Adding biology to the soil. Germs and worms, a photo primer

The major role of soil biology is to decompose organic materials in the root zone mix (or soil), including the cells of their recently dead microbial colleagues. It is precisely this turnover of root tissues and microbial cells that releases organically bound N and P as plant available, inorganic ("mineral") forms. This so called mineralization process is the essence of what soil microbial activity is all about. Yes, they do bring about other important processes, some beneficial and some detrimental, but their primary benefit is to decompose organic materials, make more microbial cells and synthesize some soil organic matter (humus) along the way.

Being that they're microscopic, we don't often get to see what microbes look like. But they are amazingly diverse and beautiful. In one gram of compost tea, there are billions of individuals and thousands of different species present.

Nematodes are microscopic worms. They can be very beautiful.

Below are pics of red wiggler compost worms. They're different from earthworms in that they're surface crawlers. They live in the area between the soil surface and organic materials covering the soil. If you want to grow microbes to add to your soil, vermicomposting  with red worms is the best way to do it.

Exclusive unpublished photos of World's First ZerO Waste Golf Course

Welcome to Dairy Creek Golf Course, the first zero waste golf course in the world

This is the view from the clubhouse deck looking out over number 9 green, with one of seven extinct volcanos which surround the golf course

These are the two Earth Tub vessell composters we are using to compost green and food wastes. You can see our wooden bins, where we hold wood chips, grass clippings and curing compost.

The next pictures show our worm set up

Our worm bin is a recycled fiberglass trough 16 ft long, 4 ft wide and 2ft deep. it's divided into 8 foot troughs. It was once used on a commercial fish dock in Morro Bay to maintain live slime eels while they were processed for live shipping to Korea.. Right now, we're only using one side for worms, while storing harvested castings on the other. Considering that worms double every 90 days, probably won't be long before we use both sides for worms.

You can see our worm casting harvester. It's a tube of 1/4 screen that rolls on caster wheels in those plywood inverted wedge shapes. You put in a bucket load of material from the worm bin into the top side of the slightly sloped tube and rotate by hand. All the great vermicompost and castings under 1/4 inch shakes out into a trough under the screen tube for collection. Undigested food and anything larger than 1/4 and all worms roll out the other end into a trash can. The can, filled with worms and clumps of vermicompost larger than the screen gets dumped  back into the bin. Eventually, the density of worms to vermicompost in the bin becomes optimal to efficient food waste consumption.

Next I'll show you our compost tea operation

This is a 100 gallon brewer. It is owned by Jenny @ Central Coast Compost Tea Co, of Cayucos CA, one of our founding partners. Jenny brews a fresh certified organic product under license from Natures Solution.  Below, the 500 gallon brewer we're building this week. The vessel is a cone bottomed 500 gal tank that was once a wash water separator recycler set up.

Compost tea is made by generating bubbles into a vessel of water that has a quantity of compost, worm castings, and some microbe food such as kelp, humate or sugar. Bubble the water for 24 hours, and you have a microbial soup called compost tea. These disks are air defusers to create bubbles in the tank. We chose to make this bubbling system easily removable when we clean the tank, so we used a cam-lock connector on a flexible hose.

We're going to put the compost mix into this screen container made out of five gallon buckets and window screen. It holds around 8 gallons of compost mix. We'll suspend it into the vessel of actively aereated water.

This is the cart we made to transport food wastes from the kitchen. You can see how the wooden top is hinged and has a hasp installed in front to keep the raccoons out at night. We hook it up to the bag straps on the back of a golf cart and it makes a great trailer to transport from kitchen to our composter demonstration area. The kitchen staff fills it during the day, and early the next morning we empty it, rinse it clean and return it to the back of house.

This is the zero waste demonstration park as seen from number 8 tee (par 3, 100 yarder over a pond - green to left of picture.) The composters are behind the pumphouse barn. From this vantage, the worms and tea brewers are behind the fence on this side of the barn. We chose to be close to the pumphouse because we plan to inject tea through the irrigation system all over the course.

I'm glad I finally figured out how to share these pictures of our zero waste set up at Dairy Creek Golf Course in San Luis Obispo California.. I hope you enjoy being the first to see them.

Starting Green Golfer Foundation, what is the point anyway?

