As a Superintendent I break the summer into three sections: July 4th, fall aeration and Labor Day. July 4th is the point where the initial summer heat has passed and we are about to enter the hottest part of the summer where the turf is under the most stress. Fall aeration helps relieve a lot of this stress and resets everything for the short run to Labor day, at which time the course is healed and the weather is starting to cool, reducing the stresses on the turf. We have reached July 4th without any issues and the course has been playing beautifully and consistently for the last number of weeks. The weather has been beautiful and staying relatively dry; for the most part, the temperatures have not gotten out of hand. At the time of writing we have had 2.5" of rain since Wednesday afternoon and it has greatly softened up the course. However, as has been the case this summer, the forecast is for more dry weather and warmer temperatures so it should dry out and be playing well again over the weekend.
As I have mentioned numerous times before, water management is the key to healthy turf. The fans by the pocketed greens increase air movement, which in turn, helps dry these areas out by reducing the humidity so the plants can transpire efficiently which cools them down. (It also indirectly helps dry things out as the plant uses more water.) Transpiration is essentially the same as a human sweating, the idea being that the loss of water cools you down. As we know when it is humid out, perspiration is not very effective and it can be very uncomfortable. The same goes for the plants - if there is too much moisture in the air for them to lose their internal water, their cooling mechanism does not work. In this instant greenkeepers syringe the turf. Syringing means a really light watering. The goal is not to wet the plant or the surface but to cool the air temporarily over the plant so that it can start to transpire again and cool itself off. It doesn't take much, but a few degrees can make a big difference.
Air temperature before syringing
Air temperature during syringing
Surface temperature before syringing
The same surface spot right after syringing
Syringing is also very effective when there is low humidity but for slightly different reasons. In this case the plant is transpiring very rapidly as the low humidity means the water in the plant is easily taken away. The plant however does not know how much water it has so can lose all it's available water or lose water quicker than it can take it in. When this happens the plant wilts. To use the human analogy again, it basically is like a human sweating all day but not replenishing their fluids - they get dehydrated. Syringing in this case helps the plant cool off enough to slow down the loss of water through transpiration and slows/prevents/helps recover wilt.
Lastly there is a point when the plant has plenty of available water (i.e. the soils are saturated) but it can still wilt due to it not being able to take in water quick enough to offset what it is loosing through transpiration. As in the last example syringing helps cool the plant so it briefly stops transpiring, which helps it catch up and take in the water it needs. It can look odd seeing someone 'water' when the ground is saturated but the need is very important and the amount of water actually being put out is minimal since all it it doing is cooling off the plant.
The view from the top of the Cart Barn
Watering heavily and infrequently is usually best for the turf as it encourages deeper rooting which in turn helps the plant manage stress better. This method also favors bentgrasses over poa annua as the bentgrass usually has a deeper root system whereas the poa would require lighter more frequent amounts to keep it's shallower roots happy.
Here at LedgeRock the greens are watered deep and infrequently as much as possible and as the greens dry down, the drier areas are hit by hand until the green is uniformly dry and requires a deep irrigation again.
So as you can see, watering isn't just watering and there are a number of different methods to ensure the plants stay healthy during different times of the year.
So for a quick update on everything else around the course; the weeds are all finally gone and we have sodded some of the little bare areas that have been bothering me. The black tinge to the fairways is from a spray application last week. One of the fungicides caused a little tip burn on the older leaves and once it is mowed on Monday, most, if not all of it will be taken off.
I had some soil physical tests taken this week. These cores are removed from the green and I have them tested every two years to make sure that thatch is under control and the greens continue to mature and perform as they should. More on this when the results come in.
Another interesting note is the picture below taken from 10 green. The black is black layer in the green which indicates anaerobic conditions in the soil. 10 green is one of the problem greens but overall has been doing well all year. This picture shows that even with constant aeration, topdressing, fans and water management that it is still very difficult to keep the rootzone dry when the environmental conditions do not allow. The good news is that the turf is still healthy for now and our continued work will keep it in check until the fall aeration which will open it up even more and get an abundance of air back into the system.
Hopefully you are enjoying the conditions and continue to do so as we dry the course out until the next rain event. As always contact me if you have any questions: alan@ledgerockgolf.com. Enjoy the holiday weekend!
