Micah Woods
I'm chief scientist at the Asian Turfgrass Center and director of the @paceturf information service. Some current projects include #OM246, #ClipVol, and #MLSN.
Appears in 160 Episodes
Turf Math with Bjarni Hannesson and Jason Haines
We discussed the ease of metric units and the utility of knowing some key numbers in turfgrass maintenance.We discussed this post: https://www.asianturfgrass.com/post/...
Using morning and afternoon VWC measurements to find the site specific crop coefficient #TurfHacks
One of the things you can do when you are able to express soil water content as a depth of water, and vice versa, is to express the water loss rate from the soil divid...
A soil water content turf hack
For as long as I can remember, I've used the easy 1 mm = 1 L = 1% soil volumetric water content (VWC) relationship when converting between water use by grass, ET, irri...
I prefer sand topdressing amounts expressed as a depth
I gave three reasons for my preference that sand topdressing amounts be expressed as a depth. One is consistency and standardization. Depth means the area to which the...
Golf in Japan: maintenance staff numbers, rounds played, number of holes, and annual N rates
Did you know Japan has as many golf holes as England, Scotland, and New Zealand combined? I visited 11 golf facilities in Japan and discuss some of the interesting equ...
Grass gets this much PAR light in full sun (no clouds)
For any date, time, and location, it's possible to calculate the amount of light grass would get in full sun. I describe how this is done, and show a calculator that w...
Coring three times a year with half-inch tines on bentgrass putting greens
A research article recommended two spring and one autumn hollow-tine aerification, supplemented by solid-tine aerification during summer, for creeping bentgrass puttin...
The shade effect of clouds, photosynthetically active radiation, and 2 PAR apps
Clouds reduce photosynthetically active radiation by about 25% when you can still see your shadow. When you can't see your shadow, that's about 50% of PAR blocked. And...
It's tough to manage cool-season putting greens when ΔGP is less than 0
This episode introduces ΔGP, which is cool-season grass growth potential minus warm-season growth potential. Too many days like that and you won't bother trying to gro...
Transition zone putting greens, light, speed, zoysia, bermuda, and bentgrass with Mike Richardson
Mike Richardson from the University of Arkansas joined me to discuss zoysia on putting greens, light requirements of different grass species, grass selection in the tr...
Reflections on growth rate, nitrogen, and disruption, with Chris Tritabaugh
I wrote a blog post that lists ten things I reflected on one day in relation to how I had changed my thinking about how much N, growth, and sand topdressing and core a...
A soil test extravaganza
This episode discusses three recent posts about soil testing (soil nutrient analyses), from what happens at the lab, to micronutrient test results.- Brookside Lab vide...
Blog post bombs of 2020 with The Talking Greenkeeper
Joe Gulotti joined me to go through the list of blog posts that got the fewest views on the ATC website in 2020. There was turf tourism, turf hacks, soil sampling, pho...
Potassium fertilizer could increase dandelions by 20x
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) abundance can be increased by potassium (K) and lime applications. Adding K fertilizer when it is not needed by the grass, or adding l...
Using the standard growth potential (GP) equation allows direct comparisons from site to site
I used to tell people that GP is just a number, and if they wanted to modify it to fit the way grass grows at their location, then go ahead and do so. I don't say that...
Is nitrogen rate connected to surface area disruption?
March in Japan is the start of cherry blossom season, and on golf courses there is a lot of aerification. I've noticed that golf courses in Japan generally don't do as...
All about the growth ratio equation for temperature-adjusted #ClipVol
I explained what the growth ratio is and showed the equation used to calculate growth ratio. This simple equation takes the measured clipping volume and adjusts it by ...
Growth ratio to predict clipping volume for any time of year
One of the common questions about #ClipVol is "what is a normal amount of clippings to get?" By using the growth ratio, it's possible to account for the temperature co...
Turfgrass growth rate and plant growth regulators with Bill Kreuser
Bill Kreuser joined to answer all the questions I could think of related to plant growth regulators (PGR). We discussed re-application intervals based on growing degre...
Cool-season turfgrass growth potential in Augusta in April and in November
In 2020, I looked at the temperatures in Augusta during the April Masters Tournament week, and the temperatures in November during the re-scheduled Masters dates. From...
The USGA's GS3 for measuring putting green performance with Scott Mingay and Jordan Booth
I spoke with Scott Mingay and Jordan Booth from the USGA about the GS3 tool that measures green speed, smoothness and trueness of ball roll, and surface hardness of go...
Soil nutrient levels—especially in sand rootzones—can change rapidly
Soil nutrient levels might change more rapidly than you realize. This has implications for whether nutrients should be applied as fertilizer, or not. I showed data fro...
Five things to know about soil pH, and how to get the best fertilizer recommendations
I recommend keeping the soil pH between 5.5 and 8.5 when you are managing fine turfgrass. This episode explains why that is the recommended range, and also considers t...
Soil test calibration and interpretation for turfgrass with Beth Guertal
Turfgrass soil test interpretation and the fertilizer recommendations that come from that have been highlighted as "arbitrary" and "based on other crops" and "needing ...
Growth potential of turfgrass, the link to actual growth, and a further connection to N fertilizer with Bjarni Hannesson
Bjarni Hannesson has been using the temperature-based turfgrass growth potential (GP) for ten years. We discussed how he makes use of it in Iceland, and how the GP can...
The temperature-based turfgrass growth potential (GP) in words — not numbers
The temperature-based turfgrass growth potential (GP) is a utility function that expresses the potential of temperature to affect shoot growth. Without going into too ...
Spots of excitement—snow mold spots—in an otherwise boring potassium experiment, with Doug Soldat
Doug Soldat is a professor in the soil science department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We discussed a recent photo he shared showing dramatically increased ...
How to collect soil samples for #OM246 and #MLSN tests
Soil sample collection and handling procedures and recommendations and pitfalls. Plus three recommended newsletters.
Turfgrass Twitter in 2022 with Paul Hurst
Paul Hurst, co-owner of GreensPro, joined me to discuss the Turf Twitter 2022 rankings and his 13th place finish in these highly competitive rankings. We ended up talk...
The 10 posts no one read last year with Joe Gulotti
Joe Gulotti joined me to discuss ten blog posts from the ATC blog that got the fewest views in 2022. It's easy to understand why some of these are on the list. A few d...