Soil Structure and Turf Care

Fred Newcombe

The third component of the PJC Healthy Turf Circle involves the connection between soil structure and turf care. To review what the PJC Healthy Turf Circle is, visit our post “Healthy Soil Grows Healthy Turf”. Furthermore, our previous two blogs covered how Soil Chemistry and Soil Biology relate to growing turf. Now, let’s dig into the importance of soil structure and turf care…

Key Goals for Improving Soil Structure

Soil structure refers to the arrangement of soil particles and their grouping into aggregates. At PJC Organic, we prioritize working with native soils, aiming to enhance their natural properties for sustainable turf growth. Goals include:

Influence Nutrient-Holding Capacity:
- Focus on addressing Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) to improve the soil’s ability to retain and exchange nutrients.
- Correct organic matter deficiencies for long-term soil health.
Humic and Fulvic Acids:
- Found in soil as humus, these acids enhance soil CEC and contribute to nutrient availability and retention.

Organic Matter

Secondly, let’s establish what organic matter is. Organic matter consists of dead and decaying plant and animal material in the soil, contributing essential carbon to the rhizosphere (the root zone of plants).

Sources of Organic Matter include natural contributions and product inputs. Natural Contributions involve small roots, grass clippings, and chopped leaves. Conversely, PJC Organic Fertilizers and Soil Conditioners provide additional organic carbon to boost soil health.

Benefits of soils with higher organic matter and CEC:

Retain more water and nutrients, making them available to plants when needed.
Improve soil tilth (the soil’s physical condition for plant growth).

Effects of OM on Different Soil Types:

Sandy Soils: Organic matter binds particles together to form aggregates, improving structure.
Clay Soils: Organic matter reduces cohesion, creating a more crumbly texture for better aeration and drainage.

By enhancing soil structure and organic matter, turfgrass is better equipped to thrive, regardless of soil type. A well-structured soil promotes healthy roots, nutrient uptake, and overall turf resilience.

the connection of soil structure and turf, diagram depicting water and air movement through well structured and poorly structured soil — Source: Victorian Department of Agriculture

“Humus is created from life, for life and by life” Raoul France.

Humus, a stable form of organic matter, can take thousands of years to develop naturally in native soils. However, by adding humic acids in the form of humates, we can accelerate the improvement of soil structure and health.

How Humates and Organic Matter Work

Humates add more binding sites for cations, enhancing the soil’s nutrient-holding capacity.
Microbial Activity:
- Turf plants shed root cells and excrete organic substances, providing food for soil microbes.
- Microbes break down organic matter into minerals that are bioavailable for the plants.

Best Practices for Increasing Organic Matter

Return grass clippings! Returning clippings to the soil adds organic matter to the top layer of the rhizosphere. Provide a continuous supply…A steady addition of organic carbon is critical for transforming soil structure over time.

The Impact of Organic Matter on Water Retention

An increase of just 1% organic matter in soil enables it to retain approximately 20,000 additional gallons of water per acre. This remarkable benefit underscores the importance of improving soil organic content for sustainable turf management.

Proven Products

Turf plants and the microbes in the rhizosphere are constantly using, adding, and changing the soil structure. Therefore, soil structure can be very difficult to influence. PJC Organic Fertilizers and Soil Conditioners are formulated to deliver organic matter and humates to the soil in a low dose manner. In addition, coupled with cultural practices, we have developed an effective way to dramatically improve soil quality and expedite the shift in underlying soil conditions. The following products play a large part in influencing soil structure and turf growth.

PJC ProHealthy Turf 7-0-2+ Fertilizer

Our fertilizers contain plant and animal proteins that naturally deliver food sources for microbes and organic matter for longer feed cycles. Our PJC ProHealthy Turf 7-0-2+ fertilizer contains added humates to get more bang for your buck during fertilizer applications.

PJC ProHealthy Turf Charge-S3

Our proprietary PJC ProHealthy Turf Charge-S3 soil conditioner contains biochar which directly increases soil organic carbon, while also providing molasses as a carbohydrate source for microbes. In addition, easily digestible nitrogen sources round out the makeup of the product which make it great for quick turf green up and for germinating seeds.

PJC ProHealthy Turf BOOST+S3

Our newest product, PJC ProHealthy Turf BOOST+S3, contains humates, calcium compounds to increase bioavailability of nutrient minerals in the rhizosphere. We added chelated iron to aid in photosynthesis and chlorophyll production which stabilizes the turf plant without added shoot growth.

In conclusion, our soil tests have indicated that after 3 years of consistent use of our fertilizers and soil conditioners, CEC and Organic matter can get into a suitable range. This can only improve your soil’s ability to sustain itself for the years to come. So, if you’re looking for product pricing and additional info: Contact us! We’re here to discuss what your soil needs to grow healthy turf!