After applying the same fertilizer to the golf course as the practice greens, but three times the amount of water, I am disappointed to say that we experienced tip burn throughout the golf course. The grass is growing fast like expected and should be gone in just a couple of more days.
The cause of tip or fertilizer burn is related to the amount of salts in the fertilizer (salt index). The higher osmotic pressure of the salt particles in the fertilizer draws the water from the plant to the salt particles. This causes the grass surrounding the fertilizer granule to wilt and look bleached.
We used ammonium sulfate which has a fairly high salt index. We actually use ammonium sulfate as the nitrogen source every year prior to aeration, but the difference this year was the size of the granule. In years past, the granule size was much smaller and it was more difficult to notice the burn, but there was burning.
Going forward we will buy a premium fertilizer that is less likely to burn.
