Recovery
Recovery Work Week!
The past 2 weeks has all been about providing conditions for turf grass recovery as much as we can control along with of course normal routine maintenance and course mowing etc.
All front 9 surfaces have had wetting agents applied, Green Surrounds cored in addition the 8th and 9th Surrounds scarified and seeded with Rye grass.
I am not a big fan of Rye grass, however decided that as it was the turf established in the area and does germinate relatively quickly it would give us some quick grass cover considering the Ladies Summer Cup is only a few weeks away.
Some light fertiliser applications to all areas rounds up the broad scale turf recovery.
8th Surrounds cored, scarified, seeded and sanded
For the Fairways, Tees and Green surrounds we have done all we can to assist in recovery the rest is up to the turf, time and patience, our goal is to have close to all areas recovered by the Summer Cup.
Fwy Dry patch recovering
The greens remain a different challenge altogether, I informed the Course Committee on Monday night, root growth has shrunk by 50 to 60% with less depth and function creating a very weak plant with less tolerances to the stresses I have spoke previously of, disease instances for one, and will require extra attention for the rest of Summer.
We have started to achieve some re wetting of the heard pan hydrophobic layer 2 inches below the surface which was causing us a great deal of concern, it is an encouraging sign, with this now re wetting we are also seeing new root growth commence, (In the pic the white coloured roots are new healthy growth, dark brown are unhealthy non functional roots) Our management practices remain focused on continued improvement, hopefully at least to a level where the greens can tolerate a slightly lower cut and other measures taken to quicken the pace of the greens for the Summer Cup. In the meantime green pace will remain slightly slower than normal as we continue management practices to relieve stress and improve plant health. Needle tinning remains an option should we believe further intervention is required.
Greens H.O.C remains at 3mm
We still have some decisions to make, one such example is, do we proceed with herbicide treatment for crab grass in the greens?
We know if we do not proceed crab grass will be a major issue in 3 to 4 weeks time, if we do proceed are we exposing the greens already weakened and recovering to further injury and possibly death.
Decisions like these won't be taken lightly, careful monitoring and assessment on a green by green basis will dictate the course of action taken.
Many more decisions will need to be made over the rest of summer as you can see they are not easy ones to make under the circumstances but rest assured any decision will be carefully balanced against the risk to the greens health.
Compressed fungicide application, spoonfeeding greens weekly and reduced mechanical stress remain our best tools to get through the rest of summer in good condition.
One area I neglected to mention is the Chipping green, unfortunately we could not get water to the green on the first day of the break, consequently with a 39 degree day it, didn't take long for the young seedling grass to wilt and die, This area will now be left for the rest of summer and reseeding carried out in early Autumn.
For now the news is positive, all surfaces are recovering well from the 8 day no irrigation period and with careful management, maybe a little luck, and favourable weather that improvement should continue.
Our Focus will will now be on presentation of the course for the Summer Cup, attending tasks around the course we have not attended as we concentrated on commencing the recovery process, Bunker edges are high on the list along with a number of other tasks which when completed immediately improve the presentation.
As we get closer to the Summer Cup depending on green health we will start the process of increasing pace and try to peak the greens for the event.
The past 2 weeks has all been about providing conditions for turf grass recovery as much as we can control along with of course normal routine maintenance and course mowing etc.
All front 9 surfaces have had wetting agents applied, Green Surrounds cored in addition the 8th and 9th Surrounds scarified and seeded with Rye grass.
I am not a big fan of Rye grass, however decided that as it was the turf established in the area and does germinate relatively quickly it would give us some quick grass cover considering the Ladies Summer Cup is only a few weeks away.
Some light fertiliser applications to all areas rounds up the broad scale turf recovery.
8th Surrounds cored, scarified, seeded and sandedFor the Fairways, Tees and Green surrounds we have done all we can to assist in recovery the rest is up to the turf, time and patience, our goal is to have close to all areas recovered by the Summer Cup.
Fwy Dry patch recoveringThe greens remain a different challenge altogether, I informed the Course Committee on Monday night, root growth has shrunk by 50 to 60% with less depth and function creating a very weak plant with less tolerances to the stresses I have spoke previously of, disease instances for one, and will require extra attention for the rest of Summer.
We have started to achieve some re wetting of the heard pan hydrophobic layer 2 inches below the surface which was causing us a great deal of concern, it is an encouraging sign, with this now re wetting we are also seeing new root growth commence, (In the pic the white coloured roots are new healthy growth, dark brown are unhealthy non functional roots) Our management practices remain focused on continued improvement, hopefully at least to a level where the greens can tolerate a slightly lower cut and other measures taken to quicken the pace of the greens for the Summer Cup. In the meantime green pace will remain slightly slower than normal as we continue management practices to relieve stress and improve plant health. Needle tinning remains an option should we believe further intervention is required.
We still have some decisions to make, one such example is, do we proceed with herbicide treatment for crab grass in the greens?
We know if we do not proceed crab grass will be a major issue in 3 to 4 weeks time, if we do proceed are we exposing the greens already weakened and recovering to further injury and possibly death.
Decisions like these won't be taken lightly, careful monitoring and assessment on a green by green basis will dictate the course of action taken.
Many more decisions will need to be made over the rest of summer as you can see they are not easy ones to make under the circumstances but rest assured any decision will be carefully balanced against the risk to the greens health.
Compressed fungicide application, spoonfeeding greens weekly and reduced mechanical stress remain our best tools to get through the rest of summer in good condition.
One area I neglected to mention is the Chipping green, unfortunately we could not get water to the green on the first day of the break, consequently with a 39 degree day it, didn't take long for the young seedling grass to wilt and die, This area will now be left for the rest of summer and reseeding carried out in early Autumn.
For now the news is positive, all surfaces are recovering well from the 8 day no irrigation period and with careful management, maybe a little luck, and favourable weather that improvement should continue.
Our Focus will will now be on presentation of the course for the Summer Cup, attending tasks around the course we have not attended as we concentrated on commencing the recovery process, Bunker edges are high on the list along with a number of other tasks which when completed immediately improve the presentation.
As we get closer to the Summer Cup depending on green health we will start the process of increasing pace and try to peak the greens for the event.
