BY BO PHILLIPS

I received a call from a distributor salesman who had a golf course in South Texas that wanted to try VERDE-CAL G (enhanced gypsum) to combat the extremely high Sodium (Na) levels in his soils. He has very tough growing conditions. His soil base saturations levels were not balanced, and his water sources at times made things even worse (switching between irrigation lakes to wells to effluent).

What brings this story up is that we (the distributor salesman and I) had made a sales call on this course about five weeks earlier. The superintendent told us that he would have to check with his soil testing consultant about the application. He had been following his consultants every word since 2002 and didn’t want to mess up any progress that he had made. The protocol that he had been following called for 3 tons of hi-cal lime per acre 2 to 3 times a year (that’s 6-9 tons per acre per year) and 1000 lb of gypsum per acre 3 times per year. The theory behind this is to apply as much Calcium (Ca) whether lime or gypsum to the soil to relieve Sodium (Na) and salt pressure.

O.K. now that you know the beginning of the story let me give you some facts about the soil.

I’m just going to hit on the high points rather than bore you with all the details. I don’t want to put anyone to sleep! (If anyone wants to see the full test by all means call me and we can talk about it.)

T.E.C is the Total Exchange Capacity or C.E.C. Think of it as the storage tank for nutrients.

If your CEC is too low then your levels are easily affected by fertilizer applications and other events such as rainfall. If your CEC is too high then nutrient levels are much harder to move because so much is needed to make a noticeable change. An example would be (like above) a too high CEC level and a 1 lb application of Nitrogen (N) may not even get a response from the plant. You may need to apply 3 lb of Nitrogen (N) over the course of a month in order to get the color you desire that 1 lb should have given. The point is that you waste time and money!

A BALANCED SOIL will have levels similar to this:
Calcium (Ca) ………. 65 – 75%
Magnesium (Mg)…… 10 – 15%
Potassium (K) ……… 2 – 5%
Sodium (Na) ……….. 1 – 2%
Hydrogen (H) ……… 10 – 15%

There is only so much room on the soil particle for these nutrients to attach to.
So look at the test and determine for yourself where the imbalance lies.

WAY TOO MUCH SODIUM (Na)!!!! What has happened here is that the Sodium (Na) has taken up most of the space on the soil particle. So, if you read any soil science book or ask anybody how to rid soil of Sodium (Na) you will find the answer to be apply gypsum or Calcium (Ca). What they don’t say is that when you apply that Calcium (Ca) you have to wait until that Calcium (Ca) becomes available in order for the Sodium (Na) or salt to be scrubbed off the soil.

Needless to say he finally called and ordered some VERDE-CAL G (enhanced gypsum) to try on the 18^th fairway as a test. At a 30.6% base saturation of Sodium (Na) something had to be done.

Here is the same table as above only with the test after the application of 500 lb VERDE-CAL G per acre. (Keep in mind the old protocol of 3 tons of hi-cal lime per acre 2 to 3 times a year and 1000 lb of gypsum per acre 3 times per year.)

Points to note:

1. One application of 500 lb VERDE-CAL G did more in 5 months than all the other Calcium (Ca) products had in the past four years! AVAILABLE CALCIUM (Ca) gets the job done, NOW not LATER!
2. Sodium (Na) levels were cut in half! That’s huge movement taking into account that the CEC was so big and we applied so little product.
3. Calcium (Ca) levels are now in check. Had never been in the past.
4. Magnesium (Mg) levels are in check. Once we get Calcium (Ca) right then everything else starts to fall into place.
5. Potassium levels are in check.

To those of you that say that the pH went up. How did that happen? Let me explain, we applied VERDE-CAL G (enhanced gypsum), gypsum does not increase pH. What happened is that when the thCa® (organic acid) went out to find unavailable Calcium (Ca) and make it available, guess what it found? Remember all that Hi-Cal lime that had been applied over the past four years? Our product went out to find unavailable / locked-up Calcium (Ca) and found the Hi-Cal lime and made it available and useable. When we made it available it raised the pH. This just proves the fact that PHCA (organic acid) does what we have been saying for all these years.

The superintendent was so pleased with the test results that he wanted 17 pallets of VERDE-CAL G as soon as possible to get other trouble areas back in check. As for the soil consultant, he gave his blessing and is now recommending VERDE-CAL Products in his programs. Especially when there are extreme levels of Sodium (Na) causing an imbalance.

AVAILABLE CALCIUM (Ca) IS KING!

There are no better products on the market than VERDE-CAL Products when it comes to available Calcium (Ca). All of our products contain premium raw materials to provide our customers with products that melts quickly and can be applied anytime (don’t have to wait to aerate), clean and the most uniform product available. There is a VERDE-CAL Product for every situation of balancing soils. Whether it’s to raise pH, scrub off Sodium (Na), provide extra Potassium (K), or a slight shot of quick Nitrogen (N). We’ve got you covered!

VERDE-CAL Enhanced Calcitic Limestone  •  VERDE-CAL G Enhanced Gypsum
VERDE-CAL NKG 3-0-10  •  VERDE-CAL K 0-0-22  •  VERDE-CAL K^plus 0-0-19