Happy Independence Day! After an overcast morning, as I write, the sun is trying to pop out. Hopefully it finds a way to stick around and leave a nice afternoon for everyone's festivities. Saying that, the sunshine will not help with the humidity, which has been really high for the last week. This weather pattern is very hard on the turf for a number of reasons:
- Firstly, disease pressure is extremely high due to high humidity and warm temperatures (especially at night) which are two of the main components that accelerate the incidence of disease.
- Secondly, the damp conditions favor moss and algae, to the point that they become very visible - particularly on greens, making them look aesthetically bad.
- Thirdly, the damp rootzone causes issues - by not drying out, the roots shrink faster as they no longer need to look for water. The heat build up in the rootzone also damages the roots and in extreme situations can actually boil the roots. Using the analogy, I have used in the past - the plants are essentially sitting in a sauna and not getting a break from the relentless heat and hunidity.
- Rolling, mowing etc also adds to the stress and literally 'squeezes the life out of the plant'.
- The optimum temperature for bentgrass growth is 64-75F (as I talked about in this post. As you can see from the graph below the night low temperatures are near or above the optimum level for root/turf growth so the plant wants to shut down to protect itself, even though we require it to keep performing as normal.
As we enter another heat wave this weekend, hopefully the sun shines, the wind picks up and the rain stays away. The humidity does help prevent the plant drying out quickly by slowing the rate of wilt. Any irrigation has to be carefully monitored so that the plant gets enough to stay alive, while not getting too much that will cause/increase any of the issues above. Unfortunately, when rain arrives, the superintendent looses control over the amount of water applied to the turf so it makes managing the turf more difficult. I had an old boss tell me "it's easier add water, than take it away" and his quote is perfect for the current weather pattern. I would much prefer to need water right now than hope that the sun comes out and the humidity breaks to dry things.
Fortunately we have tools to help get us through these difficult times. The fans help on the greens they are on, to a point, but are keeping them consistent with the others. Using needletines to aerate the greens by opening up the top few inches really helps get air to the roots and to help dry the surface out.
We have changed the rollers on the mowers to less aggressive ones to help minimize the physical damage and the days we roll will be reduced a little to help also. While we adapt to the current conditions, slightly reduced green speeds are to be expected - it is prudent to live with slightly slower greens for a few weeks to ensure they survive the summer heat and they are perfect all fall. If they were to be maintained as normal, the potential for damage or complete turf loss increases, meaning that there is the potential for them to be either closed or severely compromised for a long period, which nobody wants!
Topdressing is also very helpful to help dry out the surface and it also helps physically break up the algae. Unfortunately the scheduled topdressing this week had to be postponed as the weather did not cooperate so it could be done properly. This was very frustrating as we missed a topdressing in June due to the busy schedule and it has to be pushed off another week due to outings and a tournament next week.
The greens will be fine, provided we are careful and constantly monitor them to prevent long term damage due to the current weather pattern . The good news is they were aerated (needletine) on Tuesday and we plan to needletine them at least once again next week to help keep the surface as dry as we can. Tomorrow the greens will be sprayed for the algae and will help keep it at bay until Mother Nature lends a hand and breaks the hot damp weather. Right now there is nothing to worry about with the greens other than them not looking aesthetically perfect - they will still putt perfectly even if they are slightly slower than normal.
The guys needletining on Tuesday
A cross section of a needletine hole
Over the last week we also started to mow the fescues, brush and woodland areas. This is a major undertaking as LedgeRock has 32 acres of fescue, 18.75 acres of woodland and 15.5 acres of brush (66.25 acres total). Usually we just mow the fescues but the brush and woodlands are getting really bad also, so needed to be mowed also. To help speed up the process we rented a 15' brush cutter, which worked great and by the end of the week, the majority of the fescue and a large proportion of the brush will be cut. We should be close to having everything finished up with our Ventrac and Positrack by the end of next week. The areas will look a little rough for a week or so until the new growth starts back but after that they will remain looking good and not overgrown for the rest of the season.
The fescues had gone to seed, with the stalks remaining, so in another week or so would start falling over and not looking as good, as well as making them tougher to play from. They were not sprayed in the spring, so this also provides an opportunity for us to spray herbicide on them to keep them looking great and weed free. In some areas they are thicker close to the rough, making for a tough shot (if you can find your ball...). This is mainly due to over spray from the irrigation and over throw from when the roughs are fertilized. This is hard to avoid and the difference is clear, as the areas that do not receive extra water and fertilizer play and look very well. There is a growth regulator that is supposed to help thin these areas. It was sprayed in the spring but the fescue was probably a little too long at the time for it to have a proper effect, so now that the fescues are mowed, it will be sprayed again. If this fails to thin these areas to the required levels, they will mowed at rough height to help the playability of the course.
The current weather pattern is very frustrating as it makes it difficult to spray herbicides as they need dry weather to prevent run off and have time to enter the plant. This is also the reason there is clover in areas of the roughs, so hopefully we get a few dry days in the near future and the last of the weeds can be sprayed.
The rental tractor and brush cutter
This week we also started to hard edge the bunkers. This is another time consuming process and one that is required every two or so years. Weed-whacking takes care of them in between but eventually the turf creeps in enough to where the lip becomes untidy and no longer crisp. During the process the crew are moving sand around in the bunkers and checking depths so they will play and look great when they are done. So far, they have done 1,2 & 4 and the crew have done a great job, as the results look fantastic as seen below on 1.
That's it for this update - Enjoy your 4th of July!!
