I apologize for my absence from the blog this weekend. I have been busy but really I wanted to wait until a good communication came out from the green committee addressing the situation. As I am sure you have noticed, the greens are very stressed. Extreme temperatures have been the obvious cause of decline but other factors have contributed. Early in July we received heavy rains exceeding 5 inches of water. These rains were followed by aggressive greens venting and drying measures but the greens remained wet. The wet conditions were followed by excessive heat during the three closed days of maintenance, July 11, 12 and 13. The problem with this scenario is that the saturated soil conditions conduct heat and are a hot bed for disease. The saturated soils also inhibit oxygenation of the growing medium and in turn damage root function. To combat disease, we are on a very aggressive disease prevention fungicide program but even the best chemicals are affected by soil conditions and the weather.
On Friday, July 15th, we began to see signs of this disease in how the plants reacted to water. A fungicide application was made and samples were sent to North Carolina State and Rutgers Universities. Labs from both universities confirmed our preliminary diagnosis. Stan Zontek, our USGA Agronomist, was in the area and stopped by to look at the greens. Stan and both universities' recommendations for chemical control of the disease were congruent with the application we had already made. Follow-up applications were made Tuesday, July 19th, Thursday, July 21st and Monday, July 25th. Under normal circumstances, once the disease is controlled the plant would begin to recover, usually with little disruption to the golfer. Obviously this was not the case over the past 5 days. The extreme heat has not allowed the turf to recover from the disease and has caused a large amount of stressed and thin areas on the greens. We believe that the disease is no longer mobile but the damage has already been done.
With all of that being said, it is time to recover. You can either get busy living or get busy dying and I would prefer the former. We have to get the roots to function again to have any chance of a quick recovery. This will mean venting to get oxygen into the soil profile as well as spot core aeration to encourage recovery. We will also prevent mechanical stress to the plant by alternating rolling and mowing. The only stress we cannot control is the weather. The greens will not be pretty until the weather breaks but there are a lot of things we can begin to do to provide better conditions this fall. You will constantly see our staff syringing greens to provide the moisture they are not getting from the roots and to cool the plant as it is doing a poor job of respiration due to the root damage. We will beat this thing with hard work and aggressive management.
On an ironic note, we have not received a drop of rain since the heavy rains in early July. This has caused stress to all turfed surfaces. The irrigation has continued to run nightly but if we do not get some rain soon, we will have to reserve water.
We have gotten a lot of inquiries about fans around the greens since my last blog post. I do think fans will be a great option for us especially on greens that receive poor air movement. Airflow not only cools the turf surface but aids in drying and disease prevention. You look at greens like the on deck putter at the first tee and quickly realize that between the pro-shop, the large rock and the woods, there is no real airflow. The location and proximity to the woods as well as the green complex design on the first green lead to poor air movement as well. We have priced fans and are looking into the purchase of these vital tools. On a positive note, the sprigs are coming in great and tomorrow marks the two week mark since planting. The areas at 6 and 13 will continue to be fertilized and watered until fully grown in.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
WOCC Golf Course Greens: Adverse Effects of Extreme Weather
