A few weeks have passed now since our greens renovation work, the greens are now fully recovered and we are back down to our summer height (which we were after 14 days). I am really happy with the recovery. The works should stand us in good stead for the winter and the following season. After a prolonged dry spell and a glimpse of summer it was inevitable we would get some wet weather some where along the line. The rain seems to come in heavy showers rather than any prolonged spell of rain., Climate change maybe? This flash flooding/heavy downpours causes us the most grief. Bunkers/paths washed down, pushing water off of greens and and few puddles to contend with but all in all the course is holding up really well. With the rain and warm temperatures disease pressure is high, especially fuzarium Microdochium nivale and Anthracnose Colletotrichum graminicola. There are two ways Anthracnose attacks the plant 1) Drought conditions, nutrient deficiency, compaction from play or simply cutting tighter for the competition season could all trigger disease outbreaks so it is vital we de stress the plant and give it all the protection it needs is the way of fungicides. 2) Autumn basel rot can occur when conditions turn cool and wet starting late August early September. Preventative is the best cure for basel rot as there is no fungicide to cure it. Greens will have a liquid feed every two weeks which will include a high in phosphorus, potassium and potassium phosphite which will help stimulate the plants natural defence mechanism to combat disease. We will start out preventative fungicde programme at the end of september to ensure we have no disease scars going into the winter. Tee's, approaches and fairways have all been feed with a liquid feed which included a PGR
General maintenance of the course has been at full kilter with the grass growing like wild fire (thank heavens for PGR, covered in previous blogs). The bulk of our work has been cutting especially with two on holiday. Some of you may have noticed we introduced hand cutting to the greens for a two week trial just to see if we could fit it into our schedule .With a full crew it is easily manageable. The question is what are the benefits? speaking to a few members they were under the impression the greens rolled much better when hand cut, which is true to a certain extent. The scientific evidence points to hardly any difference in green performance between a ride on mower and a pedestrian i.e. ball roll, speed, trueness etc. Although aesthetically pleasing it is far more time consuming. Four guys 1.75 hrs to cut all 21 greens. A ride on mower takes one guy 2.5 hrs, 2 guys 1.25 hrs. So it becomes quite labour intensive. There are however some agronomic benefit. The pedestrian mowers have a larger and heavier roller giving a knock on effect into the next day, the weight is slightly lighter ( believe it or not a ride on mower has a near identical footprint). Lighter even by a kg means less compaction not only across the greens but also on the turning points. Less fuel is used whilst hand mowing. It is far easier to maneuver the pedestrian mowers around the course especially in winter (also imagine the foot marks from me and the guys hand cutting soft greens we are hardly lightweights). A good one for debate, for me i'm in on the hand mowing theory.
General maintenance of the course has been at full kilter with the grass growing like wild fire (thank heavens for PGR, covered in previous blogs). The bulk of our work has been cutting especially with two on holiday. Some of you may have noticed we introduced hand cutting to the greens for a two week trial just to see if we could fit it into our schedule .With a full crew it is easily manageable. The question is what are the benefits? speaking to a few members they were under the impression the greens rolled much better when hand cut, which is true to a certain extent. The scientific evidence points to hardly any difference in green performance between a ride on mower and a pedestrian i.e. ball roll, speed, trueness etc. Although aesthetically pleasing it is far more time consuming. Four guys 1.75 hrs to cut all 21 greens. A ride on mower takes one guy 2.5 hrs, 2 guys 1.25 hrs. So it becomes quite labour intensive. There are however some agronomic benefit. The pedestrian mowers have a larger and heavier roller giving a knock on effect into the next day, the weight is slightly lighter ( believe it or not a ride on mower has a near identical footprint). Lighter even by a kg means less compaction not only across the greens but also on the turning points. Less fuel is used whilst hand mowing. It is far easier to maneuver the pedestrian mowers around the course especially in winter (also imagine the foot marks from me and the guys hand cutting soft greens we are hardly lightweights). A good one for debate, for me i'm in on the hand mowing theory.
Other news
We will be running a 8mm pencil tine over the greens every two weeks whilst conditions allow until we move over to the slitter during the autumn. We will verti-drain the greens in late october early november with a 13mm x 220mm tine. As you all know we have suffered massively with our approaches over the past few winters. We will be deep scarifying them in the next few weeks then dressing to hopefully fill up the slits followed by a autumn granular feed to aid recovery. We will also try and get a deep solid tine across them before winter sets in to break up the compaction followed by more top dressing.
The bunker project will start late october early November on holes 1-7. We have marked out the temporary greens in preparation with a with line and a GUR sign, please refrain from playing from these areas. Full winter work programme will follow in next blog but i would think the majority of it will be clearing scrub and tree work.
Next year i would like to trial a few small meadow areas. Planting indigenous wild flowers. We need to do our bit for the flora and fauna and it will add a splash of colour. Click the following link for more information http://www.limagrain.co.uk/downloads/ColourSplash_2015.pdf The questionnaire results are in initial thoughts are there are some very good suggestion on there just waiting for full results.
As you may have noticed 3 of the pine trees on the 11th have died. They were infected with a pine bark beetle which is common on larger pine trees. Infection was evident on them all. We sprayed them twice with a insecticide which seems to have stop the bugs. We will be replacing in due course.
Here is a few questions for you to consider, feel free to message your suggestions.
1) Would you like to see more pedestrian mowing of greens?
2) Which areas of the course do you think need tree management/scrub clearing if any?
3) Which areas would you like to see the wild flower mix trialed on?
A quick congratulation to one of the lads, Sam Davies who is currently in Las Vegas getting married, good luck Mrs Davies.
I may be adding a few updates in the next few weeks a few early starts late nights seems to have pickled my memory. Thank you for reading and as always your feedback is so important to us.
Best Wishes
Lee & The Greenkeeping Team
The bunker project will start late october early November on holes 1-7. We have marked out the temporary greens in preparation with a with line and a GUR sign, please refrain from playing from these areas. Full winter work programme will follow in next blog but i would think the majority of it will be clearing scrub and tree work.
Next year i would like to trial a few small meadow areas. Planting indigenous wild flowers. We need to do our bit for the flora and fauna and it will add a splash of colour. Click the following link for more information http://www.limagrain.co.uk/downloads/ColourSplash_2015.pdf The questionnaire results are in initial thoughts are there are some very good suggestion on there just waiting for full results.
As you may have noticed 3 of the pine trees on the 11th have died. They were infected with a pine bark beetle which is common on larger pine trees. Infection was evident on them all. We sprayed them twice with a insecticide which seems to have stop the bugs. We will be replacing in due course.
Here is a few questions for you to consider, feel free to message your suggestions.
1) Would you like to see more pedestrian mowing of greens?
2) Which areas of the course do you think need tree management/scrub clearing if any?
3) Which areas would you like to see the wild flower mix trialed on?
A quick congratulation to one of the lads, Sam Davies who is currently in Las Vegas getting married, good luck Mrs Davies.
I may be adding a few updates in the next few weeks a few early starts late nights seems to have pickled my memory. Thank you for reading and as always your feedback is so important to us.
Best Wishes
Lee & The Greenkeeping Team