News and Notes 8.6.15

We have recently gone through several weeks with little to no rain and temps in the 90's. The weather  is cooling down a bit and we are hopeful to get some much needed rain. During this stressful period we did have areas on green edges that thinned out. It is interesting to note that in our observations these areas all had poor growing conditions (traffic, sunlight and air movement) while greens without these issues (examples: #9. #10, #16 and #18) saw little to no damage.

Inside the black lines in the picture above shows a check plot from a mixture of products we have been applying to green edges and collars this year. This is evidence that part of the problem was this mix along with the poor growing conditions were all contributing factors. Again, no damage on green sites with plenty of sun, air movement and scattered wear patterns.

We will be seeding these thin areas on Monday. With temperatures in the low 80's and nighttime lows in the lower 60's I'd expect germination in 7-10 days. On some of these areas such as the back left of #6 green we would like to do a bit more digging around in September to determine if there are any drainage issues 12-18 inches below the surface. This is certainly a wear area from golfers entering and leaving the green but it may be helped if there is a drainage issue and we can fix it.

A product to control weeds was applied to the irrigation lake next to hole #2 last week.

Control was excellent as evidenced by the brown color of the weeds. Now it is just a matter of time before it decomposes and falls to the bottom of the pond.

Looking to hydroseed some of the steep slopes (ex: between #14 and #15, left of #18 fairway) with Fine Fescue August 31st. Will have more information on that shortly.