It has been a very busy week and a lot of work was accomplished.
Firstly the greens - they are coming along nicely even though the temperatures haven't been very cooperative. As planned, they were rolled for the second and last time with the asphalt roller on Monday and mowed on Tuesday. Even with the raised height of cut and mowing in the dry, as expected, the mowers collected a lot of sand on the first cut, which destroyed the reels. However it did clean them up nicely and they were sprayed with Dewcure so that they could be mowed in the morning without the worry of picking sand up on the rollers. They were also sprayed again with fertilizer, but unfortunately there was frost on three mornings this week, so they still are not growing very quickly.
We mowed again on Wednesday coupled with a regular roll and I was actually able to get a stimpmeter reading that looked half decent!! However there was very little grass collected so there was no need to mow on Thursday and a roll sufficed to increase the speed. The cut this morning yielded a nice surprise - the basket had mostly grass in it which means the turf is finally stating to grow through!! After rolling today, the stimpmeter reading jumped another 3/4 ft, so although not up to our usual standards they are in decent shape, especially considering we are only ten days out from aeration and the weather has not been conducive to growth.
They were sprayed again today with Dewcure to ensure they can be mowed and rolled over the weekend. Since they are not growing aggressively, the plan to roll tomorrow and mow and roll on Sunday is sufficient to maintain them while not slowing down progress. While I'm not chasing greenspeed right now until they have recovered more, it is nice to see how they are progressing.
The last step is to lower the height of cut. I will do this incrementally as not only is it better for the turf, but if it is rushed, we will be mowing into the sand again, which will set us back. The warmer weather in the forecast is promising, and hopefully the sand works in a little more so I can start lowering the heights and switch back to the 'regular' mowers. The 'regular' mowers have a grooved roller which provides a better cut - I use mowers with solid rollers after we topdress for two main reasons; it saves us beating up the reels on the everyday mowers - Secondly the solid rollers are less aggressive on the turf and therefore less stressful which is beneficial considering the beating the turf takes during this time. The solid rollers ride 'on' the turf, whereas the grooved rollers 'dig' in a little so even though both are set at the same height setting in the shop, the actual height of cut will vary between the two and this is another reason the solid roller helps as it is not riding in the topdress but on top.
Below is a picture of one of LedgeRocks mowers with the solid roller cutting unit fitted.
This is a picture of the clipping from the first cut. You can see the sand intermixed with the clipping. The mowers were treated to a much needed grind as soon as they arrived back at the shop!!
This is a picture of a prism gauge. This tool lets turf professionals see the actual height of cut, while also showing the quality of the cut. (sorry it is upside down...). You can see on one side the cut is more level than the other. The smooth side was the pass that was just mowed while the other is uncut. Our regular height of cut is ~0.1" with the grooved roller. The mowers are currently set at 0.125" with the solid rollers.
Here you can see the furthest part of the green has been cut (lighter area), exposing the sand again....
Lastly a picture of the clippings from this morning and it is obvious that the sand is disappearing.
This week we also started deep-tine aeration on fairways. Our machine needed a lot of work over the winter due to the battering our hard soils have given it over the last six years, but thanks to out mechanics it is like new again and working flawlessly. It is a slow operation, however the benefits are considerable. The machine 'kicks' as it enters which heaves the soil therefore helping fracture the soil, relieving compaction and providing drainage. The large holes also provide air channels for the roots. When we first started deep tine aeration we were barely able to get it to go in 2", now it is close to 6" which may not seem like a lot, but it shows how much compaction has been relieved already by using it.
So to some of the other items that we have been up to this week.
We covered the fescue areas that were seeded last year by the clubhouse and 12 tee. These areas didn't come in very well and were covered with weeds. We scalped the weeds down, reseeded, topdressed and fertilized these areas. I did not spray the weeds as it would have prevented the seed to germinate so this way I can get the seed to take and then clean the weeds out. The areas were covered to help warm the soils up quicker which will make the seed germinate quicker than if it was in the open.
You may have noticed I've grown quite a nice crop of clover this year!! It was all sprayed this week and any resilient areas will be resprayed as needed. Herbicides need to be sprayed in dry weather so sometimes our applications have to be delayed until the weather permits. Here's the proof it's dying as it is starting to curl up!!
We also got a few projects completed this week.
I'm sure you have had a scare or two on the drive off from 1, especially on a damp morning. I know of at least two carts that flipped over and more than a few scares from coming over that little hill by only for the cart so slide and hit the asphalt sideways. To address this, we removed the mound and made sure the entry onto the path is now flat. The area also needed an extra irrigation head, so it was the perfect opportunity to do that also. That mound, the lack of irrigation and the traffic beat up the turf badly in that area, now that it has been regraded and the irrigation added, it should look good all year and be a lot safer for cart traffic.
Removing the sod - the mound can be clearly seen in the tree shadow
The sod removed
The sod stored for reuse
The mound from the greenside bunker
Grading the area
Adding the irrigation
The finished product
and the new view from the bunker.
The other project we completed this week was to tidy up the back left pond on 10 (did you even know there was one there??) After numerous unsuccessful attempts to try and make it more presentable, I decided going all out and sodding it might be the solution. What a difference! It has cleaned up the entire area immensely. The plan next week is to sod the bank along the path to the ball washer and tie it all together.
Spring is slowly getting here - the leaves are finally starting to pop!!
I'm sorry for the long post but as I said at the start, we had a busy week and I wanted to cover all of it, as well as keep up on the condition of the greens and how they are recovering.
Have a good weekend.