Green Golfer Foundation was started to advance the concept of zero waste golf through education and demonstration. A few of us have discovered just how easy it is to completely alter golf's environmental paradyme, while saving money and having a lot of fun.

I'm not kidding about the fun part. The greenskeeping staff, the superintendent and Green Golfer Foundation members are really having a great time finding cheap and creative ways to further develop our zero waste demonstration park. it just keeps getting better as we talk about our project to others, and they offer additional ideas and support. It's like a team building, community bonding thing.

Zero waste golf techniques are easy and cheap, and fun. That's the real reason that we expect it to spread like a virus throughout the golf industry. Green Golfer Foundation is going to be there to fly the zero waste flag. We're going to conduct educational seminars. We're making a video trainer right now. We're hoping to develop a fund raising protocol to raise funds to assist other golf courses to defray the expenses of starting their own zero waste demonstration parks. We're hoping that some of the big players in the golf industry will decide to support our efforts.

Green Golfer Foundation is an organization for golfers who want to make a difference in the golf industry. But it's also an organization that benefits golf superintendents as well with volunteer helpers and a network of interested partners all over the world. "Unitos Venceramos...Together We are Invincible" Now, I will admit that starting an international organization is not the easiest thing to do, but as with all other worthwhile ideas...you just share the idea and those who agree will announce themselves. "Build it and they will come".

We were pleased to see that our BFF (blog friends forever) http://www.golfstinks.com/ out of New York wrote about Green Golfer's sartup efforts in their blog today. http://www.golfstinks.blogspot.com/2011/07/can-worm-turds-save-golf-industry.html   . We couldn't have said it better ourselves...Thanks Greg.

Scott at http://www.turfhugger.blogspot.com/  out of Canada is another golf blogger that has been very helpful to spreading the word about zero waste golf. Green Golfer Foundation blog also has readers from India, Maylasia, Europe, Australia, and the list get's bigger every day. Can you see how the idea is already spreading globally?

We don't have any official membership documents or protocols yet, although we're working on it. We don't have a website yet, although we own the domain http://www.green_golfer.com/ (don't expect to find anything there yet) We also own http://www.zerowastegolf.com/ just in case we need it as well.  We don't have any snazzy caps or shirts yet, but you know we will.  We're not looking to create a business or some legalistic big deal, we're proposing a simple grass roots movement...if this is the right idea at the right time, with a little elbow grease, it will grow on it's own.

If you'd like to help us develop the organization, please let me know. We want and need your help and encouragment. Don't send us money, just send us your ideas, comments and moral support. Follow this blog so we will know how to get in touch with you when we get our organizational act together. Talk about zero waste golf and Green Golfer Foundation with your friends. You'll see that there is a lot of unorganized support out there. Now all we need to know is how to herd cats.

Personal ZerO Waste Golf Seminars in San Luis Obispo CA

What if there was a beautiful place with perfect weather, in a beautiful rural California city, next to the beach where a golf superintendent (and his family?) could spend a few days learning about zero waste golf techniques?  Well, there is, and you're welcome to come visit anytime.

Our goal at Dairy Creek is to welcome golf superintendents to visit our zero waste demonstration park to get a close look at just how simple and cheap zero waste can be. We just got our vessel composters up and running so our composting operation just got a huge boost! Tommorrow we're assembling our new 500 gallon compost tea brewer. We have a 100 gallon brewer working now, but we plan to inject the tea into our irrigation system throughout the course, so 500 gallons will be great for that.

Zero waste golf is the future, so why wait until you're one of the last courses in the nation who's wasting money on chemical fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides, while polluting the environment and poisoning staff? Why wait to compost green and food wastes, when every ton of these wastes, when landfilled, releases 300 cubic meters of methane into the atmosphere? Why wait until your city raises your water rates again when you could be cutting your irrigation requirements by 30-50 percent? Why wait to follow when you can lead?

Take a couple days off at the company's expense and travel over to San Luis Obispo to learn about becoming the next zero waste golf course.. We'll guarantee that you'll enjoy it.

How a few worms changed golf forever

It's amazing how a very small action can change the future of something huge. It's a reminder that every good idea and every forest fire begins with a simple spark.

