Rattlesnakes are out

The last three weeks we have seen high temperatures in the low 90's, and with that comes our rattlesnakes out to bask in the sun and make their way across  the wet grass in the early mornings.

Please be aware of this when you are in or around areas of tall grass and rock walls.

Snake proof chaps

The maintenance staff does where the appropriate protection whenever they have to go in the native grass to do any work like spraying weeds or weed trimming.  This year we have seen a larger population early in the year compared to last year.  Staff is seeing about 6 snakes on average each morning, probably brought on by the warmer and drier spring.

Please be aware when you are looking for arrant shots in the tall native grass and carry your 5 iron with you.

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High School Golf State Championship - Idaho

We just wrapped up hosting the two day high school state golf championship for the state of Idaho.  It was a great event, with almost 100 boys and girls golfers.  The weather was very warm and allowed us to produce some great golfing conditions for all the student athletes.  Good job to everybody that was involved in the event and all teh work that it took to put it on starting with practice rounds on Saturday.  Some impressive up and coming talent came through the course, with day 1 producing boys leaders shooting 70,71, and many 72-74's.  The girls had a 70 and several 75-78's.

http://www.idahosports.com/tournaments/

http://idhsaa.org/sports/golf/1213/5AGolfResults.pdf

We set-up the golf course the same way we do each day for our members.  With hole locations and tee marker placement the same, and greens speed was what our members play on each day.  Most of the student athletes and coaches, who played in practice rounds on Sat and Sun, spoke very highly of the greens and were impressed with the speed, smoothness, and trueness.  I think we saw that in the scores as most scores throughout the field were lower on day 2 compared with day 1.  I believe many of them got use to the green speeds, which were probably the quickest greens they have played on all spring.

The tournament finished with a tie and playoff hole for both the girls and boys division.

Hot / Dry Spring

One of the exciting aspects of golf course maintenance is adapting and dealing with the changes presented to us by mother nature and how every golf season is different from the last. Right now we are going through a very dry spring. Last year in the month of April we received 4.25 inches of rain and irrigated 5 times the entire month of April. This year in April we received 1.25 inches of rain and we have been irrigating similar to July conditions. The recent hot dry weather has really put the pressure on our maintenance staff to get our old irrigation system operating efficiently right away this spring. It has also put a shock on our turf. During the spring we are trying to produce the healthiest plants with the deepest root system that we can. Getting them ready for the long haul of June, July, and August’s 100+ degree weather. Now with the plants coming out of winter and jumping right into the low 90's, it does not give them a chance to build up to the heat and the turf does not develop as strong as we would like to make it through the hot summer.

Fortunately, it does look like the next few weeks will get back to normal with a few rain showers and highs in the 70's.

 

Poa seedhead control

We have talked recently about Poa control.  Take a look at the amazing pictures below of the control we are currently seeing on seedheads on the greens.

When we spray this product, we put down a small sheet of plywood before we spray to keep any of the chemical from getting onto the turf.  A good way to check and see what the green would be like if we did not spray anything.  You see the two blue dots on the green mark the corner, and the other end goes about 1 foot out into the collar.  Look at the control we received this spring compared to that square that did not receive any proxy application.  The entire green would be like that, covered in seedheads, if had not applied and the greens would be considerably bumpy.

    

Input Loading

For the past couple weeks and leading into the next month, the maintenance staff has been very busy with many applications on the golf course.  These applications have ranged from topdressing greens tees, and approaches.  Fertilizing all areas of the golf course, applications of growth regulators, control products, fungicides, bio stimulants, seedhead control on Poa Annua, broadleaf weed control, wetting agent applications, crabgrass preventer, and micronutrients.

These applications are all very important this time of the year.  As we are trying to build up the strongest, healthiest plant with the deepest root system that we can for the hot weather and stress we will put on the plant come June, July, and August.  For about the next 2 months we have optimal growing conditions for the plant and we need to try to make it as healthy as possible before we run the long race of summer.

Poa Annua

Right now there are many things happening on the golf course with Poa Annua.  We talked in the last post, Poa Seedheads - Proxy, about the production of seed heads and how we control them.  There are also many examples currently occurring on why Poa Annua is a weaker and undesirable specie of turf on the golf course.  First we have the production of seed heads, affecting the playability and populating the soil and matt layer of our golf course with seeds that are ready to germinate whenever the opportunity is right.  Any opening in the turf canopy from a divot, a ballmark, a worm casting, mechanical damage from golf carts or mowers, or any disturbance to the turf causing an opening allows the seed to germinate and grow.

Overall poa is a very week specie in the family of turfgrass.  It does not perform well in cold or hot conditions.  Last month when the turf was first coming out of dormancy, I posted about the bentgrass growing and the poa having a sunken appearance on the greens because it was slower in breaking dormancy and was not growing at the same rate of creeping bentgrass.   We will see very similar conditions in the heat of summer, June, July, and august; the Poa will appear struggling while the bentgrass will be doing fine.  Poa is also much more susceptible to diseases.  Right now we have small areas in our fairways that have become inoculated with Pink Snow Mold disease, all of the turf effected by pink snow mild is Poa and the bluegrass and bentgrass in the fairways have no signs of the disease.

Tan areas are infected poa, greens areas are creeping bentgrass


 

 

During the growing season, Poa requires more water, more fertilizer, and a higher degree of maintenance.

 Poa Annua makes management of a turfgrass stand very difficult.  It is difficult to keep out or eradicate.  Once you get a high percentage of it then you are managing it, leading to  a very intense “babysitting” program in the heat of the summer.

Every golf course you go to will have some population of Poa Annua on it. It is very hard to control because of many different genotypes, and very versatile to adapting to any condition.  There are a few ideal climates where the high temperature is around 80 degrees every day, low humidity leading to a lack of disease pressure, and higher amounts of precipitation creating a nice germination of continued seed production.

In summary:

A.      Poa is very difficult and challenging to keep out, it exists in some population on all courses.

B.      A very rapid seed producer, increasing its reproduction chances

C.      Many different genotypes exist

Once you manage it, then you will deal with;

A.      The production of seed heads affecting playability

B.      A week specie in hot and cold conditions

C.      More susceptible to diseases

D.      Higher requirements of water and more fertilizer

E.      The ability to adapt to any conditions – mowing height, traffic, compaction

Poa seedheads - Proxy

In the last 48 hours, the Poa Annua has flowered and the seedheads have popped in all short mowed turf - tees, greens, approaches, and fairways.  We have made 2 applications so far this spring on both greens and approaches to control the seedheads that are produced in the spring by the Poa.  So far we have once again gotten great results and probably have 90-95% control of the seedheads.

In this picture, the fairway is to the left of the lens cap and the approach is on the right.  See the difference in seedheads from the left side to the right side.

Here is a picture of 9 approach and 9 fairway, fairway untreated on the left, and the treated approach on the right.  You can draw a line right down the middle, showing where the edge of the spray boom was during the applications.

In these two pictures below, I am kneeling down right at the approach fairway line.  The first picture is looking back down the fairway (see all the seedheads), the second pict is looking down the approach toward the green (very few seedheads)

Fairway view:

Approach view:

This control of the seedhead production is very important to the smoothness of our greens.  Without it, the greens would be extremely bumpy.  Also, it decreases the amount of the amount of Poa Annua in our approaches, as it limits the amount of Poa seed that is available to germinate.

In my next post, I will talk about things we are seeing on the golf course right now with our mixture of Poa Annua, creeping bentgrass, and kentuckey bluegrass fairways, and why we are trying to limit the amount of Poa.