of turfgrass topics at ht...

Clouds reduce photosynthetically active radiation by about 25% when you can still see your shadow. When you can't see your shadow, that's about 50% of PAR blocked. And when you can't see your shadow and can't find what part of the sky the sun is in, that's about 75% PAR reduction. Read about this on a cloudy day in Tokyo, and see two apps that allow you to either check the full sun instantaneous P...

This episode introduces ΔGP, which is cool-season grass growth potential minus warm-season growth potential. Too many days like that and you won't bother trying to grow cool-season grass anymore. Also, best time of the year to soil sample, a superb podcast from Chris Tritabaugh, and a careful look at the difference between soil organic matter and total organic material.  These posts were discussed...

Mike Richardson from the University of Arkansas joined me to discuss zoysia on putting greens, light requirements of different grass species, grass selection in the transition zone, green speed, and winterkill in a wide ranging conversation. You can find Mike on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ArkansasTurf Here are links to some of the topics we discussed: - This post with the green speed by specie...

I wrote a blog post that lists ten things I reflected on one day in relation to how I had changed my thinking about how much N, growth, and sand topdressing and core aerification are required to maintain high performance turfgrass surfaces. Chris Tritabaugh joined me to discuss this. Blog post with the ten points: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/reflections-on-growth-rate-and-nitrogen/ Chris's...

This episode discusses three recent posts about soil testing (soil nutrient analyses), from what happens at the lab, to micronutrient test results. - Brookside Lab video tour: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/behind-the-scenes-look-at-soil-testing/ - The video: https://youtu.be/PyL2bfdiBdE - Converting between different extraction methods: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/converting-between-...

Joe Gulotti joined me to go through the list of blog posts that got the fewest views on the ATC website in 2020. There was turf tourism, turf hacks, soil sampling, photosynthetically active radiation, four wheelers, and a lot of turf talk as we went through the list. To get the ATC blog by email: https://subscribepage.com/atc_blog_email We discussed this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/t...

Brian Whitlark is the West region director of the USGA Green Section. We talked about total organic material testing of turfgrass soils. This is distinct from soil organic matter testing. Soil organic matter is measured on material that has already passed a 2 mm sieve and thus is no larger than a grain of sand. This sieving removes much of the thatch and mat and living plant material from the samp...

Dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale ) abundance can be increased by potassium (K) and lime applications. Adding K fertilizer when it is not needed by the grass, or adding lime to increase the pH when the grass does not require such an adjustment, could lead to increased competitiveness of dandelions in that sward. Some links for this episode include: - My dandelions and potassium post: https://www.as...

I used to tell people that GP is just a number, and if they wanted to modify it to fit the way grass grows at their location, then go ahead and do so. I don't say that anymore. Instead, I recommend using the standard equation. Why? To facilitate direct comparisons between sites, knowing that everyone has used the same equation. I discussed this blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/regard...

March in Japan is the start of cherry blossom season, and on golf courses there is a lot of aerification. I've noticed that golf courses in Japan generally don't do as much surface area removal as is common in some other parts of the world. But the surfaces can still perform. I discuss this in this episode, and have a look at this post from the ATC blog: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/springt...

I explained what the growth ratio is and showed the equation used to calculate growth ratio. This simple equation takes the measured clipping volume and adjusts it by the temperature. Jason Haines developed the growth ratio and has found it quite useful. You can see that equation in this ATC blog post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/the-growth-ratio-equation/ Read more about all kinds of turf...