Greens growth pattern - Spring

A very interesting growth pattern occurs on our greens in the spring because they are a combination of Bentgrass and Poa Annua.  Many people ask me why some parts look "shaggy" and others are not?

Early in the spring when the turf is just coming out of dormancy, the bentgrass on the greens starts to green up sooner and starts grow faster than the poa annua plants.  This picture shows certain plants are elongating and growing while others look "shorter".  The longer leaf tissue is Creeping Bentgrass and the shorter tissue is Poa.  For about the next 3 weeks we will see areas on the greens that are actively growing (bentgrass) and areas that appear to be "sunken", that is the poa that is very slow and suppressed to come out of dormancy and does not react well to the cooler weather.  This is why bentgrass is the desirable specie on putting greens.  Poa annua is very week in the cooler weather during spring and fall, it is not tolerable to tough winters when it is snow or ice covered, more susceptible to winter diseases, and most importantly for us, it does not stand up in extreme heat conditions during the summer months of July and August.  Hence it has acquired the description of babysitting greens during the cold icy winters, and the hot stressful summers.  

This is a very difficult time to keep the greens smooth because of the different types of grass growing at different rates in the spring.  Also, you will see different varieties of poa that grow at different rates.  Right now there are many spots on the greens that have a different color, about 20-30, each of those "patches" resemble a different type of poa.  They all come out of dormancy, green-up, and start growing at different rates.  

All of this makes spring time very challenging, but exciting for us on the golf course, as we try to get the entire green as uniform and consistent as possible.  We achieve this via plant growth regulators, grooming, and rolling; all to be discussed in future blogs.