Picking at a scab...

Two weeks ago I went and pulled another plug from 9 green  and was disappointed to be greeted with a smell that goes by many names, none of them good.

 

9G_Feb_17

Although there was green to start with the smell indicated things were far from perfect.

9G_Feb_21

Don't panic yet.  I've been checking all over that green and the problem really seems isolated to back 30%.  Yeah, there is ice over the entire surface but it is not as thick as it was at the back.  Furthermore, the back of that green has a bit of a history of being troublesome.  What I decided to do was experiment and see what happens.  I have mentioned numerous times the risk of exposing Poa in the mid-winter but sometimes situations force you to make a choice.  Any choices I make with respect to managing the ice on 9 will have a limited impact since the damage is done but, even though the area is small, I may be able to glean good "intel" that can be used in the future.

Poa under ice for greater than 45 days will not survive (so says certain research) and bent has over 100 days before it is impacted by ice cover (again, so says certain research).  Research also suggests exposing Poa and even bentgrass too early can have a negative impact on the cold hardiness of both plant species.  More research indicates that the development of low oxygen under ice will also severely impact turf health.  So here's the thing we got ice and (based on smell) anoxic conditions under the ice, we got Poa annua under ice cover for close to 45 days, and we still got winter temperatures.  It's sorta sounds like we are dammed if we do or dammed if we don't or in parlance of Star Trek this is a classic Kobayashi Maru !

I decided that, since the second plug we pulled from 9 green had definitely gone funky, we needed to address the anoxic conditions that existed to limit further damage to any remaining live turf (hoping against all hope that we have a secret stash of Bentgrass hiding within the turf canopy)

Two pieces of equipment you never want to see on a green in the winter

 I used the skid steer to scrape down to the ice and then followed up by using the aerator to chip away at the ice.  It took multiple passes with the aerator in numerous directions before I was able to get near the greens surface.

Initial pass with aerator only left small dimples

It took one guy four hours to get most of the ice off.  After seeing the conditon of the turf once the ice was removed I have a hunch that the most serious anoxia was in small pockets at the back of the green.  Other areas I exposed appeared green and only had a slight sour smell and not the stinky barnyard smell.

Now all we have to do is wait and see what happens.  I did this with a close eye on the forecast.  This time out I wasn't looking to melt the ice only increase air exchange.  I think it is vital that any free moisture been avoided because of the problems associated with repetitive freezing and thawing.  I did this on Thursday afternoon with the hope of limiting the turfs exposure to temperature swings.  Fridays forecast was for seasonal temperatures with snow starting in the afternoon and as I write this I can confirm the weatherman was right on all counts!