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| Web URL(s): | https://stri.lib.msu.edu/vol60-1984/pdf/sptri84060101.pdf#page=4
Last checked: 08/30/2006
Requires: PDF Reader
Notes: Available to TGIF and STRI users |
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| Access Restriction: | Certain MSU-hosted archive URLs may be restricted to legacy database members. |
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| Publication Type:
| Report |
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| Content Type: | Q & A |
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| Corporate Author(s): | Sports Turf Research Institute |
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| Title: | Use of compost |
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| Section: | Enquiries and replies
Other records with the "Enquiries and replies" Section
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| Source: | Journal of the Sports Turf Research Institute. Vol. 60, 1984, p. 104-105. |
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| Publishing Information: | Bingley, West Yorkshire, UK: The Sports Turf Research Institute |
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| # of Pages: | 2 |
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| Question: | "We note that in your last advisory report you recommended that we manufacture our own compost for use as top dressing on our greens. In the past we have been purchasing commercial top dressing material and feel that although this is expensive, it is convenient to use and saves much investment in sheds, screens etc. Why do you feel that home production of compost is better?" |
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| Answer/Response: | "Top dressing with compost, usually mixed with sand, is perhaps the most important routine operation in golf course maintenance. Top dressing affects the characteristics of the playing surface and helps maintain it in a free draining state, free of excessive compaction and with the required resiliency. Firmness and good surface drainage are produced by the sand constituent, resiliency and some plant food by the organic matter. Commercial top dressings purchased from outside sources are certainly convenient and less laborious to use but it must be firmly pointed out that these materials are very much inferior in quality to genuine compost. Commercial top dressings are usually just sand/soil/peat mixtures and such material does not give the benefits described above in the required way. Peat is not a good source of organic matter as it can hold water on the surface and encourage thatch formation, besides being of very little value as far as plant nutrition is concerned. The production of compost on site, therefore, results in a far superior product than anything that can be purchased elsewhere. Setting up a compost making operation is initially expensive, but if considered over the long term then ultimately the quite high cost of commercial top dressing will eventually be covered. The main point is, however, that proper compost is of far superior quality. Now that very efficient machines are available for spreading compost, it is possible to apply it several times each year, giving the main dressing in the autumn supplementary dressings in the spring and summer. If such a regime of frequent top dressing is adhered to, then playing surfaces will be improved and sufficient grass growth promoted to minimise the need for expensive artificial fertilizers. Some saving in golf course running costs can therefore be achieved by reducing fertilizer requirements in this manner and at the same time healthier swards and better playing surfaces will be achieved. We therefore have no hesitation in saying that home compost production is economically sensible in the long term and that the material produced is likely to be much more beneficial to greens than anything which can be bought from outside sources." |
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| Keywords: | TIC Keywords: Composting equipment; Composts; Cost efficiency; Recommendations; Topdressing
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| Language: | English |
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| References: | 0 |
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| ASA/CSSA/SSSA Citation (Crop Science-Like - may be incomplete):
Sports Turf Research Institute. 1984. Use of compost. J. Turfgrass Sports Surf. Sci. 60:p. 104-105. |
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| Web URL(s):
https://stri.lib.msu.edu/vol60-1984/pdf/sptri84060101.pdf#page=4
Last checked: 08/30/2006
Requires: PDF Reader
Notes: Available to TGIF and STRI users |
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MSU catalog number: SB 433 .A1 S63 |
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