Stormy Weather

Bunker #6 greenside after last Friday's rain


#3 greenside bunker with new sand, I believe that rain was as back as it can get, as you can see this bunker could be raked out, the question is will this sand percolate like this in 3 years?

Lightening strike 4inch irrigation pipe at driving range

the pipe the lightening struck

the pipe repaired with 4inch pipe and 4inch knock-on,

if you look closely you can see red and yellow cables under the pipe, these hopefully were not affected by the lightening

The storms late last week brought much needed rain to our area. We ended up getting .75inch on Wednesday, .25inch on Thursday, and 3.5inch on Friday. The rain we received on Friday was a flash flood type downpour with a lot of lightening. When we receive this amount of lightening we run the risk of it striking trees, irrigation lines, and irrigation cables.

We are now in the process of picking up after the storm. If we do not get any more bad weather we will hopefully be back to normal on Wednesday.

Aerification

greens aerification 5/8 inch tines 1x1 spacing

tractor w/rolling aerator

This shows the whole process

Over the past three weeks we have been very busy on the golf course. Since we only aerify once a year, we get very aggressive on the turf when the time comes. The aerification process is a long, slow process that is very necessary from the health our turfgrass.

Aerification is done for several reasons:

• release of toxic gases from the soil


• improve wetting of dry or hydrophobic soils


• accelerated drying of persistently wet soils


• increased infiltration capacity, especially where surface compaction or thatch limits infiltration


• stimulated root growth within the holes


• increased shoot growth atop the holes
  
• disruption of soil layers resulting from topdressing


• control thatch, especially where soil cores are reincorporated or where topdressing follows coring


• improved turfgrass response to fertilizers
  

With this being said our process goes like this:

1. Greens- we aerify them with 5/8 inch tines on 1x1 spacing, this removes 32% of the surface per year (USGA recommends that you remove 20% of the surface per year).


2. Approaches and Collars- we use the same machine as the greens


3. Fairways- we use a rolling, pull behind machine, we try to go over them 4x and drag the cores in soon after


4. Roughs- same machine as fairways, we go over these areas 2x
   

I know what everybody thinks about aerification, but what we need to understand is how important it is for the health of our turfgrass.

Fairy Ring

The white marks are mushrooms that are produced by the fungi


notice the dark green arcs

the area right off the green arc has become hydrophobic

Whenever you play Squire Creek you will notice several dark green rings on all of the greens, this is known as fairy ring. Fairy ring is a disease that is caused by soil- inhabiting fungi. It appears as circles or arcs of dark green grass, often with thin or dead grass just inside or outside the rings. These rings become more visible when the grass starts getting hungry(low on nitrogen). It is not a problem that we need to treat or feel concerned about.

Tee Aerification

ga-24 in operation on #1 tee box


Spacing 1x1, with cores


The time has arrived for our annual tee aerification. We have decided to start a week earlier on tees to make next week a little easier(greens aerification on July 5-6th). The machines we use on the tees are the same as we use on the greens, but the process is a little quicker.

The process goes like this:

1. We aerify the tee box with the ga-24, it has 5/8 in. coring tines on 1x1 spacing.(removes 31% of the surface)



2. Let the cores dry and then proceed to drag them with a steel mat.(this breaks the thatch apart from the sand)



3. Then we take a blower and blow off the tee surface into the rough



4. Next we will roll the tee 2 different directions



5. The following day we will topdress the tee box with sand, brush, and roll again

The benefits of coring include:

• Release of toxic gases from the soil



• Improved wetting of dry or hydrophobic soils



• Increased infiltration capacity, especially where surface compaction or thatch limits infiltration



• Stimulated root growth within the holes



• Increased shoot growth within the holes



• Disruption of soil layers resulting from topdressing



• Control of thatch, especially where soil cores are reincorporated or where topdressing follows coring
  

The process should be complete tomorrow and the tees should be back to normal before you know it.

Vitex

The Vitex is also know has the Chaste Tree. This blue flowered summer blooming tree likes full sun and moderate to regular water. These drought tolerant, pest free plants combine blue summer blooms with leaves shaped like an open hand. They grow in almost any well drained soil. In most areas this tree grows fast to make a multi trunked tree with a broad, spreading habit about 15-20 foot high and wide.

These showy trees can be seen all around the course, with majority of them lining 3 tees.

V-Cutting the Greens

V-cutter working sand down into the canopy


After picture, you can see the stolons disrupted



Last Monday, we vertical mowed the greens after the tournament. Vertical mowing is a cultivation procedure involving the use of vertically oriented knives mounted on a rapidly rotating, horizontal shaft. I like to call it grooming the greens. We are attempting to nick the turfgrass canopy and cut the stolons to help reduce the grain that occurs because of the bermuda grass growing habits. The vertical mower blades are set at even and then we proceed to make a pass in one direction across the green, we then turn around and come back down the same pass. We do this because the grain changes directions on the greens, so if you go down and back on the same pass you will have a better chance to disrupt the surface grain.

The process goes like this:

1. Topdress Greens (let the sand dry so it does not stick to the machines)


2. Vertical mow (at even, change directions every week)


3. Mow with reel mowers
4. Roll
5. Brush with mecanical broom
6. Spray and/or gypsum application

This is a process that is essential for our greens and is completed in about 5 hours on Mondays.

Dollar Spot

Tee box with dollar spot


Rough with dollar spot

mycelium on infected turf in morning hours

Pathogen- Rutstroemia Floccosum formerly known as Sclerotinia Homocarpa

Hosts- Bahia, Bermuda, st. Augustine, Zoysia, and several other cool season grasses

The spots you see all over the course are called dollar spot. This disease is characterized by round, bleached-out or straw colored spots, ranging from the size of a quarter to the size of a silver dollar. The spots appear as sunken areas in the turf. The spots are very visible in the morning when the grass is still wet, the grayish white, fluffy mycelium of the fungus can be seen sitting on top of the grass. This disease can be spread by mowers, humans, animals, and other maintenance equipment carrying the mycelium and infected tissue. This disease occurs when the temperature is between 60 degrees and 90 degrees. There are many different vegetative compatibility groups within Rutstroemia Floccosum that caused diseases at various temperature and humidity regimes.

Cultural management of dollar spot involves regulating the nitrogen level in the plant. One school of thought states, the number of infections will be greater with high nitrogen levels, but damage will be less severe than if nitrogen levels are low. This is the situation we are in, our nitrogen levels are keep very low, so the outbreak is widespread. Dollar spot can be managed with the use of many contact and systemic fungicides like myclobutanil, fenarimol, propizonazole, boscalid, and triadimefon applied every two or three weeks, or contact fungicides like chlorothalonil applied every seven to ten days.

This bottom line is this disease is not fun to look at, but it will not kill the bermudagrass. We will apply a little nitrogen to the course and we will be grown out of it before you know it.