Golf courses are looking to invest in their soil to reduce long-term costs, minimize environmental impacts and improve the overall quality and beauty of the course.
CharGrow’s biochar soil amendments and inoculants can help accomplish these goals by building the soil structure, optimizing water and nutrient retention in the root zone, and promoting microbial activity that helps protects the plants against pests and diseases.
“Golf courses turn to enriched biochar for more natural turf management, relying on it to reduce fungicides and fertilizer use,” according to Jennifer Duffield White, of Ball Horticulture Company, in her Growers Talk article “The Biochar Mix” (2018). She goes on to state that “Golf course trials have also shown that adding biochar can make greens more resilient during droughts and improve drainage during wet periods.”
Additionally, with the increased fertilizer and energy costs impacting golf courses and growers today, there’s never been a better time to adopt nontoxic, cost-effective practices and inputs.
Over the years, CharGrow has worked with both golf course and sports turf growers to reduce chemical inputs through improved plant performance. Our approach harnesses the power of natural soil biology and incorporates biochar.
Biochar is a carbon-rich solid derived from biomass (organic matter from plants ) that is heated in a limited oxygen environment. Essentially, the cellular structure of plant matter remains in pure carbon form, creating a honeycomb scaffolding with a network of walls, channels, pores, and micropores.
Golf courses around the world are facing increasing challenges related to water management and calls for increased environmental stewardship. Biochar has been shown to help reduce the need for irrigation, improve drainage and mitigate compaction. It can also reduce the need for fertilizers and fungicides which improves water quality. Using biochar instead of peat moss can also provide for longer term solutions and improved carbon footprints for golf courses; Biochar International, Biochar Use On Golf Courses webinar.
Most soils contain some elements of a healthy soil food web. However, in many cases, the diversity and population of soil biology are inadequate for plants to thrive. So what is the best way to build a thriving soil food web? Restore the population and biodiversity that was once present.
CharGrow’s biochar products for golf courses and sports turf allow growers to reinoculate the proper biology back into soils so plants can achieve optimal health and performance. Our product contains over forty thousand different species of beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes.
CharGrow BioGranules™ is a granular carbon matrix containing concentrated beneficial soil microorganisms, enriched substrates, and microbial foods. Research has shown that this formulation allows the microbes to survive harsh soil environments, increase nutrient cycling, and improve plant health.
In golf course and sports turf applications, CharGrow BioGranules product is applied as a topdress following core aeration or broadcast over existing turf. The product can be applied by conventional spinner spreaders and fertilizer application equipment.
When incorporated into turf management practices, CharGrow’s BioGranules can:
When added together, these benefits significantly improve plant performance and profitability.
So how does this all work?
Following spring and fall core aeration, BioGranules are topdressed at four-hundred pounds per acre and raked in.
When exposed to water and oxygen, the beneficial microorganisms are stimulated and begin to multiply in the surrounding soil.
So what does all this mean for golf courses?
After two years of trials at the courses we worked with, what we have been able to document is:
