Functions of the Three PlantFood Elements

BY A. E. GRANTHAM, DirectorRead at the Fourth Annual Convention of the National Association of Greenkeepers of America at Jefferson

County Armory. Louisville. February 4-7. 1930

THE food of plants comes from translocation, respiration and me-three sources, water, air and tabolism, are essentially chemical insoil. Those from the water and character. Protoplasm is made up

air are in such abundance that they of complex compounds, whichare always present for the full needs differ from non-living matter; first,of plants. The mineral elements. in chemical composition; secondor those derived from the soil its power of waste, repair andmay be divided into three classes: growth; and third, its reproduc-

First, the non-essential, which, tive power.although they are absorbed by Living matter is constantly un-plan ts, are not considered to de~going change-the result of thehave a vital function. and has breaking down from its activitiessilicon, aluminum, sodium and and by making good this loss bypossibly manganese: the manufacture of new proto-

Second, the essential and abun- plasm out of simple food mater-A. E.GRANTHAMdant-in this class are iron. cal- A~,.icJ{ltllral Service Bureau, ials. Here is where the elements of

Virgilliu.Carotiliu Chemical Corp.,cium, magnesium and sulphur: Richmond, Va. plant food play their part. With

Third, a class which may be considered surplus protoplasm it makes new cells, morecritical, including nitrogen, phosphorus, tissue and organisms. It produces new massespotassium and possibly sulphur. of living matter contained in J:he seed or fruit,

More recent investigations, however, lead us which when deducted from the parent massto believe that manganese and magnesium are eventually begin a separate existence.deficient in some soils and are performing a more Let us consider the functions of each of theseimportant function than was formerly consid- three elements. Nitrogen is a constituent off:red. However, the purpose of this paper is to all proteins, compounds which are found as thediscuss the functions of the three principal in- active components of all protoplasm. Proteingredients of plant food; namely, nitrogen, is from the Greek, meaning pre-eminence, or ofphosphorus and potassium .. first importance. The protoplasm of the green

The use the plant makes of these elements portions (leaves) of the plant permits proto-,has been carefully studied by chemists and synthesis of the carbohydrates. the synthesis'physiologists for a number of years. The use of other tissue-building materials and theof plant food by grass does not differ widely formation of reserve food substances.from other groups of plants, although little What Nitrogen Doesdirect investigational work has been carried on THEREFORE, nitrogen is of the greatest im-along this line-the atten tion of the agricul- portance to a plan t. It promotes leaf andtural experiment stations 'in the past dealing stem growth and gives the plant a dark greenlargely with field-grown crops. color and vigorous appearance. The lack of

Plant Cell is Unit of Growth nitrogen is shown by pale green or yellowishTHE plant cell is the unit of growth. The leaves. Excess nitrogen gives rank growth and

principle of life in the cell is protoplasm; it retards the ripening process. Excess nitrogenis the laboratory in which all the changes, which produces a soft plant tissue. due to the weakconstitute the changes of the plant, take place. cell wall, which is in turn subject to plant dis-The vital processes of plants-assimilation, eases.

PAGE ELEVEN

PAGE TWELVE The National Greenkeeper MARCH, 1930

If we turn to field crops, on which moststudies have been made with reference to nutri-tion, we find that wheat and oats, when sup-plied with heavy applications of nitrogen, haveweak stalk growth, which makes the plantssubject to lodging and to such diseases as rustand others. Wheat and oats belong to thegrass family, although they are annuals. Thesame results are found with such crops as to-bacco. While excess nitrogen produces largeplants and abundant leafage, the tissues are notfirm and fail to mature properly and the plantis much subject to disease. In the early growthof plants nitrogen is largely in the leaves-laterit is transferred to the seed.

Phosphorus Stimulates Root Growth

THE second elemen t, phosphorus, while di-rectl y essen tial to plant growth, the effect is

not so visible in the general appearance or color.Available phosphorus in early growth stimu-lates root development, an important featureof grass growth. It hastens the developmentof adventitious buds or rootlets on plants thatreproduce themselves by tillers, root-stalks orstolons. Most plan ts send out a secondary setof rootlets after those that have been produceddirectly with the seed. It is with these sec-ondary rootlets that the phosphoric acid seemsto have very active effect.

Farmers well know that wheat, seeded in thefall and fertilized with phosphates, makes amuch better root system and is less subject toaction of frost during the winter than wheatnot so treated. This is evidence that more ex-tensive root system is produced by the phos-phates. Phosphorus hastens maturity. Inother words, it acts in the opposite way fromnitrogen and when applied with nitrogen tendsto counteract the effects of over-feeding of ni-trogen. Phosphorus is indispensable to plantgrowth, as it is the essential constituent of thenucleus of the cell. I t is said to determine therate of chemical changes in the cell.

Large amounts of phosphates are taken upby the plant in its early stages of growth.La ter it is transloca ted to the seed or grain,which contains large amounts of phosphorus.Since phosphorus is a constituent of every plantcell, and cells form the tissues of the plant. it

must be looked upon as one of the very im-port an t elements of plant food. I t has been re-marked that since grass on the golf course orgreen is not grown for its seed, then why usephosphorus. I t should be kept in mind thatphospha tes are necessary to the growth of allplants and whether the plant is deprived of theopportunity to produce seed or not, the livingtissues (the blade of the grass) must. havephosphorus.

Potash Forms Sugars and StarchesIT is generally stated that potash forms the

sugars and starch in plants. We know thatpotatoes, beets and sugar cane require and uselarge amounts of potash. However, all plantsrequire potassium, as it is needed in the cell sapto effect necessary changes in transloca tion ofplant food. Plumpness and size in tubers andgrains are dependent on plenty of availablepotassium. Potash hungry plants are moresubject to disease. This is particularly notedin corn, tobacco and cotton, all of which aresubject to particular diseases when the soil doesnot furnish enough potash.

The fact is well known tha t in general crops,excess potash retards maturity. This point maybe of value in the mail1tenance and keeping ofgrass more luxuriant during the season. Thisis probably due to the fact that potash main-tains the tone and vigor. of the plant. Thescarcity of potash is not shown so markedly inthe case of plants, except by rather retardedgrowth and the tendency to be more susceptibleto disease.

Each of the three elements, therefore, plays(; special part in the growth of all plant life.'While it is true some plants use more of oneelement than another, nevertheless nitrogen,phosphorus and potassium are found as a con-stituent of all living plant tissues.

The growing of grass under golf conditions,particularly on greens, presents a problem un-like most in the agricultural field. Until veryrecently little experimental work bearing di-rectl y on the fertilizer practice for greens hasbeen conducted. Of course, for many years theagricultural experiment stations and the U. S.Department of Agriculture have carefullytested out the fertilizer requirements, particu-larly the functions of the various plant food

from the above letter.

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SAY YOU SAW THE AD IN THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER PAGE THIRTEEN

PAGE FOURTEEN The National Greenkeeper MARCH, 1930

elements, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassiumin producing the various crops. Under suchconditions it is now pretty well known howeach of these react in the growing of the crop,and particularly the part they seem to play un-der various conditions of soil and at variousstages of plan t growth.

Golf Course Has Artificial ConditionsON the golf course we have very artificial

conditions. The plant cannot be culti-vated and on greens it is cut close, perhaps everyday in the growing season. It is heavily wat-ered and, to maintain the proper physical con-dition on the surface, repeated additions ofcompost and sand are made.

Heavy watering almost daily in hot weatherproduces a condition of soil tilth or structurethat may be favorable or not to the best growthof grass, particularly since this greatly dependson the drainage and aeration of the soil. There-fore, there are no other conditions quite com-parable. It is true with pasture environment,where cattle graze regularly, we have a condi-tion more or less similar. However, the tramp-ling action of cattle on grass is far differentfrom the effect of footprin ts made by humanbeings. Further, the treading of the grass\vhile the soil is quite wet furnishes anotherfactor that is not at all favorable. These aresome of the conditions confronting the green-keeper.

