"Where Have All the Flowers Gone..."

....A little hippy reference for all you long hairs but also apropos for the time of year. The summer has blown by and so has all the opportunities to comment on happenings at the golf course. The truth, as has been typical for the past couple years, is we are treading water so I don't have any real exciting topics. But the more I think about it there are some loose ends I should tie up so here is a couple disjointed points for you to digest:

River Watch

Remember this? Go HERE for a refresher.  I've spent every year since we began pumping from the river stressing over conditions while we were pumping water. This spring we finally (after a few ball-ups) completed a connection to the city water line located by 12 tee.  With the "insurance" of that secondary water source we will have the security of knowing the resevoir will be able to be refreshed if we are unable to pump from the river. Also,  the tie-in will allow me to shut down the pumps during freshet and lessen the wear caused by pumping sand/silt thereby stretching out the time between complete rebuilds of the pumps...the caveat, however, is up until this spring we were drawing during freshet and have caused some wear but at least it shouldn't get any worse.

MLSN

This is still new to me.  Go HERE for review.  I bring this up because as good as this style of nutrition is I believe it may be the source of our troubles the past couple springs.  Actually, to be fair it's not MLSN but something loosely tied to it call the Growth Potential(GP).  Very quickly, MLSN provides fertility recommendations based on soil samples while  the GP formula provides a method for estimating Nitrogen (N) requirements based on a number of variables.

I've been fully committed to the MLSN/GP as it relates to nutrition for the tees and, for the most part, I'm mostly happy with the outcome.  The biggest benefit has been the ability to lessen the number of times a week we need to mow while still having the tees look presentable.  There is room for improvement since select tees seem to require more nutrition than other tees but that is really a time issue as it relates to staffing and a cost issue as it relates to getting a soil test for each and every tee.

With respect to the greens, using the GP model for nitrogen application allows me to apply N amounts based on expected growing conditions in very small amounts via the sprayer which avoids the growth spurts that are common, IMO, with granular fertility.  Furthermore, since I'm using raw materials and applying nitrogen using the a "lite" and frequent approach it is also very economical.  This "Goldilocks" approach to turf nutrition provides good conditions during the summer months but one situation when I think it may be a bit funky is during the fall when turf needs nitrogen for the manufacturing of carbohydrates (CHO) which are stored and used for stress tolerance and protection from winter injury. Applying N based on GP in fall may not provide enough of an opportunity for the turf to recovery from daily S&A as well as prep for winter. The gist of what I'm saying is there will be more of a focus preparing for winter vs. playing conditions, i.e.green speed,  in the up coming weeks so get out your 1 iron for putting....

Pretty Plain Jane.....

This January, like most January's, was a drawn out affair that bumbled by while I putzed around the shop, the course, the internet, and my computer.   Golf course wise things appear to be O.K.  We have as much as 18" snow in some areas and very little in some of the treed areas.  The little stint of warm weather and small amount of rain has had no impact on the green surfaces since most have plenty of snow.  I would hazard a guess that winter ice wise we are out of the woods and can now start wringing our hands over what type of spring melt we will get.

Like always I spent most of January planning out the year.  Decisions are based on past successes and failures and 2015 saw, IMO, more successes than failures.  For the most part, successes as of late are defined as decreasing costs with limited negative impact on course presentation.  One of last years successes related to fertilizer.  Turf nutrition is the one of the larger line items on our budget with just over $5000 spent on fertilizing greens alone this past year.  Sounds like lots but take a look at this:

The points on the blue line show we've spent less on fertilizer for the greens each year over the past three years.  To be fair that has been the trend for a while now but nothing as dramatic as seen in the last 3 years.  With turf nutrition there is always new information being made available and it's up to each person to wade through the information and decide its value.  Over the last couple years I've been reading lots about a style of turf nutrition call Minimum Level for Sustainable Nutrition (MLSN).  Explanation of MLSN requires its own post but for this post I'll gloss over the details and attempt to relay the gist of it.  MLSN is a type of soil analysis that identifies quantities of nutrients within a soil and then estimates the amount needed to be applied via fertilizer to maintain nutrients at or near a minimum level for healthy turf based on the amount of nitrogen applied throughout a growing season.  

I sent away soil samples last year and the recommendations that came back found our soils were not lacking in any of the required nutrients for growing turf.  So all I needed to add was nitrogen to allow for uptake of existing soil nutrients and to maintain healthy turf.  With respect to the greens, I did not jump in with both feet but I was still fairly true to the MLSN theory and guidelines.  Nutrition for the tees, however, was based 100% MLSN.  I guess conditions this spring could either push me farther done the MLSN road or make me regret the whole idea.  As always, stay tuned.