For the most part May bought us some beautiful autumn weather with long dry stretches of sunshine and very little wind. Not only did this make conditions fantastic for golf but also kept the course in terrific shape as we now head into the winter months.
GREENS
The air2G2 air compressing machine ran over all of our greens just this past Monday (27th May) which aids in breaking up compaction beneath the turfs surface helping water, oxygen and roots move around more freely. The end result of this provides growing conditions that not only keep the plant healthier buts assists greatly with water infiltration which means firmer and smoother greens to play on.
The greens have performed beautifully over the past month which has been assisted greatly by the weather and I couldn’t be happier with where their current health is as we head into winter.
As mentioned in last months report the 2nd and 3rd greens are now showing visible signs from the multiple herbicide applications to eradicate the moss. These applications have hit the target well which is seen by its very dark colorization and for now its growth has been slowed down. Moss in golf greens is very difficult to get on top of due to the low cutting height of the grass which only aids in helping the moss flourish. This will be an ongoing program over the next 12 months as we continue to kill the moss off and help the desired turf spread into these target areas.
FAIRWAYS/TEES/SURROUNDS
All short grass areas are currently performing well which once again has been aided greatly by the drier than average weather. Normally by now we see preferred lies enforced so this is a clear sign of how good conditions have remained for late Autumn.
As is always the case the kikuyu grass continues to grow during this time of year whereas the couch has now stopped completely. This does make the kikuyu stand out visually more than at other times of the year. Kikuyu is impossible to kill without killing other turf species around it and to this day no chemical product exists that only kills kikuyu. The only way to remove the kikuyu completely is to either spray it with glyphosate or manually pull it out. Either one of these methods would leave large dead patches throughout the entire course which would obviously be a terrible result. Our only option is to apply products that suppress the kikuyu which stagnates its growth with the hope that the couch will overtake it once the growing season begins. We target these areas once the couch is almost dormant and we will likely spray for this in the coming weeks like we do every year.
We also applied multiple applications to areas where onion grass has grown which we have seen mixed results with. Onion grass has a very thin and slippery blade which makes keeping the chemical on the plant when it is sprayed a challenge. Depending on weather condition it can be a battle to get the desired result when targeting this weed which is why multiply applications have been needed to remove this pesky grass type from the couch surfaces.
Its been a challenging month keeping up with all tasks required with staff numbers being reduced to two since Jason left us and the addition of myself going in for surgery and taking 10 days off during the middle of the month. This saw Mark tackle things on his own for a large chunk which he handled very well…. but theres only so much one person can do.
This has seen a few “1%” jobs take a back seat such as weed spraying in bunkers, weed spraying in rough, wiper snipping etc while staff has been absent. Now that ive returned we will hope (weather pending) to get on top of these jobs early into June.
Lets hope the good weather continues and winter can provide us with some great conditions for golf.
Ryan Hammond,
DG&CC Course Superintendent
Filed under: Members, Membership Level, Members Slider