Yellow and Red; The Colors of Fall

You may think I am referencing leaf color but in this circumstance I am referring to the painted marks on the fairways.  If you've golfed since Friday you will have noticed dinner plate sized paint marks on the fairways.  We do this for 2 reasons.  One is to mark the heads so staff members can trim around them since after a seasons growth the irrigation heads start to get covered by turf (especially after a year like this one which turned out to be a good year to grow grass!).  The second reason relates more the seasonal reference.  Starting next week we begin preparing for the end of the season.  The first task this year will be aerating the fairways before the final fertilization in mid to early September.  Cool season turf has two growth stages throughout the year and we are in the second.  Cooler days are more suited for root development and soil temperatures anywhere between 50 and 65 degrees F (or 10 to 18 degrees C) aid in root growth versus the hot days associated with summer.  Other factors influencing root growth are soil moisture and oxygen.  After a season of traffic from play and maintenance the soil tends to "tighten up" and limit oxygen and water movement.  When we aerate we are increasing oxygen within the root zone and ensuring that water reaches the roots where both are needed to encourage root growth (mass and depth).  A healthy root system will better be able to make use of soil nutrients from fertilization and natural organic matter breakdown.  Ultimately, it is the nutrient uptake which, in combination with photosynthesis, helps create and store carbohydrates (CHO) that the turf needs to recover next spring.  The more tools and time we give the turf to create CHO's the better the chances of success in the spring... maybe... (Oops!  I forgot to explain the red and yellow marks as they relate to aeration.  It is to make it easier for the guy operating the aerator to see the heads)

Fakin' It......

Besides staring at the final budget numbers and deciding on how to make things fit, I've been occupied the last couple weeks with planning this year's fertility applications throughout the golf course.

The good news/bad news thing about pre-planning all the fertility apps is the club can take advantage of early booking and payment discounts totalling $ 1200; however, the bad news is I have to use my crystal ball to look ahead to make more than a few guesses.  When it comes to macro nutrients it is not a huge deal since it is relatively common knowledge how much to generally apply over a growing season.  But with respect to micros and products called biostimulants it is the condition of the turf that can dictate what to apply.

Once the snow has melted it is turf health that suggests which direction you need to push it.  If everything is "rosy" then products that encourage root development and CHO (carbohydrates, i.e. food) storage are used so the turf can create lots of reserve CHO to cope with stresses later on in the season.  However, if the stand of turf is weak it requires the application of products that promote density.  If the damage is severe and areas need to be overseeded different products geared towards the fertility requirements of seedlings are needed.  Even as the growing season progresses and these damaged areas have begun to recover, their fertility requirements may be different.  Previously stored CHO will be depleted during spring recovery and the turf may not have the necessary reserves to cope with the stresses that summer can bring.  As a result, nutrients need to be applied more frequently or at higher rates to try to keep the turf in good condition until the end of the season.

For some time we have been applying nutrients via a combination of spraying and granular applications and I have a general idea of what seems to work at KGC.  However, in the past I've had the flexibility to adapt to the turfs needs as the season progresses and purchase products suited for developing conditions.  Ordering all fertility products in February to save $$$$ is not a huge gamble but it definitely ties my hands and puts all my eggs in one basket so I guess time will tell (am I mixing metaphors?)

What does Ice mean?

A Brief History of 9 Green 

Ice Development

November 13
First snow 

December 29
End result after rain event and the on set of a cold snap.
Earlier snow has begun to form ice on the surface

January 4
More snow, more rain, and more cold.
Poor insulation from shallow snow cover
is causing ice to set up "tighter" 

January 8
Ice thick enough that you need a shovel
to chip ice to loosen it.

Not an ideal start to 2012 but it may be time to start thinking of golf again.  Since my last post in mid-December course conditions and the weather have been somewhat variable.  We've had rain, snow, lows of -18 Celsius, and highs of +8 Celsius.  Over that time the snow has gone through a few changes as demonstrated by the above pictures.  So now what?  First look at "Winter Kill" a post I did back in 2009 for a quick and dirty refresher.  

Ice isn't always the harbinger of death but it makes for some stressful times.  The ice we are seeing now is fairly set up over frozen turf and is no thicker than 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.  Because I feel the turf entered winter somewhat prepared (versus 2009) it is my hope that the only thing this ice really means is we won't damage the surface if we decide to blow snow. 

At the risk of stereo typing Poa annua (the predominant grass species throughout the entire golf course), the one thing to keep in mind is Poa a nice lookin' grass but it's not very smart.  Any sign of spring like weather and Poa will burn up it's stored winter carbs and start prancing around like it's mid-June.  Without the "antifreeze" like protection the carbohydrates offer even a small drop in temperature below 0 degrees could result in damage from crown dehydration (FYI: intracellular crown dehydration is the sudden freezing of fluid within plant tissue that draws water from cells dehydrating them and killing the turf; extracellular cellular crown dehydration happens the same way but ice forms outside the turf plant).  Truthfully, however, I am not 100% sure of what to expect so I'll keep checking the green surface to monitor the ice development and keep doing the "smell test" to get a feel for what may be happening.

Trees and Shadows

Last fall and this past spring have motivated me to pay closer attention to tree's surrounding certain greens and the impact their shadows have on turf growth. The benefits of adequate sun in the fall include the typical increased air circulation and faster drying of tissue surfaces to help limit disease development. Another very important aspect of fall sun relates to the storing of carbohydrates (CHO) within the plant needed for overwintering and growth in the spring. As mentioned before, the growth habit of turf in the fall changes because of cooler temperatures and shorter days. These changes signal the plant to slow vertical growth and direct energy toward roots and the creation and storage of CHO's. The more light/energy available to a plant during the fall the more CHO's it can make and store which will help in winter survival and spring start up.
Good sun exposure in the early spring obviously helps in speeding the melt of snow and ice from the previous winter as well as warming up the soil quicker to increase plant and microbial activity.
The shade created by trees has many other physiological impacts on turf grass (low density, spindly and succulent growth, and poor root density) not to mention the direct competition trees pose to available resources for plant growth (light, water, and nutrients). Take a look and the following before and afters and see how selective tree removal can significantly increase available light and, hopefully, increase the health and, therefore, the playability of these surfaces.

8 Green Before

8 Green After

7 Green
Before and After

4 Green
Before and After

Removing trees is not the only maintenance practice we do to control their interference with growing turf. I've talked about root pruning before (November 3rd post in 2009) as it relates to cart paths. We also root prune around greens to limit root encroachment under greens. Kinda a boring picture but here it is.

Root Pruning Trench on 8G