It's important to remember that in no way are we able to let grass grow "naturally" while it is being mowed daily at 3 mm or even semi-weekly at 12 mm. Grass did not evolve that way and does not exist in nature under those conditions. It will not survive in the form of a golfing surface without intensive management and considerable inputs.
I believe that soil microbiology is an inexact science at best, and there is too much unknown to make any evaluation of balances or ratios there in. To illustrate my point, I quote from "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.
"The most comprehensive handbook of micro-organisms, Bogey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, lists about four thousand types of bacteria. In the 1980's, a pair of Norwegian scientists, Jostein Goksyor and Vigdis Torsvik, collected a gram of random soil from a beech forest near their lab in Bergen and carefully analysed its bacterial content. They found that this single small sample contained between four thousand and five thousand separate bacterial species, more than the whole of Bogey's Manual. They then travelled to a coastal location a few miles away, scooped up another gram of earth, and found that it contained four or five thousand other species."
If over nine thousand species could be found in just two grams of soil from neighboring sites in Norway, how many different microbes must there be in all the radically different sites around the world? According to some estimates, there may be as many as 400 million.
Trying to find a "balance" in such an expansive, unknown, biological system would seem to be an impossible task. No one knows what we're standing on, or how it works, really.
You are right in that golf surface turf is by no means "natural" no matter how perfect the grass species is matched to its environment. And you are right that these surfaces require alot of management and inputs.
What I disagree with is that I dont think that there is any reason whatsoever for the turf industry, especially superintendents, to know what ALL of the thousands of microorganisms are.
There are certain truths about microrganisms that are fact. And its those certain truths that we know is all we need to know to do the job effectively in the turf industry. You could tell me that there are a trillion micro-organisms in existence but we only identified 1000.
All we need to know is...
1. They are organic living things.
2. They are hungry and require food.
3. They are the catalyst to the soil life cycle and when they are fed they perform jobs that benefit the superintendent with turf management.
4. There are aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. We want the aerobic ones and we promote that by performing cultural practices that enhance the aerobic micro-organisms and compete against the anaerobic ones. Soil oxygenation.
I might be missing something but in general thats all I need to know about micro-organisms. I know what I need to do to promote the ones that I need to work for me. I could care less about the different species, subspecies how many there are and what their names are. Microbiology is an organic living thing and we dont need to have a leash on every type of micro-organism and trained well to bottle up the energy and life they have to control it and effectively manage turf. Its an organic and abstract science, we may never know everything about it.
As far as biological products, theyre black because they usually have blackstrap molasses to feed the microbes with a simple sugar. Maybe some carbon. Probably some seaweed or kelp extract. Superintendents look at products like these as "snake oils" or "sunshine in a bottle" because its different than just raw nutrients or its different than expensive processed fert designed to slow release. But its really very fundamental and simple science. Feed the microbes, supply the plant with its most basic component...carbon.
One of the most important and oldest cultural practices in green keeping is the use of seaweed and kelp. The old green keepers in the UK used seaweed and kelp as a fert source and obviously saw good results from it. When science became advanced enough to study biology in the modern world, there was a ratio of 3 plant hormones. Auxins, Cytokinins and gibberylins. All of these are found in naturally occuring plants at a specific ratio due to the root growth mimicking the shoot growth.
Biological products that deliver simple sugars, carbon or a proportioned ratio of plant hormones are not "snake oils" or "sunshine in a bottle". Its plant biology in its purest form. And its organic and its safe.
For the record. Golf turf surfaces are not natural. But the green keeper can "trick" the grass plant into feeling natural when its mowed close by delivering a certain ratio of auxin, cytokinins and giberyllins to the plant. If the plants shoots are mowed close and the roots are extensive....products derived from seaweed extract and kelp can deliver the hormones to the plant in an organic fashion to make it perform naturally even though it is being managed "unnaturally".
There is ALWAYS an environmentally friendly and organic way to treat turf. Mother nature created it, and mother nature can sustain it without Monsanto. The supers who think the only way to manage turf are the same guys that tell us we need to keep opening up off shore drilling. Soon pesticides and they way we currently use them are going to be a thing of the past just like the way the turf industry used mercury. The future is about thinking outside the box being environmentally friendly(er) and self sustainable. Those who support the status quo of relying on toxic pesticides are not stewards of the environment. The guys that stick their necks out and communicate lower standards for conditions and implement environmentally friendlier programs are the true pioneers to the future of the turf industry.