February 26
After one week I decided to remove all the snow cover from #1 green so we could get a better look at the entire surface and try gain some control by double tarping the green to get things growing sooner than normal.
Snow cover before removal
Snow removed with Bobcat in 20 minutes
Only a very thin ice layer
Spreading material to speed melt
Melt after one day
Tarped over ice for first night
The rest melted on day 2
This green will remain tarped for the rest of the month and depending on how it looks at the beginning of April it may stay tarped until recovery is satisfactory. Over the next couple weeks the weather will dictate any strategies we take to speed the recovery. The big unknown is how many more greens are like this one? Until I can get a look at all the greens I can't really say why #1 has a problem. My suspicion is we may see issues on those surfaces with a large percentage of Poa annua that are susceptible to freezing early and hard because of micro-climates (i.e. poor light and high soil moisture). It is still early and despite the lack of snow we have to be cautious about exposing surfaces to cold temperature, especially if we don't have enough tarps to protect the surfaces. This coming week we will most likely tackle #7 and #15 to see what is under the overwintering tarps.
There is times when the turf under snow retains some of its green color but with the cold, freezing fall temperatures the turf usually turns brown. There is a problem if the turf is still brown 7 days later:
March 5
It's really bad news when things look the same after 14 days:
March 13
After one week I decided to remove all the snow cover from #1 green so we could get a better look at the entire surface and try gain some control by double tarping the green to get things growing sooner than normal.
Snow cover before removal
Snow removed with Bobcat in 20 minutes
Only a very thin ice layer
Spreading material to speed melt
Melt after one day
Tarped over ice for first night
The rest melted on day 2
This green will remain tarped for the rest of the month and depending on how it looks at the beginning of April it may stay tarped until recovery is satisfactory. Over the next couple weeks the weather will dictate any strategies we take to speed the recovery. The big unknown is how many more greens are like this one? Until I can get a look at all the greens I can't really say why #1 has a problem. My suspicion is we may see issues on those surfaces with a large percentage of Poa annua that are susceptible to freezing early and hard because of micro-climates (i.e. poor light and high soil moisture). It is still early and despite the lack of snow we have to be cautious about exposing surfaces to cold temperature, especially if we don't have enough tarps to protect the surfaces. This coming week we will most likely tackle #7 and #15 to see what is under the overwintering tarps.
