Another One In The Books

The last three days were spent aerifing the course to prepare it form the upcoming season.  We completed aerification of greens, tees and fairways.  In addition to that we handled more than 700 tons of sand that was applied to the freshly punched turf.  Needless to say it is a monumental task moving that much material around the golf course.

This year we used a Verti-Drain deep tine aerifer on greens  that was set at a depth of 9" with 1/4" solid times. At first glance the greens appear as if they were not aerified but that is not the case.  The surface impact appears minimal but a deep fracturing of the soil has taken place now allowing free movement of oxygen and water into the rootzone. The end result will be a deeper healthier root system of the plant.

The fairways have been aerified for a total of three times in the last four weeks.  We took the liberty of "sneaking in" a couple of punches on the fairways back in March with the weather cooperating with us. These multiple aerifications will greatly help us control our surface firmness and allow numerous channels to be filled with sand.  Over the course of the three fairway aerifications 4.5 million holes per acre  were punched and 600 tons of sand was applied to the fairways alone.

Right now the fairways more closely resemble bunkers than anything else,  but over the next week the grass will once again push through and start help the sand to work it's way down.  The next several mowings will be extremely rough on the equipment  but the end result is all that matters.

Meeting In The Middle

Part of the challenge in bringing newly installed sod down in height of cut to match other play areas is not doing it too quickly but doing smartly.  Often times when purchasing sod from an outside vender the sod comes in at a different height of cut for where it is being utilized on the course.

For Bentgrass sod  used on greens this is especially true when the sod farm maintains it at nearly 1/3 to double the normal height of cut that most guys maintain their greens at. The reduction in height can be still done smartly and quickly if you attack the height of cut difference from both sides.  By this I mean rather than only lowering the height of the mowers and focusing on the amount of green material coming off you need to be thinking about raising the turf canopy.

This  is accomplished with frequent heavy topdressing of the new sod to help fill in any imperfections and unevenness in the sod in addition to helping reduce scalping.  The applications of sand  are generally around 1/4" deep at a time so the material can be worked in without completely burring the green. The frequency of topdressing applied is based on the growth and recovery of the turf from the previous time material was applied.  These applications of sand essentially enable me to lower the height from two directions without stressing the plant too much.


Other cultural practices that help with the establishment of the new sod is weekly solid tine aerification of the new sod to help increase the rooting.  Fertility levels are increased and preventive fungicides are being applied to further help with the transition towards matching up with the rest of the greens on the golf course.

The Sand Applied To The Green

Solid Tine Aerification

The End Result 

Dual Purpose

The uses for compost are nearly endless and we have found one that kills two birds with one stone.

With the recent snowfall that has once again delayed our project we needed a way to help melt the snow off the areas still under construction. The compost was spread on the surface of the snow to help accelerate the melting process. The dark color of the compost attracts the sun and does most of the work for us. One other side benefit of spreading the compost is that after the snow melts, the compost can now easily be incorporated with the soil below amending and improving it prior to new sod installation.

The Mad Dash

The weather forecasts are calling for significant snow to come in over the next several days and the timing could not be better for applying gypsum to some of the play areas. The two areas we keyed on were greens and tees. If and when the natural precipitation comes, it will put the pelletized gypsum into solution which will help flush the sodium through our soils. The clean water content in the snow will be much more effective in leaching than the effluent water we utilize for irrigation.

Why Not ?

Its March 4th, 70 degrees, why shouldn’t I be aerifying fairways? In the last week as the temperatures have continued to climb and the grass is beginning to green up, now seems like the perfect time to start the aerification process.

We normally aerify the golf course twice a year in the spring and fall with the second week of April being our target time for spring aerification. With everything that is going on with the irrigation installation, I thought that bumping up the timing of aerification would help with the overall recovery to the grass areas.

Last fall we noticed that some of the areas in which lateral pulls were done, the recovery was slower due to additional tearing of turf due not being completely healed from fall aerification. In many cases these areas were found in the fairways where a Graden was run deeply to remove thatch. As the laterals were pulled across the fairways numerous turf chicklets were dislodged and made for a slower recovery to the pull lines.

I thought we would have better luck this spring by aerifying rather than running the Graden over the fairways in efforts of keeping the turf together during this highly disruptive process. Laterals are not scheduled to begin until the beginning of April and by that time the fairways will be fully recovered from aerification and not cause any additional delays in recovery from pulling.

Aerifying The Fairway
Breaking Up The Plugs
Blowing Off The Thatch

Spray Day

With the forecasted snow and cooling soil temperatures, we made our preventative fungicide application for Snow Mold to the golf course. The areas of treatment were anything that contains Bentgrass such as greens and fairways. Additionally some of the northern exposure areas in the rough were treated as well.

