May Greens Report
Greens Report May
Greens Report May
As we move further into the season, the course has experienced a prolonged dry spell, With only 34mm of rain fall recorded over the past two months, this has been the driest spring in over a century. This extended period of low rainfall had placed significant stress on turf conditions across the course, particularly on greens and high traffic areas.
Compounding the situation, our ageing irrigation system has struggled to keep pace with the increased demand. The main irrigation pump has been running for the majority of each day to try and maintain sufficient soil moisture levels. As many of you will be aware we continue to have ongoing problems with the electrics that control our irrigation system. The systems automatic setting which is used during the night or early mornings is failing, with many stations (Greens,Tees) not activating as intended. The situation has baffled not only us but the irrigation contractors, as the range of fails can vary from 6 fails up to 26 fails a night, and there is no specific pattern to the fails, which doesn’t help as it is not just a certain section of the course that can be pinpointed.
To manage this, we’ve had to manually operate each irrigation station remotely often from home, a process which can take up to four hours each night. We have also had staff when possible watering greens on a morning, but this is not ideal as it takes a member of staff away from other important work.
Prior to the recent rain which has taken a lot of pressure off of watering for the time being, we had been hand watering dry areas on greens, and continuously monitoring moisture levels across each green. We have also began replacing several sprinkler heads on greens and tees. Many of the existing heads have become unreliable leading to uneven water distribution and dry patches. Upgrading these is vital to ensure a consistent coverage across each green and tee and reduce manual watering, it will also help preserve water in the 10th pond which feeds the irrigation. We have already had to top up the pond with mains water as levels were getting so low.
During the recent dry spell we applied a wetting agent to all main greens to improve water retention in the soil profile, this also helps with more effective irrigating. A biostimulant called plantmax was also added into the tank, This product supports root development and aids overall plant health during periods of stress such as dry conditions. We have also applied other biostumulants this month such as Bru-Hold, T-Thatch and Rocastem to the greens as part of our program. All these biostimulants aid with plant health, T-Thatch is slightly different as this product breaks down thatch in the greens which in turn improves the surface and nutrient uptake. Before the end of the month we plan to spray greens with a product called Attraxor, a plant growth regulator which we try to apply monthly throughout the summer. One of its key benefits has been the suppression of Poa annua seedheads. Although we have had some visible poa seeding on the greens, it has been nowhere near as bad as the past few years, we believe using Attraxor has really helped. Poa seeding in greens causes slower, less true greens. Unfortunately with our greens consisting of mainly Poa annua grass, we are always going to get seeding at this time of year. Especially when the plant is stressed and produces more seeds. Our main priority is to keep seedheads to a minimum. The Attraxtor slows down vertical growth of the plant which suppresses seed head production, and it also helps with turf density. In the next few days we hope to apply a granular fertilizer to all greens. Several fairways and all the driving range/practice area have been sprayed for weeds, we still have several fairways to spray when time and conditions allow.
We have continued to deal with crow damage on several greens, as the birds have been pecking in search of Leatherjackets below the surface. This has resulted in daily disruption and surface damage. The damage has require frequent repairs to keep greens true. To help address this issue we applied as stated earlier a product called Bru-Hold which is meant to reduce the amount of pests in the soil. Earlier in the month we verticut the greens at 2mm below the surface to remove lateral growth and remove a small amount of organic matter. Verticutting also helps turf density and ball roll. We followed this with a light topderessing of sand to smooth the surface. In the past couple of days all main greens and practice greens have been tined with some small solid tines. This process helps relieve surface compaction and helps get air into the profile which improves root development. Another reason for doing this is to help water down into the profile. Straight after each green was tined, the demo Turf iron was used on the greens to smooth them out, this resulted in very little disruption in play. We have found the demo turf iron a brilliant piece of kit and has decreased the time of rolling greens by nearly half the time. We have cautiously reduced the height of cut on the greens by 0.5mm to help with surface smoothness and ball speed. The decision was made carefully as we were fully aware of the dry conditions and added stress a lower height of cut could put on the turf, but with rain in the forecast we decided to lower the height.
We would like to thank Dave Bradshaw for transporting the piles of soil from the right of the 15th hole up to the site of the new 5th tee. This is an ongoing project. There are Several jobs higher on the priority list to be completed. Could we also remind members to rake bunkers when you have played out of one and to repair pitchmarks. If we all do at least one on every green, be it ours or not, this will make a huge difference.
