Thursday, July 21, 2016

Fairway fertilizer changes

With the purchase of a 300 gallon sprayer I was able to make a switch to a much more pin point accurate fertilization plan on the fairways.  I can now get away from having to apply granular products every time we fertilize.  Three reason I wanted to get away from granular for every application are:
1) The lowest rate I could go with and not get a speckled appearance was .4#N/M
2) Granular fertilizer always gets thrown in places you don't want it no mater how carful you are.  
3) Granular fertilizers cause a flush of growth for a week or two after application creating a need for extra mowing.  

Spraying at a rate of 0.9gpm I can cover 7.7 Acres with one tank.  Five tanks covers my fairways and Approaches.  I can spray these areas in one day now; where as before it would take me 3 days with the old smaller sprayer.  

Another benefit of spraying is my ability to add the growth regulator Paclobutrazol to the tank.  This product provides vertical growth regulation and suppresses poa annua growth more than the other grasses.  Our low mow bluegrass and fine fescue plants now have a competitive advantage over poa.   I am also adding Ferrous Sulfate to the tank for a quicker green up and as another poa irritant.  

Foam blops marking my lines to prevent overlaps or misses in my application.  

The spray line from the approach tank is already obvious from the morning spray.  

Here is a good picture of a spray line on 14 fairway.  The instant green from foliar fertilization is always amazing to me.  This is after only a few short hours.  
The products used to spray fairways are:
Urea (46-0-0)
Ferrous Sulfate
Blade Fe (15-0-0)
Tide Paclo
Total cost to spray all fairways is $1500

Total cost to use a granular product on fairways is $1600

A more accurate application with the benefit of a growth regulator for basically the same price.  
Two applications in and I am very pleased with the results so far this season.  

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