At the same time the continued clipping ofthe grass removes plan t food and in time thesoil is bound to be depleted of one or more ele-ments. The practice in many quarters has beenbased on the idea that grass needs nitrogenchiefly, if not entirely. This has resulted in re-peated applications of nitrogen in the form ofsulphate of ammonia or other quickly assimil-able ni trogen carriers. This has resulted inforcing the grass, and without question resultsin a weaker and less resistant turf.

The prevalence of brown patch during thepast few seasons seems to be somewhat asso-ciated with the practice of excessive applica-tions of nitrogen. While this has not been defi-nitely proved, there is such a close correlationbetween the practice and the prevalence of thisfungus that the relation is hardly to be ques-tioned. Then too, the soil on greens particu-

larly is being constantly modified, due to theadditions of sand, compost, ete.

Most Soils Need PhosphorusMO~T soils in the United States are deficient

in phosphorus. In other words, undernormal field conditions there is not enoughavailable phosphorus to give a full growth toman y crops. This should be borne in mindin building greens, that sufficient fertilizer,carrying all three elements of plant food, par-ticularly phosphates and potash, should be ap-plied to the soil before the greens are seeded.The same applies to fairways. The reason forthe objection to the use of phosphates andpotash in fertilizer often lies in the idea thatthese ingredients of plant food promote thegrowth of clover. It is probably true on soilshungry for these elements that clover will comeIn to some extent. However, the association ofclovers with blue grass is one that is constantlychanging.

Where land is made suitable to grow clover,blue grass is likely to follow rather than thereverse. l~he best blue grass lands of Kentuckycontain many times as much phosphorus asthey do nitrogen and these are almost pure bluegrass lands. In other parts of the coun try,western Virginia, southern Wisconsin andnorthern Illinois, we find some of the mosttypical blue grass, but it is noticeable that theyare on soils that are rich in phosphates and pot-ash. It is a noticeable fact that stands of le-gumes, such as sweet clover, alfalfa and evenJapanese clover, are followed by blue grass,which tends eventually to crowd them out.The ni trogen gathered by the legumes seems tofavor the spreading of the true grasses.

Some of the best stands of blue grass I haveever seen followed, wi thou t seeding, fields ofalfalfa where the alfalfa was gradually crowdedout by the encroachment of the grass.

Recent experiments conducted at the NewJersey Experiment Station, and reported in theDecember issue of the National Green-keeper, offer some very good evidence alongthis line. These tests have been running forseve,ra,lyears. It was found there that the platsreceIvIng a complete fertilizer showed the leastamount of white clover, the most white cloverappearing on the check plat. Likewise, tests

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SAY YOU SAW THE AD IN THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER PAGE FIFTEEN

PAGE SIXTEEN The National Greenkeeper MARCH. 1930

with lime, against which considerable prejudicehas been aroused in recen t years, showed thatlime did not increase weeds where ample plantfood was added in addition, and it was alsonoted that lime plus fertilizer gave the best andmost uniform growth.

These points are merely brought out to showthat perhaps there is not as much danger to befeared from the use of fertilizer carrying phos-phates and potash, and perhaps the use of lime,as is generally considered. It is true that bentgrass is largely used on greens proper. Thebents in their native states grow on soils thathave a good supply of potash-blue grass par-ticularly where there are abundant phosphates.

Tests on Pasture GrassesDURING the past two years The National

Fertilizer Association has conducted alarge number of tests on top-dressing pas-ture grasses in various parts of the easternstates and New England. These tests con-sisted of comparing results secured with the ap-plication of phosphates, potash and phos-phates, and nitrogen, phosphates and potash.Most of these pastures had. been down for yearsand many of them were on native foundation.It is interesting to note that while the completefertilizer gave the greatest returns in growthof grass, nevertheless phosphate and potashcombined made as much yield as the nitrogen.In other words, phosphates produced 341pounds, potash 302 pounds and ni trogen alone650 pounds. Of further interest was the factthat the plat receiving all three elements ofplant food maintained a more vigorous growthduring the hot summer weather than wheresingle elements were used.