The timing of these applications can be very difficult due to the unpredictable weather. If an application is made to soon the efficacy can be reduced sometimes requiring a second application late in the winter. If the application is made to late lasting snow cover will already be on the ground, which then requires snow removal so that the fungicide application can be made.

Spraying Greens Spraying Fairways

Snow Mold Prevention

We have begun to prepare the golf course for the upcoming struggles that are encountered during the winter. One of the most significant problems we encounter during the winter months is disease pressure in the form of snow mold.

We preventatively treat the main play areas (greens, tees and fairways) for snow mold with different forms of chemical treatments. Treating these critical play areas is a costly expense, but it is well worth the money spent because the cost to repair untreated areas far exceeds the cost of the fungicides applied. It is for this reason we are very careful about our fungicide choices to these play areas.

Fungicides are selected for the areas based on level of importance, estimated duration of snow cover and cost of the product to be applied. After all these factors are taken into consideration, a choice is made for the specific product to be applied for each area.

Late Season Fertilization

Today we applied a dormant fertilizer to the rough that will provide nutrients for the turf to deal with the upcoming winter. If there is one single most important application of fertilizer made all year, this would be it.

Timing

The timing of the dormant fertilizer application is critical for the overall success of the nutrient uptake within the plant. An application made to early will force succulent growth, which increases the turfs susceptibility to winter disease and low temperature kill. An application made when the turf has already gone dormant will have not have any positive effects to the turf and essentially be a waste of money spent of the materials applied.

Principles of Late Season Fertilization

• Nitrogen uptake continues at the roots even though shoot growth has ended. In cooler temperatures root growth continues.
• Increased chlorophyll content means increased photosynthesis.
• Increased photosynthesis means increased sugars. Since turf is not growing at the time of the fertilizer application the sugars which are produced are not used for growth but stored to enhance winter survival and spring recovery.
• Late season nitrogen promotes deep rooting during fall. Plants go into spring and summer with deeper, healthier roots.
• Spring green up is early because the nitrogen stored in the roots is there ready when shoot growth resumes.

Benefits of Late Season Fertilizing:

• Increased winter hardiness
• Improved stress tolerance
• Early spring green up
• Reduced need for early spring fertilizer reducing the flush of spring growth

Native Mowing

Every fall when we mow the native grasses it is done for reasons other than just mowing it down. One of the most important reasons we mow is for weed control. The control of unwanted weeds by mowing is most effective when it is done prior to weed seeds being produced. There are times that we mow the native in the spring as well as fall when weed pressures are high.

The most effective means for controlling weed species is through the employment
of integrated weed management. This approach uses a minimum of two or more
control strategies to prevent weeds from adapting to any single control method.


Integrated Weed Control Techniques

Mechanical control
These include tilling, mowing, burning, flooding,
mulching, pulling, hoeing, or grazing.

Chemical control
This includes the use of herbicides or plant growth
regulators to disrupt the growth of noxious weeds.

Biological control
Uses organisms to control noxious weeds. Although there has been some success on some noxious weeds, bio-control agents are not available for all species.

Quick Recovery

You would be hard pressed to find an open aerification hole on the greens only seven days after being aerified. The quick recovery is largely due to the fact that small holes were punched and an ample amount of fertilizer was applied in conjunction with aerification.

From a visual standpoint the greens are back, but from a playability standpoint the speeds are considerably slower than normal. This is due to the amount of fertilizer on the greens as well as a higher height of cut that is currently being used. The height was raised due to the amount of sand applied and the temporary unevenness that is created from the physical aerification process. Once we no longer are picking up sand while mowing, we will begin to come down in height and the green speeds will become normal again.

Tip Burn

On a several fairways #6,#7 and #8 in particular, have had some tip burn occur on them. The burn was caused by the compost that was applied during aerification. One of the six truck loads of compost that was applied was a little hotter than expected. The burn that is visible now, will mowed off and will become a non issue.

The compost I use has a low C/N ratio (carbon / nitrogen) which means that the compost tends to be a little hotter than normal compost. The reason I prefer compost that is on the hot side is because, I am using it as my primary fertilizer source.

In addition to compost being used as a fertilizer source, some of the other benefits of using composts are:

Humus
• Adds humus and organic matter to the soil
• Inoculates soil with humus building microorganisms
• Improves soil structure to allow better infiltration of air and water
• Humus stores 20 times the weight in water and significantly increases the soils ability to store water

Nutrients
• Mineral based nutrients
• Organic based nutrients
• Slow release
• Does not leach into aquatic environments

Microorganisms
• Supplies a large range of beneficial fungi, bacteria and other useful species
• Suppresses soil pathogens
• Fixes Nitrogen
• Increases soil Carbon
• Releases locked up soil nutrients
• Detoxifies poisons
• Feeds plants and soil life
• Builds soil structure

Signs of Injury

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have been playing around with some experimental treatments to help eradicate the Perennial Ryegrass in our Bentgrass fairways.

