Spraying Fairways

One thing that is new in our agronomic plan this year is to spray fairways with liquid fertilizers and other products, compared to granular applications in the past.

It is amazing how things have evolved and moved forward toward premiere conditioning over the years.  Many years ago all areas of the golf course we treated with granular products, then we started spraying greens and leaving granulars on tees, approaches, fairways, and rough.  Then the liquid products moved to tees and approaches, and now many golf course are spraying their fairways also.

We use to be in the same boat in the past, liquid on greens, tees, and approaches, and granular on fairways and rough. The advantage of liquid products is the amount of different products and types that can be applied.  Granular products are limited to just fertilizer and a little new technology where they may coat the particle with another material like micronutrients, but still very limited.  

By spraying fairways we have 1000's of products that all do different things, the usual liquid fertilizer, but also micronutirent packages of the small elements the plant needs, wetting agents to make water more available to the turf, and growth regulators that help control how fast the plant grow.  The other advantage to this is that with our sprayers and mixing equipment these days, we can buy the raw material and mix exactly what we want to put into the tank.  When you purchase a pre-made product it is set with the amount of each nutrient, but with raw materials we can use soil tests to determine exactly how much of each nutrient we want to apply and give the soil and plant exactly what it needs. Purchasing these raw materials and mixing our own is really a financially feasible way of doing things.

This change to our agronomic plan will yield quit a difference to the fairways this year.  You will not see as many dry areas, the turf will be denser and tighter, and we will not have a surge of growth or a roller coaster in the color.  In the past when we would apply a granular we tried to feed the the plant only a small amount on a frequent basis, but you would still have surges in your growth where the plant grew a lot and had a dark green color and then it would lean out and grow very little with an off color of green.  By spraying fairways on a regular basis we can give the plant just the amount it needs for that period of time and then go out and re-apply.  This will decrease the roller coaster effect and keep a more even surface and appearance.

We saw the effects of these applications the last couple seasons, as we would always spray out the last few remaining gallons in our spray tank from our greens applications on the same portion of a fairway.  This portion of the fairway showed far superior turf qualities and conditioning when compared to the remaining fairway.

Continuing Education

Continuing education, like most professions, is a very vital part of the golf course superintendent industry.  Staying up with current topics, changes in our industry, new technology in equipment, and new types and uses for fertilizers and pesticides is very important.  This past week I had the opportunity to attend a field day at Washington State University.

Field Day at Washington University turf research center

Here the researchers from the university show the current research they are working on, the results they have observed and data collected so far, and early predictions on how these new types of seed, fertilizers, and pesticides might fit into our use.  Everything that hits the market in our industry has been research and testing for many years before it is permitted for our use.  This research is done by Universities and then some test sites on various golf courses.

Swimming Pool

The swimming pool is ready and open for the season at Lewiston Country Club.  This is another department at the facility that comes under my responsibility, and another title of pool manager that I can add to my list. The pool is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and so far this year everything is off to a good start.

Lifeguard Orientation - vacuuming the pool

I have filled our team of lifeguards for summer, they have completed lifeguard, first aid, and CPR certification, we have completed orientation, and went through everything with staff training and pool maintenance.

The pool will be open daily from 11AM - 8PM, with lap swim from 8:30-9:30AM, and water aerobics from 6:30-8:30AM.  The swimming lessons schedule is posted in the business office, so please sign up if you have a family member interested in lessons.  There will be 3 sessions this summer, June 16-27, July 28-Aug 8, and the Saturday morning session June 14-July 26.

Remember all members and immediate family members are welcome to use the pool and guests need to be accompanied by a member and the guest fee is $2.00 per day.

It is starting to heat up so come and enjoy some relaxation poolside.

Green speeds and growth regulators

If you have played in the past 2 weeks, you know the greens have been extremely quick, faster than our usual fast greens rolling 11-12 on the stimpmeter.

When it comes to green speeds there are many factors that are involved in creating a good green that is smooth and fast but still holds a shot.  Height of cut is the obvious one, water and moisture content, fertility level, mowing frequency, type of mower, rolling, and plant growth regulators.  We utilize all of these on a daily basis to create consistent fast greens.

Right now we are seeing the effect of multiple growth regulators on the green.  In the spring we apply 1 regulator to control the Poa Annua from developing a seedhead which would lead to bumpy greens.  In the summer we apply different growth regulators, some times a tank mix of 2, to keep the greens from growing too fast during the day and loosing our speed by the end of the day, along with many other agronomic benefits that the regulators provide.  This time of year there is always that transition from our spring regulator to our summer regulator, and we do not want to allow the greens to come out of regulation because then we will see a flush of growth.  To prevent this, we try to time it where the spring regulator is wearing off and the summer regulator is just starting.  Well right now we have both regulators having an effect on the greens and they are growing very little.  When staff mows greens in the morning they are collecting about 3 handfuls of clippings for every 6 greens mowed, next too nothing.  This is keeping the greens very consistent green to green and day to day, but it is making them faster than what we would normally desire.

