Soil test results from Hopwood's greens.

For anyone whose interested. These are the results over 10 years from various soil samples from the greens at Hopwood.

The greens have been sampled in the same way each year to improve consistency of results. They have been dressed with the same pure sand material throughout this time and the management of the greens has been mostly unchanged since 2002. Two applications of lime were made at the start of the 2003/2004 seasons to correct the low ph levels. The greens have been deep scarified using a Graden twice a year with 3mm blades. Very little hollow-tining has been done. The fertiliser applications have been predominantly liquid based to try and reduce the phosphate levels. Nitrogen application levels are around 55/65 kg/p/ha, while in 2002  they were at 200kg/p/ha. Seaweed liquid has been used extensively throughout this 10 year period.                                                    

The only significant change to the management of the greens has been the application of Compost tea liquid since the start of 2010. Since this started, we have seen a dramatic reduction in the levels of Iron, Sulphur and Phosphate. While seeing the levels of more desirable elements increasing. Thatch levels have also dropped, despite the record breaking rainfall figures.

 It would have been better to have had the soil tested at the end of 2009, but I still think the use of Compost tea has made significant improvements to the soil and its biology.