We had a busy few days on the course. Yesterday we needletined and topdressed the greens which will set them up nicely until the upcoming core aeration.
We have some Fairy Ring on greens, which is a soil- borne disease that can cause dead circles in turf. They usually start as green rings due to the organism creating nitrogen which fertilizes the turf. Over time, in certain types of Fairy Ring, the amount of nitrogen can become toxic and kill the turf. Other types of Fairy Ring result in a ring of mushrooms, which generally are not an issue; some types create hydrophobic conditions, which result in dead turf. We have some Fairy Ring on greens, with 5 being the worst infected. We have it under control but needed to spray it again to ensure that it will not cause a long- term problem.
There are other diseases that attack the roots and cause the plants to die back. Their severity is more prevalent during prolonged hot and humid periods, like we had earlier in the summer. Thankfully the current weather pattern greatly reduces the potential for them to cause issues. Since I was spraying for the Fairy Ring, I wanted to spray the greens for the root pathogens as well. By spraying now, it reduces the pathogen populations so it will take longer for them to recover. This helps prolong problems when the weather favors the disease again. There is a fertilizer mix that needs to be sprayed after we topdress; however, it could not be mixed with the root fungicides. As a result, we sprayed the fungicides yesterday and sprayed the fertilizer today. Sounds simple, but it actually required some planning!
Both applications needed to be watered in, which yesterday was not a problem as we were closed. Today however we needed to ensure the course was prepped, while getting the fertilizer watered in before play. The extended irrigation can washout the bunkers and leave them looking uncared for. It took some coordination to mow, roll, spray, irrigate and then return to rake bunkers before play. As usual, the crew really made it look simple and pulled it all off.
I mentioned in the 7-22 post that we had rebuilt our drag brush and the benefits for the greens has been great. Yesterday, it again stood up the turf up beautifully, meaning the mowers had a lot of grass to cut today. When this happens it usually takes an extra day of mowing to remove all of the longer turf. The greens today are therefore a little slower than normal. The topdressing worked in well and tomorrow I expect them to be fully back up to speed provided the rain stays away.
The brush essentially helps remove grain. Bentgrass can be very grainy if not maintained properly; there are a number of reasons to why it occurs. It can be simply from constant traffic in the same direction over an area to it growing toward the light. There are numerous ways to remove it. Some of them are very aggressive and can cause a lot of additional stress during the summer, so it is best to avoid these practices when the weather is not cooperating. Brooming is a simple way to stand the turf up. I have mentioned grooming in the past also and it is another great tool as it stands the grass up before the blades get it. Ideally brooming and grooming in combination would be fantastic but the stress from both is risky at this time of the year. Another reason it is not practical on this occasion is due to the fact we topdressed. The groomer would pull the sand back up out of the canopy, creating a mess and destroying the blades. Our low heights of cut helps reduce the amount of grain but it is always surprising to see how much can be there when you haven't groomed for a while.
The picture above is from this morning. The prism gauge shows the quality and actual height of cut. The left side has just been mowed and it is easy to see how much the grass is standing up and uneven on the uncut side. That is the grain standing up and ready to be cut.
The picture below shows the the visual difference between the mowed area and the brushed area.
Early morning mowing fairways