Also, if you remember back to some of the blog posts last summer, Test plots, I am using a different regulator for the summer this year because I was not happy with the effects we had last year, so we performed several test plots of different types on the back edges of greens last year to see which one would give us the best effect.

Over the next couple weeks, the spring applied growth regulator will wear off and the greens will return to their normal speed, still fast, only having the new summer regulator on them.  For the mean time, stay below the hole.

Bluegrass Billbug

The beginning of June always marks the start of our season and damage from bluegrass billbug.  They are small insects that feed on the roots of Kentucky Bluegrass, causing the plant to not have a root system to take up water and that is the dry spots that you are seeing on the golf course right now.

Wilt stress in the front middle of this tee from billbug

The adult insects lay their eggs in the fall and over winter in that dormant stage as an egg.  Once the soil temperature increases and it starts to get warmer out, the larvae emerge out of the eggs and feed very rapidly on the root system of Kentucky bluegrass.  It always coincides with warmer temperatures and you think we are getting dry spots on the course and need to water more, but in all reality, the plant cannot take up the water that is available.  You can go to these areas and lift the turf right up off the ground.

Dry area caused by billbug root pruning

We have mapped these areas over the years and they show up in the same spot almost every year, so today we applied an insecticide to kill the larvae and these spots will recover in the couple weeks.

Spraying bluegrass billbug, see the dry turf area under the sprayer

We also do a lot of scouting to see if we can find them in the thatch layer right below the crown of the plant, also the birds will start to peck at them in the mornings and either seeing the birds or seeing the tufts of grass pulled up gives an indication that the larvae are present.

Tufts of grass pulled up from the birds pecking at the billbugs

Bunker sand addition

We are in the process of starting 1 more course improvement project before the summer.  This one is to add sand to the bunkers.  Bunkers are considered a hazard on the golf course, but it is very interesting that over the years any superintendent will tell you they are one part of the golf course where they spend a great deal of their budget to improve and maintain.  With the increase of course maintenance, agronomics, and playability over the last 15 years, expectations for bunkers have drastically increased from being your usual hazard filled with sand.

Over time the sand disappears because of wind, gets dragged out of the bunker, and most importantly gets contaminated by the soil that is in the base of the bunker.  There are many different scopes of bunker renovations, it might be to competently re-build a bunker with shaping and drainage underneath, or remove the sand and completely replace all the sand, or just add and top of the sand to a 4" depth.  We are doing the last one on the list.  Many of our bunkers are low on sand, not properly shaped to a bowl appearance, do not have a flat floor, and do not have the appropriate 2" lip around the edge.  Staff is currently redistributing and adding sand to all bunkers so they all have a uniform shape and feel to match the above list.

New white bunker sand ready to go out on the course

Adding sand to the bunker

Hole #8 front bunker finished

With any improvement comes challenges.  Even though we compact the sand, it will take several weeks to settle and firm up.  Through rain and irrigation, hand raking, foot traffic, and more compaction, we will be able to get the sand to play firm, but in the short term there will be soft areas that will create fried egg lies for a few weeks.  It will be worth it in the end.

Busy time of the year

I appreciate all the readers that have continued to check in on the blog, and apologize it has not been as active the last 2 weeks.  This is always our busiest time of the year as we host many tournaments this time of the year before it gets too hot in the middle of summer, some of our larger events that take more preparation are right now, and it is the start of many new team mates on our agronomic team which leads to a lot of training.  It is also paired with the opening of the swimming pool, which falls under my responsibility, so that leads to pool preparation, lifeguard training, and planning of swimming lessons.  It is also the time of year when we are starting to overlap spring projects with the need to ramp up course maintenance and we juggle trying to perform both sides of the spectrum.  April 15 - June 1 is always a fly by the seat of your pants time of year.

BJ has even stayed home a couple days because the days have been so long, she doesn't want to get out of bed the next morning.

I appreciate all the comments and feedback the readers have provided and I do enjoy reading what you have to say back to me, I try to respond to most of them but if I have not gotten back to you yet, I apologize.

We are heading toward more of a routine maintenance schedule now and there should be more time available to keep you guys updated on what is taking place on the course.

Happy Reading