News from the underground

As a center for testing out products and practices, Alabama's FarmLinks at Pursell Farms was an ideal site for one of the initial tests of Worm Power Turf, an organic vermicompost product. Director of agronomy Robert Mitchell shares what the course experienced when the maintenance team tried out the new biological product.

"We would just go out and spray it, it wasn't anything I had to worry about. It was all part of the research," he says.

After running those initial tests, Mitchell saw enough results that he wanted to incorporate it fully into the program, he says, including a partnership with AQUA-AID on other products.

"This is our second full year of spraying it wall-to-wall on the greens," he says. "100 percent of our greens get it at least once a month, now."

When testing started, there weren't any particular problems that needed addressing, but that didn't mean there weren't greens that could use some help.

"We didn't have any negative issues that made me think, 'Oh, this is going to fix our problem,'" he says. "We always had good roots. But we had a couple greens that always gave us issues, or they didn't have any air movement."

But starting with a steady 8-ounce rate applied once every two weeks along with wetting agent applications, "we started seeing healthier roots, longer roots and more roots."

"They're not really deeper than other roots, but there's more roots, and they're clumpy, instead of just one or two," he says. "It's nothing to see the roots come out of the bottom of the cup-cutter nowadays." That root growth continues through the spring to about the middle of July, and then tapers off, when natural growth would start scaling back with the increasing heat anyway.

Mitchell starts the season with one heavy dose for the greens, a 16-ounce application spread just once that month. Then, starting in the first week of April, his crew applies half-rates of the product twice each month, mixed in with wetting agents to help it reach deeper into the soil. They continue that application rate through the season, all the way to November. As the weather gets colder, they finish with another full 16-ounce application for the month until the following March, he says.

"As we start the season off, we'll load the soil profile up with that first 16-ounce rate, then follow with the 8-ounce rates bi-weekly," he says.

One positive for Mitchell is that the product doesn't cost much, which means it doesn't take up much room in his budget annually. Even if it cost a little more, or the budget was a bit tighter, he would try to cut elsewhere, such as small tools, before he scales back in fertilizer, he says.

The most important step for Mitchell is breaking down the application into the split rate spoon-feeding program once the season gets moving,  he says.

"That way, the plant is always getting a shot of it," he says. "When I do it early in the month just once, by the next month, the turf is hungry for it. There's nothing left. But if I do it in smaller shots, bi-weekly, the plant's always having something to take in."

Though the product has proven itself to Mitchell on his greens, he says that others should try it out or take a look at photos from other superintendents to see how it works for them. If a superintendent is testing Worm Power Turf, it's important to run the test on its own first, on a split green. Then, as testing continues, rather than looking for immediate changes on the surface, do cup cuttings to see how the roots are progressing.

"I think it's a no-brainer to try it," he says. "I think once they take a profile of the roots, they'll spend the money to do it to all of their greens."

About the author
Kyle Brown is a Canton, Ohio-based turf writer.