Milford chronicle., 1961-03-31
Tips For
Specialized
Turf Areas


Golf course fairways should be
fertilized and reseeded in the
spring and again in late Septem-
Der. A common seeding rate is 80
TO so pounds of Merton or Ken
lucky bluegrass seed to the acre.
"A minimum of 500 pounds TO the
acre of a turf grass fertilizer,
high in nitrogen. should be applied
in the early spring. In the fall a
like application of fertilizer of a
Ill ratio of N-P205-K20 should
be used.
Merton egrass fairways
should be cut TO height of three
quarters of an inch. Ordinary blue
grass fairways should not be cut
shorter than one and one-quarter
inches. Care should be taken in
watering Merton bluegrass as it
can be over-watered.
Frequently, seed mixtures of
Merton and Kentucky bluegrass
are used. but Merton does better
by itself. and the height of cut
will determine which one will sur
vive.
Fairways should be maintained
at soil pHof about 6.5. One ton
of ground agricultural limestone
every three or four years will
maintain this PHI.
Golf course green's consisting of
bentgrasS should not be watered
too early in the spring. Roots will
er.N daapar 10 mot .iuo- e a0psr1IIad
Where annual bluegrass is a prob
lem, do not use fertilizer contain
ing readily available nitrogen until
the bentgrasses are ready to grow.
If annual bluegrass is not a prob
lem, then early applications of fer
tilizer containing available nitro
gen can be made. The slow acting
forms of nitrogen can be used for
early applications where annual
bluegrass is a problem A mid-May
application of fertilizer containing
ureaform nitrogen will usually
supply ample. nitrogen throughout
the summer under most climatic
conditions. If a shortage develops.
however,. correct ii by applying a
readily available source of nitro
gen. small amount at a time, as
needed.
Every spring golf course tees
should be topdressed with a good
tondressing mixture. complete
fertilizer added, and seeded with
two pounds of Merton bluegrass
per 1000 square feet A good
seedbed is needed. The topdress-
ing mixture can be prepared with
three parts of sand. two parts of
good soil, and one. part of COM
posted peat Peat should be COM
posted for six months with fer
tilizer before Incorporating it into
a topdressing mixture. Rotted saw
dust is goo and can be used equ-
ally as we'll, and should not con-
stitute over one-sixth of the vol
ume of the mixture.
Athletic Fields
The tall fescue grasses are wei,
suited for athletic fields. tt e Y
should be seeded at four to five
pounds per 1000 square feet in or
der to get a thick stand. Thickness
prevents coarseness. Tall f e u e
grasses should not be moved clos
er then two inches. Sometimes
they are seeded with Merton blue
grass in 70-30 mixture. and now
ed at a height of one and three
quarters inches throushout the sea
son. However, this height of cut is
not best for Merton and Il will
tend to lose out sin favor of the
fescues. About IL pounds of nitro
gen per 1000 square feet are need
ed to supply nitrogen throughout
the season. Use four to five pounds
of this in the fall. and the balance
about mid-May. The fall applica-
tion should be supplied by a COM
plete fertilizer Zone containing nit
trogen, phosphate and potash).
Whenever fertilizer is applied, al
ways water by sprinkling TO get
1t off the grass and into the soil.