Thanks,
Greens
As we move further into the season, the course has experienced a prolonged dry spell, With only 34mm of rain fall recorded over the past two months, this has been the driest spring in over a century. This extended period of low rainfall had placed significant stress on turf conditions across the course, particularly on greens and high traffic areas.
Compounding the situation, our ageing irrigation system has struggled to keep pace with the increased demand. The main irrigation pump has been running for the majority of each day to try and maintain sufficient soil moisture levels. As many of you will be aware we continue to have ongoing problems with the electrics that control our irrigation system. The systems automatic setting which is used during the night or early mornings is failing, with many stations (Greens,Tees) not activating as intended. The situation has baffled not only us but the irrigation contractors, as the range of fails can vary from 6 fails up to 26 fails a night, and there is no specific pattern to the fails, which doesn’t help as it is not just a certain section of the course that can be pinpointed.
To manage this, we’ve had to manually operate each irrigation station remotely often from home, a process which can take up to four hours each night. We have also had staff when possible watering greens on a morning, but this is not ideal as it takes a member of staff away from other important work.
Prior to the recent rain which has taken a lot of pressure off of watering for the time being, we had been hand watering dry areas on greens, and continuously monitoring moisture levels across each green. We have also began replacing several sprinkler heads on greens and tees. Many of the existing heads have become unreliable leading to uneven water distribution and dry patches. Upgrading these is vital to ensure a consistent coverage across each green and tee and reduce manual watering, it will also help preserve water in the 10th pond which feeds the irrigation. We have already had to top up the pond with mains water as levels were getting so low.
During the recent dry spell we applied a wetting agent to all main greens to improve water retention in the soil profile, this also helps with more effective irrigating. A biostimulant called plantmax was also added into the tank, This product supports root development and aids overall plant health during periods of stress such as dry conditions. We have also applied other biostumulants this month such as Bru-Hold, T-Thatch and Rocastem to the greens as part of our program. All these biostimulants aid with plant health, T-Thatch is slightly different as this product breaks down thatch in the greens which in turn improves the surface and nutrient uptake. Before the end of the month we plan to spray greens with a product called Attraxor, a plant growth regulator which we try to apply monthly throughout the summer. One of its key benefits has been the suppression of Poa annua seedheads. Although we have had some visible poa seeding on the greens, it has been nowhere near as bad as the past few years, we believe using Attraxor has really helped. Poa seeding in greens causes slower, less true greens. Unfortunately with our greens consisting of mainly Poa annua grass, we are always going to get seeding at this time of year. Especially when the plant is stressed and produces more seeds. Our main priority is to keep seedheads to a minimum. The Attraxtor slows down vertical growth of the plant which suppresses seed head production, and it also helps with turf density. In the next few days we hope to apply a granular fertilizer to all greens. Several fairways and all the driving range/practice area have been sprayed for weeds, we still have several fairways to spray when time and conditions allow.
We have continued to deal with crow damage on several greens, as the birds have been pecking in search of Leatherjackets below the surface. This has resulted in daily disruption and surface damage. The damage has require frequent repairs to keep greens true. To help address this issue we applied as stated earlier a product called Bru-Hold which is meant to reduce the amount of pests in the soil. Earlier in the month we verticut the greens at 2mm below the surface to remove lateral growth and remove a small amount of organic matter. Verticutting also helps turf density and ball roll. We followed this with a light topderessing of sand to smooth the surface. In the past couple of days all main greens and practice greens have been tined with some small solid tines. This process helps relieve surface compaction and helps get air into the profile which improves root development. Another reason for doing this is to help water down into the profile. Straight after each green was tined, the demo Turf iron was used on the greens to smooth them out, this resulted in very little disruption in play. We have found the demo turf iron a brilliant piece of kit and has decreased the time of rolling greens by nearly half the time. We have cautiously reduced the height of cut on the greens by 0.5mm to help with surface smoothness and ball speed. The decision was made carefully as we were fully aware of the dry conditions and added stress a lower height of cut could put on the turf, but with rain in the forecast we decided to lower the height.
We would like to thank Dave Bradshaw for transporting the piles of soil from the right of the 15th hole up to the site of the new 5th tee. This is an ongoing project. There are Several jobs higher on the priority list to be completed. Could we also remind members to rake bunkers when you have played out of one and to repair pitchmarks. If we all do at least one on every green, be it ours or not, this will make a huge difference.
Thanks,
Greens