A hot topic of discussion right now is cart traffic on the fairways. We are getting a lot of questions including; When are we going to be 90 degrees? When will you begin mowing fairways? Why is the range so much greener than everything else? Why are some tire tracks so much greener than the rest of the golf course?
To sum up the first few questions, I have this answer.
We usually allow cart traffic on fairways in late April once the fairways have been mowed. I see no reason to not allow cart traffic if we are putting our large mowers on the fairways. This morning, I mowed the driving range fairway. This is a different, more aggressive turf type and was already quite long. Some of the fairways on the golf course are ready for mowing. These will be mowed when they are both dry and we do not expect night time lows below 45°F. This is tough to predict but I think we will be mowing in the afternoons all week. Once fairways are mowed, cart traffic will be allowed. We are currently about 3 weeks ahead of schedule with the weather. I would be surprised if we could not be 90 degrees on most fairways by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Not all fairways, but most.
Q. Why are some tire tracks so much greener than the rest of the golf course? If they are, why aren't we driving on the fairways all winter.
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| The width of these tracks proves that they belong to a sprayer and not a golf cart. We spray in straight lines but maneuvering the sprayer into position lays the turf down as well and increases foliar absorption. |
A. The tire tracks that are greener are not cart tire tracks. They are sprayer tire tracks and the short answer is, we don't really know why they are greener. When a chemical is applied through a large sprayer, the tires ride over the turf before it is sprayed. This rolls the turf blades over and in turn the tire tracks absorb more chemical than the upright turf. That is why we have some discoloration in the tire tracks when certain herbicides are applied. So the fact that these tire tracks are greener is baffling. Here is one professor at Virgina Tech explanation of our situation.
"Usually tires lay down the turf and increase foliar absorption of the product being sprayed. That usually leads to a little more injury in the tire track than the other areas. Here is one theory for your green tracks. Let's say you applied your pre-emergent herbicide and the turf was not 100% dormant. You would have gotten increased uptake in the tire tracks and that would have stunted or slowed the growth of the bermudagrass in the tire track. Then a cold snap comes along at some point in Feb or even Jan. All turf except the stunted tire track would get bit by the cold and that will cause a considerable delay in green up. Since the tire track was not growing and already stunted, the cold snap did not affect it and no delay in green up. That's all I got. This is really weird."
Bottom line, this situation is an anomaly and cart traffic is not encouraged on dormant bermudagrass fairways. Our pre-emergent herbicides can delay bermudagrass green up but does not affect plant health. We trade a delayed green up for a lack of weeds on the golf course. We carefully monitor when these products and others will be applied by tracking soil temperatures and growing degree days. For pre-emergent herbicides, soil temperature is the most important factor.
We have had great green up with very little winter kill in fairways so that is the good news. I am sure that you have noticed some large basketball sized spots of turf in the fairway that have not broken dormancy. This is known as spring dead spot. Spring dead spot (SDS) in turf is a disease
specific to bermudagrass. SDS is caused by a soil borne pathogen indigenous to most soils in the southern United States. Over the course
of the winter when the turf is dormant, there are no symptoms evident
and everything appears normal. In the spring, as the weather begins to
warm, the infected turf is unable to draw upon reserves of water and
nutrients to break dormancy. Affected turf may appear to green up as
healthy turf would, but it quickly declines as the plant is starved for
energy from the clogged vascular tissue. All of that to tell you this. We have sprayed a fungicide to help stop the soil pathogen and we will fertilize fairways to begin recovery. Our soil pH is maintained to help prevent the pathogen but the problem is varying from year to year.
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| The TifSport green surrounds were solid tined, limed, and fertilized to encourage green up and growth. |
Yesterday, we solid tine aerated the bermudagrass collars and applied lime and fertilizer to these areas. These areas have a history of being weak and we are trying to give them a good start. Greens were mowed, topdressed, and sprayed with a season long preventative insecticide. Mulching of the golf course is wrapping up and our team is busy with irrigation adjustments, golf course conditioning, and early season maintenance. Greens are being rolled today but will still be very slow, bumpy and sandy while recovering from aeration. Ryan is spraying broad leaf weeds out of the fescue areas. Have a great week.
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| Chuck and his team had to put the assembly line to work in order to mulch a few hard to reach areas. |