One year ago, when my two buddies and I were developing the concept for zero waste golf, we built a demonstration worm bin in a small community garden down the street from my house. The worm bin was located just across the street from a market deli, so there was a daily supply of food wastes to feed the worms. Just a small worm bin in a public location...

When I suggested to our golf superintendent that he go by and look at the worm bin, in hopes that he'd consider installing one at the course to consume and divert the course's food wastes from the landfill, he agreed to go by. After seeing how compact, well designed and clean the worm bin was, he agreed to install one like it at the course.

I used to bug the shit out of our county waste management authority manager. I was always asking "hard to answer if you're a politician" questions. He would answer, but I could tell that he didn't take me seriously. When I'd propose some zero waste solution scheme, he's always grin a superior grin ask "and how's that going to be sustainable...?" Well, when he saw the community worm bin, his whole demeanor changed. Within a week or two, he had agreed to give $20,000 worth of composting equipment to the zero waste golf project that I had been pitching to the golf superintendent.

Once our golf superintendent got word about the $20,000 gift from waste management authority, he was sold on the project to develop our course into the "first zero waste golf course in the world. And so, we did it. And now when you google zero waste golf, you're going to read all about Dairy Creek Golf Course, the first zero waste golf course in the world  and Josh Heptig, who will probably be named GCSAA superintendent of the year (at least he should be).

It won't be long before zero waste will be the norm for golf courses all over the world. Composting the food and green wastes saves the atmosphere from dangerous methane gas that is released if the food and organic wastes are landfilled. The compost created is used on the course dry or as compost tea, which reduces or eliminates the money spent on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides. Early evidence indicates that the microbiology that lives in compost and tea help the soil and plant roots utilize water much better (up to 30% savings the first year) which saves valuable water resourses and the electricity to run irrigation pumps. Anybody can see that golf courses will switch to zero waste to save money, not just to save the world from global warming.

So there it is...The beginning of a major shift in the global golf course maintenance mentality. And it all started with ten or twenty pounds of little red wigglers.

Don't underestimate how small demonstrations can influence how other people finally "get it" when it comes to simple ideas. Together we can change the world to be a better place, and it can begin with our golf courses taking the lead by demonstrating how zero waste can work, not just on the course, but in the homes and communities that they serve.

Food waste: the number one environmental pollutant at most golf courses

The number one environmental pollutant at most golf courses is not the chemicals that they use on their turf and greens. The number one environmental problem comes straight out of the restaurant or snack bar. The problem is food waste.

A study by the University of Arizona found that one ton of food waste, when landfilled, releases 300 cubic yards of methane into the atmosphere. Methane gas, according to the USEPA, is 20 times more damaging to the atmosphere than is carbon dioxide. That means that each ton of landfilled food wastes releases 300x20=6000 cubic yards of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. That is a stagering reality. The question is, how much food waste does your course produce in a year's time?

Landfilled food wastes decay anaerobically, that's when they produce methane. But composted food wastes decay aerobically, a process that DOES NOT produce methane nor carbon dioxide.

So much of the literature makes a big deal of the toxic chemicals used on golf courses, and the potential that they may run off or somehow harm the adjacent environment. But food waste is never mentioned. It's time that changed.

It's so simple to compost food wastes. Just add the food scraps to an active green waste compost pile. If maintained properly, it won't stink and it won't attract vermin. Most golf courses are paying good money to purchase compost for divit repairs etc, when they could make their own so easily and cheaply. If composting is not practical or convenient, another good way to divert food scraps from the landfill is vermiculture...worm bins. At our course, we do composting and worm binning. The worms eat their weight every day, and they double in population every 90 days. It doesn't take much investment or time to grow a pretty significant herd of worms.

Take the compost and make compost tea. Compost tea is 1000 times more beneficial to turf maintenance than is dry compost. To make compost tea, get a vessel, a mesh bag, some compost, an air compressor and a little kelp extract (to feed the multiplying microbes) and there you go.

Let's get a grip on the number one environmental pollutant on our golf courses. After we do that, we can discuss chemicals.

