Away We Go

The shallow or summer irrigation system has been pressured back up throughout the entire golf course. We are a good two weeks earlier than last year, which is three to four weeks ahead of the normal irrigation window.

This season we have had snow falls that have been few and far between in addition to unseasonably warm temperatures. For the last four weeks we have been chasing the dry spots and newly laid sod with hoses utilizing the frost free components of the irrigation system. It has gotten to the point where we are no longer able to keep up with the rapid drying and are forced to turn on the entire system.

One of the biggest problems we will encounter by doing this so early would be that all of the heads will not function due to some lingering frost in the ground. These areas are primarily in northern exposures where the soil temperatures are still below freezing. These ground temperatures do not allow the pilot valve assembly in the heads to properly function, therefore rendering the head non operational.

Even though we are extremely early in the season to be turning on the entire system, by not doing so will guarantee wide spread loss of turf. I would rather take the risk of irrigation component failure versus large scale re-sodding operations.