The fact that potash tends to delay maturitywhen applied in liberal amounts may havesome bearing on this poin t. In these tests itwas found that phosphates and potash did in-crease the amount of clover, but where nitrogen\vas applied in addition the grass was furtherstimulated and became a very strong competi-tor of the clover. Subsequently it may appearthat, due to the greater growth of clover, thetrue grasses will grow more luxuriantly as hasbeen observed elsewhere.

It is worth while remembering that otherplan ts, such as lettuce, spinach and plants

grown for their leafy tops are fertilized notonly with nitrogen but with large amountsof phosphates and potash also. With grass,we have been trying to keep it growing inmany cases by the use of nitrogen alone.Some green keepers have found already thatthey can well afford to apply some com-plete fertilizer to greens, even during thesummer, if applied in very small quantitiesalong with the compost that is usually put on.Of course, this has to be done with care, butwhere greens seem to be lacking vigor and toneundoubtedly fertilizer carrying phosphates andpotash will be of much benefit.

Apply Fertilizers Early in SeasonWHERE complete fertilizers are applied it

seems from all evidence obtainable atpresent that it should be applied very early inthe growing season, as soon as grass showssigns of renewed growth in the spring. Thetest conducted by The National Fertilizer As-sociation, referred to above, showed that wherethe top-dressing was made early that there wastw:ice as much grass produced as where it wasapplied 30 to 50 days later.

The early application of top-dressing meansmore vigorous and better turf earlier in theseason and a very much better established grassduring the late summer. Golf courses thatformerly applied fertilizers in the usual man-ner-after the grass is well established-havefound upon changing methods and applyingthe fertilizer very ear Iy tha t they have receiveda much more permanent growth of grass.

Much of our knowledge of growing grass isempirical. What we need is some definite ex-perimental work to establish the factors mostfavorable to growing grass under the very arti-ficial conditions now obtaining on greens andeven on fairways. One of the lines of workthat might be undertaken is a study of the rootsystem developmen t as effected by the repea tedcutting.

Does frequent cutting weaken or tend tostrengthen the root system?

Does the heavy watering during the summerkeep the feeding roots near the surface or doesit cause them to go down?

These factors have a de~nite relation to the(Continued on page 50)

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SAY YOU SAW THE AD IN THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER PAGE SEVENTEEN

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PAGE EIGHTEEN SAY YOU SAW THE AD IN THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER

Greenkeeping Problems ~In Canada

BY w. J. SANSOM, GreenkeeperToronto Golf Club, Long Branch, Ont.

Read at the Fourth Annual Convention of the National Association of Green-keepers of America at Jefferson County Armory, Louisville, February 4-7, 1930

\V. J. SANSOM

WHEN asked by our worthy President,. Mr. Morley, to give a paper titled

"Greenkeeping Problems in Canada," Iconsented, fully aware of the fact that it wouldbe impossible for me to do justice to the articlecovering the whole Dominion of Canada fromcoast to coast, with such a vast difference in cli-matic conditions, soil, ete.

In northern On tario, and east of us to theProvince of Quebec, the seasons are muchshorter and winters more severe, so that theirproblems or at least some of them would bedifferent than ours in Ontario. But leavingclimatical conditions out of thepicture for a while, the green-keeper's problem would chiefly begrasses.

Grass-The Earth's RichestGarment

IT seems perfectly natural for aman to specialize in frui t, in

rose culture, herbaceous and Al-pine plants or in orchids, for it isso obvious that to excel in any ofthese popular and much patron-ized branches of the garden craftone requires to make it his main,if not his whole study.