Palm Springs area taxpayers get soaked by golf course sprinklers

Parts of the Coachella Valley in California have sunk more than a foot in nine years because too much water is being pumped from the aquifer below, and area's 200 golf courses are getting a lion's share of the blame, according to a report released by federal scientists and the valley's largest water district. The findings raise concerns that streets could buckle, sewer lines could break and trenches could appear in the earth if golf courses, residents and businesses don't conserve enough water.

The sinking is not irreversible, but water district officials said it will take projects worth $110 million to help stabilize the ground. A $70 million pipeline already under construction that will send recycled water to 50 golf courses in Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage so they don't have to pump groundwater. 
In another project, water from the Colorado River, will be used to refill the lower part of the basin in another planned, $40 million project.

The math is simple. Divide $110 million dollars by 200 golf courses and you'll see that each Cochella Valley golf course costs the area taxpayers over $500 thousand dollars in ground stabilization costs. Hundreds of the courses are private, so the taxpayers are getting soaked for something that's happening in places they can't play or even visit.

This is a sad story that serves to illustrate how excessive golf course irrigation can impact the local environment and economy in ways seldom considered. Considering global population growth and that potable water is becoming increasingly scarce, it is imperative that golf developers and superintendents plan to use recycled water and utilize recently developed water saving irrigation technologies.

Oiled sand greens...back to the future?

When I was a teenager, I lived in Ethiopia and played on a golf course with oiled sand greens. The oiled sand was dark and heavy. As I remember it, your caddie would drag the green with a carpet drag before you putted. The ball rolled beautifully. When I think about all the fuss, muss, water and fertilizer etc that goes into keeping green greens green, it makes me think that sand greens were actually rather environmentally friendly....Well, except that in Ethiopia the sand was oiled with used motor oil...so... oh, nevermind.

Today there are estimated to be 150 courses with oiled sand greens in the United States. In most cases the oil is biodegradable soy bean oil. There is a measure, drag and place protocol before everybody putts, so that's bound to slow the pace of play. I think that every course should have at least one sand green, if just for grins.

I'll tell you a few other stories about the Ethiopian course I played as a kid. The water hazards were open sewer "creeks" that flowed from the nearby rural village. If your ball went into the "water" your caddie, usually a young kid, would wade in, feel around with his bare feet until he found it, pick it up with his toes, clean off the ball and hand it back to you for a small tip...usually a dime or so.

If your ball hit a kudu or a bushbuck, or some other wild animal roaming the course, you were entitled to a mulligan.

It's just not the same here in the states. One day my drive hit a wild turkey on the course and I tried to get my mulligan. My golf buddies wouldn't hear of it. Just a bunch of birdie jokes. That's it.

Our course does use recycled water from the sewer plant of a nearby prison. But if your ball goes into the water, forget about it...nobody wants to make a stinking dime nowadays.

Oh well, at least the sand greens are still a good idea.

Compost tea is nature's solution to golf's economic and environmental problems

Biological management of golf turf has the potential to mitigate ground water contamination that can occur from use of pesticides, as well as reduce the costs associated with fertilizer and fungicide applications. One of the major stumbling blocks to the increased use of biological methods continues to be a lack of understanding of how the microbial communities work in the soil.

The creatures living in the soil are critical to soil quality. They affect soil structure and therefore soil erosion and water availability. They can protect crops from pests and diseases. They are central to decomposition and nutrient cycling and therefore affect plant growth and amounts of pollutants in the environment. Finally, the soil is home to a large proportion of the world's genetic diversity.

Whether you are a concerned citizen, golfer, or golf superintendent, biological turf management has multiple benefits for increasing the health of golf turf while improving the environment were golf course are located.

Much of this information was first brought to public attention when the USDA published The Soil Biology Primer in 2000 (Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS), 2000 Soil Biology Primer.  Rev. Ed., Ankeny, Iowa) 

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/biology.html..  In this publication, scientists defined the term "Soil Food Web" as the community of creatures that spend all or part of their life in the soil”.

For many, this publication was the first time they learned the role microorganisms play in fixing carbon dioxide, creating good soil structure, reducing plant disease, and cycling nutrients. Since its first publication, numerous businesses have formed that use horticultural applications that are based on the principles described in the book. Perhaps one of the most dramatic statements of the Soil Biology Primer was that: All plants – grass, trees, shrubs, agricultural crops – depend on the food web for their nutrition.