Fall 2017

I'm not going to dwell on it but obviously I've not posted anything since April. Time constraints, work load, personal commitments, and (to be honest) boredom all had a hand in preventing updates. I've always wanted to keep things fresh but the last few years we've been in such a monotonous holding pattern that I found myself with very few interesting topics to cover so let's start anew with this post!

First a rehash of the 2017 season. The greens had another winter of snow mould damage which was a big disappointment but looking back I guess not that surprising when reviewing the weather (go HERE and HERE). My confidence level as it relates to the impact moisture has on chemical efficacy is on very shakey ground but I think blaming all our issues on weather/chemistry may be a bit disingenuous. I have whined about the pressure to maintain conditions later into the year but that is just the way it is now and the approach I decided to take this year was to stack the deck in my favour and that involved some different maintenance strategies but also killing trees; not a lot of trees but definitely some big ones....and, FYI, I'm not done but I wanted to break it to you gently.

Nuisance Trees on South side 2G Going Down

It's tiresome to constantly defend tree removal around greens which is why I've haven't pushed it but I need to continue to educate and stress the negative impact trees growing close to greens have on light quality, air movement, and moisture stress and how that impact creates poor health and, by extension, poor playing conditions.

The rest of the summer could pretty much be summarized by the acronym SSDD (Same Sh*t Different Day) however it's worth noting that we didn't lose a single day to rain during peak season and despite the dry and heat the course pretty much held on.  The fall, up to this point, was more typical than most weather wise and we only lost a few days to rain.  I started preparing the greens for winter early this year by applying full rate overwintering applications mid September and continued to treat those greens with a recent history of bad snow mould on a 10 to 14 day cycle depending on weather. The final greens application was at the end of October before the big snow in early November.

The snow isn't a surprise but the fact that it really hasn't melted is. No surface on the course is frozen which is good for rain events but not so good for snow mould control. I removed the snow from 15 green (the only green we tarp) in an effort to get that ground to freeze. Generally speaking with tarps the more the ground is frozen the less opportunity there is for problems as it relates to disease and,IMO, anoxia.

The snow did prevent us from duplicating last falls aeration of the rough which is unfortunate since I believe that is part of the reason the roughs weren't impacted to severely by the dry summer. My hope is we will get to it in the spring. I had planned for a late season work bee and was going to knock down some weedy trees but again the snow has limited mobility on the course so only a few trees were cut down.

Ugly Poplar Behind 17 Green Finally Gone

Next time out I'll try to explain the in-house renovation on the 13th and 14th tees but until that time consider yourself up to date.

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