But grass that is green only, andnot of so many colors-grass thatgrows to be mown, and rolled, grass thatgrows so often where it is not wanted even inpaths and roadside, what need indeed can therebe to specialize in this? That indeed wouldbe more apparent if a knowledge of grass weremore prevalent with our club officials andgreen committees. For strangely enough manythat possess good greens and fairways havevery little knowledge of the fine grasses andtheir requirements so necessary to main tain acourse in perfect condition. In the past manyfailures indicate a lack of essential knowledgeand prove beyond doubt the urgent need of aclose study of grass.

It is astonishing how many people have theidea that all grasses are practically alike, with-out giving the matter much real thought.They have a sort of notion that grass growson lawns or any place under adverse circum-stances and with little or no nourishment andother cultural aid. It would be quite unneces-sary to look upon putting greens as requiringspecial cultural treatment. Herein lies the se-cret of many failures in the past, for the firstes.~ential to success is a close acquaintance withthe many varieties of grass, their natural char-acteristics, the conditions under which they

thrive and the amount of hardwear they are capable of enduring.Then can we arrive at a clear un-derstanding of the kinds that canbe expected to thrive in a particu-lar soil or situation and to blendmixtures that will suit all particu-lar purposes. There are fine mix-tures that will produce a smoothsward to make a good bowling orputting green that would be to-tally unfit for the purpose of foot-ball or cricket.

The Greenkeeper's Task

QUITE naturally a man whohas kept a plot of grass neat

and tidy on a private estate and hasmowed and rolled, weeded, patched in season,may consider himself qualified for the task ofmaintaining a golf course, arguing that it isprecisely the same kind of work on a largerscale with only the difference of larger imple-ments and labor to get over the work. Thatexperience in the proper care of lawns will beof service to one who aspires to greenkeepingis not to be denied, but it will prove seriouslyinadequate if he should shoulder at once thefull responsibility of the upkeep of a golfcourse. The task being as distinct from ordinarylawn work as the cropping of a kitchen gardenis from the entire management of a farm.

PAGE NINETEEN

Economical!

The putting green is, of course, of para-mount importance and it is here that the finestwork is required. The turf must be ideal, orat any rate it must be the aim of the green-keeper to make it so; an intimate knowledge ofweeds, insects, and fungoId pest and vermin,and the surest and cheapest methods of gettingrid of them will be essential. He must alsohave a wide knowledge of feeding grasseswhich of necessity differ considerably where solarge and varied an area is concerned from theordinary method of nourishing a small lawn.

The Nourishment of GrassesTHE management of grass demands knowl-

edge, experience and forethought, as wellas manual labor. Mowing and rolling areessential, while other matters of fully equalimportance are frequently neglected or other-wise ignored. It should be borne in mind thatevery time a green is mown a grea t deal of grassgrowth is cu t and removed, the production ofwhich helps to exhaust nourishment from thesoil.

No farmer expects to grow crops continu-ously for a succession of years without chang-ing crops and manuring the land, and it be-comes equally futile to expect to maintain agolf course in fine condition without periodi-cally replenishing the store of plant food uponwhich the roots of grass may feed. We cannotmanure turf as we do a corn or potato patch.The feeding of green and fairways must be ac-complished by fine methods. Whatever nour-ishment is to be applied must be given in theform of a top-dressing, and it is therefore de-sirable that highly concentrated plant foodshould be used, thus reducing bulk to a mini-mum. Further they shall be quickly solublethat they may be readily washed down to theroots of the turf by rain or watering, leavingthe surface clean and playable. Upon the char-acter of the soil depends to a large degree thenature of manure it requires to improve its pro-ductive power.

It would be ridiculous to suppose that onemay write an article or a book laying downdefinite instructions on the planning and con-struction of a golf course that will serve as afaithful guide under all circumstances and con-ditions; not one volume, but a series of books.

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\Vith an operating pressure of 45 pounds, the Master cov-ers a diameter about 1I0 feet. This saves water bills becausethe turf receives even coverage efficiently applied. That meansan entire acre of ground can be covered in only eight moves!Cuts down labor expense.

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PAGE TWENTY SAY YOU SAW THE AD IN THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER