Foliar Feeding Fairways

One may ask,  what is "foliar feeding"? Foliar feeding is a process in which you give small amounts of nutrients to the plant directly instead of indirectly as in the case with granular feeding. In most cases the plant recognizes the nutrients in a form in which it is easier for the plant to process and use. Foliar feeding also prevents waste or runoff of unused nutrients or nutrients waiting to be used by the plant.

Foam marker used to identify the previous spray pattern.

Foliar feeding a fairway with a 300 gallon John Deere sprayer

The practice of "foliar feeding" is commonly used when providing nutrients to the putting surfaces of the green. It has no disruption to ball roll and can be dry within :30 minutes of application depending on weather conditions. Foliar feeding also allows the plant to take in the nutrients in a timely manner resulting in very little loss of fertilizer due to uncontrollable conditions. Years ago your best approach to fertility on any golf course playing surface was granular fertilizers. With the technology we have today we are able make foliar feeding more cost effective to the end user.

There are a variety of combinations and products on the market for Golf Course Superintendents to use on his or her golf course. What products to choose is based on the need of that particular golf course. Here at Jupiter CC we use products on our fairways that contain Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), and Magnesium (Mg).

Nitrogen - used for leaf growth and  density, root growth, cart traffic tolerance, heat and cold stress,                     and recuperative potential.
Potassium - used for heat and cold tolerance, strengthens cells of plant, and aids in plant health                                against diseases.
Iron - used for greening of the plant, leaf and root growth, and cart traffic wear tolerance.
Manganese - used by the plant for nitrogen uptake and photosynthesis.
Magnesium - used by the plant for cold hardiness, chlorophyll synthesis and helps with utilizing iron                        and phosphorus.

All of the nutrients can be custom blended by our local suppliers to fit our needs based on soil and leaf tissue samples. We typically only take samples on greens twice a year and a few tees once a year. Currently we are using a blend on fairways referred to as 12-0-0 w/ 3% Fe, 2% MG, !% Mn and 6-0-18. The numbers in sequence with a dash represent Nitrogen - Phosphorus - Potassium. These are the 3 key nutrients in plant health and development.