The rate of recovery on the greens has been slow and compromised by the prevailing unseasonably cool weather conditions of late. Cold night time temperatures and lack of rainfall has held back the recovery. Yesterdays rainfall was very welcome (39 mm) and should speed up the recovery process along with the increased night time temperatures There are signs of seed coming through on most greens which is encouraging. We are still having to cut the greens at winter height to protect any new seedling. Unfortunately this will slow up the greens along with the sudden spurt in growth. Also the height of cut will exacerbate the bare areas and potentially make them more bumpy for a while. The annual meadow grass (Poa annua) is seeding at the moment this will also add to the slowness and bumpiness. The annual meadow grass seeding could indeed help us with the seeds falling into some of the bare areas. The plan going forward remains the same as my last blog. The greens were sarel rolled, top dressed, seeded, brushed and rolled on Monday with seaweed applied on Wednesday, we will try to do this weekly. We will also continue to overseed the bare areas with bent seed as and when the weather lets us
All greens have been aerated with the Air2g2 with the two outside tines at 225mm (9") and the centre 150mm (6") see picture below.
All greens have been aerated with the Air2g2 with the two outside tines at 225mm (9") and the centre 150mm (6") see picture below.
The pictures below show a clear difference in soil texture. The top three inches is the sand we have built up over the past few years and the darker soil below is the fine compacted soil. The picture on the right shows our core holes from our August renovation is penetrating into the poor soil below but not deep enough.
General course condition has been very good with all the disease scars on the fairways healing well from the winter. Tee's and approaches performing well. pictures below show the effects of the rainfall we had yesterday.
Thank you for reading
Lee & Greenkeeping Team
Lee & Greenkeeping Team