The first visible signs of treatment began to show up after six days following the initial application. Symptoms of the treated areas began to show up as a chlorotic effect on the turfgrass.

Chlorotic Effect Shown of Fairway

Ten days after treatment another indicator that something was going also started to appear. Smaller patches of the Ryegrass are beginning to turn reddish and are giving the appearance of dying. Not all of the Ryegrass is showing the same effect, but several areas are reacting more effectively to the treatment.

Ryegrass Checking Out

Resistant To Change

We have been converting our fairways from Perennial Ryegrass to Bentgrass for the last Six seasons. Overall the conversion has gone extremely well, with Total Bentgrass populations exceeding 75% in the fairways. The other components in the fairways are Poa Annua and Ryegrass.

The reduction of Poa Annua populations has actually been easier than reducing the Ryegrass, due to chemical options currently available. The Ryegrass has persisted in heavy cart traffic areas in the fairways because it’s better equipped to handle the repeated pounding of cart traffic. It is areas like these that the Bentgrass has been slower to establish itself and we are now beginning to try alternative methods to help with the conversion.

Rygrass in Fairway(Dark Green Patches)

Currently we have begun test application to some of the fairway areas that contain high populations of Ryegrass to evaluate the efficacy of a new product. I have been speaking with a university professor about protocol of this product and I will be reporting my results to him. As with anything new, we are trying this on a limited scale to see how the product will react in our environmental conditions. If we see positive results we will increase the applications until the desired effect takes place. These applications will be timed with Bentgrass overseedings, so that any voids that might be created will have viable seed in the soil waiting to germinate and fill in.

Record Keeping

Record keeping is one of the most important things you do, whether it’s for tax purposes, accounting, inventory, weather and even what takes place on the golf course.

From the golf course side of things accurate record keeping is a key for predicting outcomes of product efficacies based on historical data. In addition, the State of Colorado requires that all pesticide application be recorded and kept for three years. The records are to include; product applied, area of application, EPA registration number, rate of product applied, date of application and even weather conditions.

The Benefits of Record Keeping

• Records help you evaluate how well a chemical worked, particularly if you are using reduced rates or alterative application methods.
  
• Records help to prevent carry-over injury and improve chemical rotation decisions.
  
• Records are the key to a successful IPM (integrated pest management) program.
  
• Disease prevention and prediction based on historical weather data.
  
• More accurate budgeting of product ordering based on historical data.

A Good Flushing

We have been going through a summer that has been one of the driest on record and now we are finally getting some relief.

Over the last thirty six hours we have received more than two inches of precipitation, which is equal to the combined precipitation totals for June and July. The rain that has been coming down has been very steady which is even more important than the totals alone. The soaking rains are helping to flush the soils of sodium, which have accumulated all season long.

The sodium has been accumulating in the soils due to the fact that we use effluent water to irrigate the golf course. Without a little help from Mother Nature providing timely rains, the sodium levels build up in the soil creating less than desirable growing conditions for the turf.

Throughout the season we regularly apply soil modification products such as Gypsum, Hi Cal Lime and other soil acidifiers to help correct soil issues created from the use of effluent water. The products are helpful in reducing the negative day to day effects of the sodium, but they are most effective after deep cleansing rains take place helping move the product through the soil profile.

Making Holes

Last fall we constructed several new tees in addition to leveling some of the more uneven tees on holes #11 and #18. Each of these projects involved sodding of the surface in order to get the tees open for play as soon as possible. Sod is great from an instant gratification standpoint, but from an agronomic stand point it presents several challenges.

Aerifing Sodded Tees

Cleaning Up Of Cores

The most significant problem occurs when the new sod comes in with an overly established thatch layer that impedes water and fertilizer infiltration. In order to correct this situation an aggressive aerification program needs to be established to help physically remove the excess thatch. Once the thatch levels have been reduced, better water and fertilizer movement will occur into the rootzone allowing for a stronger root system to develop.

The reclaimed green surface on hole #18 also was aerified in efforts to help with establishment. Overall the sod has done ok with the exception of a few spots that have been plugged out.

Aerifing Sodded Area Under Close Supervision

Additionally several high traffic areas on the golf course were also aerified such as the bottleneck in the second fairway on hole #5. This is an area where excessive cart traffic occurs due to this being the primary location of the approach shot into the green.

Bottleneck Area On #5

These newly sodded areas will be aerified on an as needed basis that will be determined based on the overall health and quality of the turf.

