Napa Valley Register

www.napanews.com

Saturday, August 16, 2003

By JEANNE LIGHTLY
Register Correspondent

Silverado Resort in Napa has found that it is easy being green.

That's because Bill Hamilton, the superintendent of Silverado's two championship 18-hole golf courses and the rest of the grounds, discovered the virtues of using compost.

Not surprisingly, the popular resort's golfing greens are subject to tremendous wear and tear, resulting in unsightly divots, and tire tracks.

"It's like having 200 people a day walking and riding around in carts on your front lawn," said Hamilton.

Hamilton said he became intrigued with the idea of using nutrient-enriched compost to restore the greens, fairways and driving range after reading a Jan. 12, 2003, article in the Register. That article described how several California vineyards were having success with a special organic compound made with discarded food from San Francisco restaurants.

Hamilton contacted Jepson Prairie Organics, a state-of-the-art compost operation located outside of Vacaville, and asked for a test sample. Hamilton experimented by planting Bermuda grass seedlings into divots made by hackers in the driving range, covering them with Jepson's special product called "Four Course Compost.

"The seedlings germinated immediately," said Hamilton, "the results were amazing."

Hamilton ordered 800 cubic yards, or about 20 truckloads of the rich, black compost from Jepson, a subsidiary of Norcal Waste Systems, Inc., based in San Francisco. Last month Hamilton undertook the ambitious project of closing the back nine holes of the South Course, and pulled out all the old grass from the fairway. Then, the compost was roto-tilled into the soil and new hybrid Bermuda grass sprigs were planted.

Bermuda grass is drought-resistant, said Hamilton, so the change will have the added benefit of reducing the resort's water usage. To obtain optimum results, the compost was applied as a top dressing on the sprigs and was deeply watered.

Using compost as a top dressing creates a natural hot house effect because it holds water and it's dark color attracts heat from the sun. Within two weeks of being planted, the grass was long enough to mow.

"The idea of using compost to improve the soil properties is a great practice and has been done for 100 years," noted Clark Throssell, who has a Ph.D. in turf grass science and is the director of research of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Throssell acknowledged golf courses have not always been viewed as being ecologically responsible. Golf courses consume large amounts of water, and use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, he said.

However, the GCSAA has developed the Environmental Institute for Golf, which is a collaborative effort to "enhance the compatibility of the game of golf with the environment," said Throssell. As an environmental means to a healthy end, Throssell said he sees value to using compost as a soil nutrient source because it uses material that would otherwise go to a landfill.

Jepson processes approximately 5,200 tons of food scraps per month from San Francisco and Oakland and 2,000 tons of yard trimmings per month from Dixon and Vacaville. The two feedstocks are fed into an industrial sized grinder and mixed to attain a recipe of physical and chemical characteristics that are ideal for microbial decomposition.

Jepson uses a technique called Ag-Bag Composting Technology, which ensures that the decomposing material is properly aerated, maintains the proper temperature and oxygen levels, and is cured for 30 days.

Experts say there are clear benefits to using good quality compost like the one produced by Jepson. Will Brinton, president and chief scientist at Woods End Research Lab in Maine, works with Jepson on quality control. Brinton said quality compost has the right nutrients, has reached the right maturity, does not contain a high level of heavy metals and eliminates potential pathogens.

Robert Reed, spokesperson for Jepson, said the Four Course compost has nitrogen, which encourages leafy growth; phosphorus, which promotes the development of a strong root system; potash, which helps build plant tissues and disease resistance; and organic matter, which nourishes the microbes in soil.

Reed also points out that golf courses sometimes experience an accumulation of salts if synthetic fertilizers are applied.

At least one other California golf course -- the Yolo Fliers Country Club Golf Course in Woodland -- has decided to forgo synthetic fertilizers and switch to Jepson's compost as top dressing for its grass.

For Hamilton, the endgame was more than having healthy green turf.

"You're helping reduce the amount of waste that is going into system and as a final user you are keeping it out of the landfill," said Hamilton. He thinks more golf course superintendents "can experiment and can find their own niche to keep waste out of the stream."