My nitrogen approach 11 years ago

An old blog is a wonderful window to the past

I get some amount of thrill from changing my mind. Maybe thrill is a strange word to describe it, but I find it exciting to think about having been committed to one approach, but then ultimately having found enough new evidence to convince myself there was a better way. Best Selling Author, Adam Grant wrote an entire book about changing one’s mind; its titled Think Again. 

Adam Grant @AdamMGrant

Changing your mind doesn't mean you've abandoned your principles. It may mean you've learned something. It's better to contradict yourself and be accused of hypocrisy than to stick to your guns and sacrifice your integrity. The hallmark of integrity is honesty, not consistency.

I’ve changed my mind about things a lot over the years, but it seems to me that too often, the golf course management industry is resistant to the idea of changing one’s mind. I think the tweet above hits the nail on the head. Too many are worried if they change their mind, they might be labeled a hypocrite, so they stick to their guns.

The way I apply nitrogen fertilizer now versus how I did so in my earlier days as a superintendent is something I enjoy questioning. What was my reasoning then? What have I learned since to make me change my ways? How has the conditioning of our surfaces improved because of the changes I’ve made? To me, it’s a fascinating exploration. 

Below I’ve quoted the text from a blog post on the subject of late-season nitrogen. I wrote this post on the 13th of October, 2011 when I was the golf course superintendent at Northland Country Club. Interestingly, the tweet posted above was sent, to the day, almost 10 years the post I’m referencing. I was sure I had found a wonderful approach and I used it for many years. Eventually, with more evidence, I stopped using this approach.

Below I’ve quoted the entire unedited post from 11 years ago.

In our efforts to promote and maintain bentgrass over Poa annua we are always looking to add tools to our toolshed. This fall we will be using fertility timing to help promote strong bentgrass growth next spring.

In Minnesota we typically view Summer and Winter as ideal seasons for promoting bentgrass or, in the case of winter, eliminating Poa. Spring and fall are typically seen as months in which Poa is able to out compete bentgrass. As part of our continued efforts at increasing and maintaining high bentgrass populations, we use multiple combinations of tools with an aim to promote bentgrass during all seasons of the year, removing as many periods of Poa advantage as possible.

Earlier this summer, recently retired superintendent tweeted about fall application of nitrogen in order to promote more vigorous spring growth of bentgrass. Typically in areas with winter dormancy of turf we find spring growth of bentgrass to be slower than Poa. For a number of years Jerry has been reversing this trend by making late-fall applications of soluble nitrogen.

One of the articles mentioned by Jerry was written by Dr. Ralph Engel, Professor Emeritus of Turfgrass Science at Rutgers University. The article was written in 1988 and touts fall, pre-dormancy applications of soluble nitrogen, as a method to increase early season bentgrass growth. Last fall we made some applications of this nature on fairways and saw aggressive spring growth from our bentgrass. Over the next couple of weeks we will be making nitrogen applications to all playing surfaces with the goal of promoting more vigorous bentgrass growth early next season. Doing so continues to close windows of opportunity for Poa to get any leg up on bentgrass.