Dollar Spot

Over the last several years, I have gradually seen an increase in the amount of Dollar Spot activity on the golf course. Having been in Colorado for nearly 20 years Dollar spot was virtually non existent, but as the local climate has changed so to has the occurrence of the disease.

We primarily see the Dollar Spot activity on the tees and also some select approach areas. It seems as if each year the number of infected areas grows and we now have to actually chemically treat some of the areas. In the past I have always been able to wait out the weather conditions that favor the development of fungal activity with out spraying, but that is no longer an option.

Symptoms and Signs
On closely mowed turf, this disease appears as white or tan spots of dead turf about the size of a silver dollar. Hence the name dollar spot. These spots may run together, producing large areas of dead turf. Affected leaves initially show yellow-green blotches, which progress to a light straw color with a reddish-brown margin. Occasionally, white mycelium can be seen covering affected leaves in early morning on dew-covered grass. Dollar spot symptoms occur anytime from early to late summer. The disease usually reaches peak activity when air temperatures are in the 80° F range and under high humidity.

Disease Cycle
The fungus, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, survives unfavorable periods as dormant mycelium in infected plants, therefore, fungal movement is brought about by equipment, people, animals, wind or water. When daytime temperatures reach 16°C to 27°C (60°F to 80°F) , the dormant mycelium resumes growth from the infected leaves to nearby healthy leaves, causing new infections. If night-time conditions become cool and dry soon after infection has occurred, or if control measures are exercised quickly, infection may not progress beyond scattered leaf lesions. If the grass is growing rapidly, the problems may disappear after one or two mowings. If favorable weather persists after infection such as warm nights, with dew forming on leaves, and if control is not achieved, entire grass plants may be killed and typical "dollar spots" may appear on the turf.

Cultural Control
Late spring nitrogen-fertilizer applications can help to minimize dollar spot severity, since growth will be stimulated during the period (early summer) when dollar spot infection begins. Irrigate deeply, infrequently, and early in the morning to minimize moisture accumulation on leaves. Dew control on the leaf is a key agronomic technique that will help with the reduction in disease activity. This can be done with applications of wetting agents, removal dew by early morning mowing or by use of dew whips or squeegees.

Finally Some Relief

After 30 days without any meaningful precipitation, Sunday afternoon we received an averaged total of .23” of rain. Throughout the golf course there are five different rain gauges that record our totals. We have multiple gauges due to the fact that the course consistently receives varied amounts of precipitation when it occurs. The gauge that is located on hole #5 collected .42”, while the gauge on hole #15 only collected .08” of precipitation.

To better understand what I am talking about, think about the golf course and where the Ponderosa Pines are located. Trees do not grow unless there is ample water for them to become established and ultimately thrive. On the front nine holes #4 and #5 consistently receive the highest amount of precipitation, meanwhile holes #13, #14 and #15 receive the least.

Having this information helps me with irrigation scheduling, allowing know which areas on the course will dry out first due to the differences in precipitation received.

Solid Dew Pattern As a Result Of Natural Precipitation

Poking Holes

In the last 45 days we have had on .68” of precipitation and the short comings of the irrigation system are in full view. Not only have there been numerous component failures, but the sprinkler coverage is far less than perfect. Many localized dry spots have shown up in the fairways and they are incredibly hard to re-wet once the thatch layer has dried out. We have been using wetting agents drenches in spots to penetrate with moderate success levels and have recently begun spiking fairway areas.

View Of Spiker / Seeder

We have a needle tine drum seeder that works great to create surface holes the size of a pencil tip that penetrates the turf surface. The tines will go down to a depth of 1.5inches with a spacing of one inch. These surface holes now allow for easier water penetration into these problematic fairway areas.

Close Up Of Holes In Fairway

Predictive Models

Fertilizer technology has improved just like everything else around us. Today many of the fertilizer producers have spent a tremendous amount of time and money developing highly predicable fertilizer products. Previously slow release products relied on sulfur coatings that were applied around the fertilizer particle to control the release. These products were touted as having a controlled releases of anywhere between 8 and 12 weeks. Unfortunately this was not always what happened in the field due to failures in the coatings.

Now days the coatings that are applied to the fertilizer are made from hi-tech polymers that are not subject to the same failures as previous coatings. These newer coatings will now allow release times of up to 12 to 16 weeks of nutrient supply. This has now allowed for more predicable releases of fertilizer products that help Golf Course Superintendent’s better manage their fertility.

Several of the fertilizer producers now make available software that can be used to show the projected releases of the individual products. This has been extremely useful in allowing the end user to better schedule fertilizer application timings, so that excessive growth is not produced.