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.