Last year I wrote about a soil temperature turfhack. The soil temperature is almost always between the day’s high and low temperature.

soil temperature at 11 a.m. on 22 April 2019 in Thailand The soil temperature at a 5 cm depth immediately after planting manilagrass stolons on 22 April.

I was at Bangsai Country Club last week to plant some manilagrass (Zoysia matrella) for a grow-in experiment. I measured the soil temperature at a 5 cm depth right after planting, and sure enough, it was right in the range predicted by the #TurfHack.

temperatures at Bangsai in 2019 Temperatures at Bangsai CC year-to-date in 2019. Daily high and low air temperature data from Dark Sky; soil temperature at a 5 cm depth at 11:00 a.m. on 22 April measured with a thermometer.

With these tropical temperatures, I expect this manilagrass to grow in about as fast as it possibly can—the growth certainly won’t be limited by temperatures. I’ll be monitoring the coverage with some type of digital image analysis. For now I’ve been using Canopeo.

grass stolons after planting

By the way, if you are ever out at Bangsai, it’s a great place to see birds. This is the Asian golden weaver.