8/16/2016

Football Season is upon us, and try as we might, they aren’t moving those hash marks. Plan accordingly! I recommend additional Potassium, Calcium, and Silicate during this time of year to make as tough a plant as possible.

Harrell’s Max 4-0-8 has calcium, potassium as well as fulvic acid and is a great fit this time of year on football fields.

Harrell’s Max Potassium Silicate has potassium as well as silicate, but beware that it doesn’t always play well with others in the spray tank, in fact almost all silicates have compatibility problems as the pH required to keep silicate in suspension is much higher than almost any other nutrient. It does, however, mix well with Fleet, Calcium, and EarthMAX to make an awesome soil spray!

Even if you aren’t managing a football field, Fall is a great time to apply potassium. We do an excellent job outlining the benefits of potash in the blog Is it "K" to Use Potassium?. I’ve always believed potassium can help harden off the plant headed toward dormancy, and leave you, the turf manager, in a better spot for spring green-up.

Luxury consumption of K is very controversial in academia, however, as benefits haven’t yet been shown in a research environment. Remember this though: there was a time when the world’s greatest scientists were convinced that the world was flat! And even if luxury consumption doesn’t exist, potassium is environmentally inert. There’s no danger of it polluting soils, rivers, lakes, etc.

The potential benefits outweighed the concerns when I was a turf manager, and that’s why I still recommend 2+ pounds of K/M in the fall.