Frustration and Renewal!

The roughs on some holes have really taken a beating the past month.  Seems like a long time since the lush wet days of the early summer.  This is a look into some of the issues and how we plan to address the problems.

 A lot of the rough areas are typical of this one on the 3rd hole, 5 to 6 types of grass in high traffic areas.  The wet weather set up the rough for issues, the first was shallow rooting due to excessive rain.  Next the hot weather that followed brought in 2-3 significant diseases that require treatments well outside our normal budget.  Add high traffic and the only grass surviving is bermuda.

We don't treat our rough grass for disease.  This would add another $40-50,000 dollars in chemicals, not including the labor and equipment.  Some of these diseases, like summer patch on bluegrass require treatment starting in April with monthly treatments until the end of the summer.  The best answer is for us to slowly convert to turf type tall fescue.  Seems simple enough, toss some seed and move forward.

Well this would be great if that's what happened.  The dead looking bluegrass will have some recovery, the poa annua has a 60 year seed bank and will come back out in the fall, and the bent grass and ryegrass, will most likely make a late fall-early spring return.  Most new construction in our area uses all tall fescue sod to overcome these issues.  Even then bluegrass is seeded into the sod when established and at times can become the dominant grass, which again is subject to all the pathogens a wet warm summer brings.

Our plan will be focused on improving the soil and conditions to make tall fescue more favorable.  First we will aerify and seed the worst areas starting next week.  The new irrigation system will allow us to spot water all the newly seeded areas to help in the establishment.  The earlier we can get a desirable grass established the better the odds against the other grasses when they try to re-establish themselves in the late fall.  Later this fall we will begin applying some herbicides that inhibit the other seeds from getting established.  Not 100% effective, but better than nothing.

This goal will be to work towards managing two types of grass in the rough, tall fescue and bermuda.  The fact is bermuda is the dominant grass in the the majority of the rough.  The good news is that it likes the summer, the bad is that in fall, winter and spring it makes a spotty and inconsistent rough grass.  There is no defense against bermuda without a wholesale change.  Transitioning bermuda grass out is an intense 2-4 year process with the majority of the time having very spotty rough.  New chemistries are making the process possible, but a lot of pain occurs before the results are seen.  As I noted in a previous article, we have seeded areas with tall fescue for over 8 years and still see only bermuda grass, it's that tough of an opponent.  Sodding is the only defense, and that still comes with a high price with monthly applications to suppress the bermuda in the soil.

We have witnessed areas that we completely renovated have bermuda runners 2 feet or more down in the soil.  Killing the top portion helps weaken the plant, but this is one tough grass to stop.  In some ways, we should encourage it's growth since it takes traffic, uses less water and requires no chemicals to keep it alive.  The big downside is the brown color and playability issues all winter and spring before it comes back to life for the summer.  There is a reason it was named rough, our goal is to make sure it's playable.

The USGA take on Intermediate Rough

A few have noticed the elimination of the intermediate rough around the fairways.  For us the decision was implemented when we were tasked with the job of mowing the primary rough more often to provide a better experience.  In doing so we lowered the height , mowed more often and got the results most members were looking for.

We put the increased labor into the primary rough, in doing so we needed to use that labor from the task of mowing the intermediate rough.  In addition, the short cut requires more maintenance, more chemicals and weed control to make it playable at the lower heights.

The USGA has also noticed this trend and put out an article looking at the issues with this short cut of rough.  I present it here to help understand some of the issues in maintaining this small strip of turf.

http://gsr.lib.msu.edu/article/oatis-waste-7-26-13.pdf

Why we like air in the soil

Roots.... it's what we live for as superintendents.  We are always chasing the dream of white, healthy roots, especially in the summer.  Air, glorious fresh air is what keeps roots alive and turf systems functioning even in the heat of summer.  Why is this so important, because we manage a playing surface that requires a lot of stress induced practices.  Mowing, rolling, topdressing, all require the plant to use those roots to regenerate growth.

So what about the air; well the soil on most of the greens has little pore space to make room for roots.  Those roots have to share that space with air and water, which tends to drain more slowly in soil, thus making less air available to the system.

In sand the pores are larger and varied, water drains freely.  As it drains it pulls air into the space which increases air for roots.

The photos below show the difference between rooting in soil and sand greens.  Shallow poa roots in soil, struggle when temperatures rise and too much water (natural or irrigation) is present.  The sand green with greater pore space and infilitration, generates longer roots.  This in turn creates a firmer putting surface using less water and chemicals since the natural process of air exchange for roots has been improved.

Poa roots in a soil green this week

bentgrass roots in sand this week

One more record......

Well what started out as a sleeper of a summer has moved in with the swiftness of a thunderstorm.  We as turf managers are always concerned with the whole process of weather.  The early and constant rains, left most of us unable to treat turf for disease and the understanding that the root systems would struggle to breathe under all that water.  The heat that has set in was more than our turf systems could tolerate.

As simple as it may sound, the urge to throw a water at the hot conditions was not the right approach.  The balance between turf that is wilting and the potential for cooking the roots with water that will not evaporate and only heat up as the day progresses is a fine line.  Both prospects are really asking which way do you prefer to have turf suffer.  We always try to advantage roots since they are required for recovery when the conditions relent.

As a side note we hit soil temperatures of 100 degrees at 2 inches deep on 3 consecutive days.  In soil physiology terms, roots die beyond 90, so as much as we try, there is no beating nature when she gets on a roll.

Whether you believe in global warming or some form of climate change there is no denying that the cycle we are in has greater swings compared to past years.  The article below helps put in perspective how the records have been piling up.  These swings are why we are starting to use Bermuda grass on tee surfaces and many in the area are even considering bermuda fairways.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/21/d-c-s-sets-record-for-longest-streak-above-80-degrees/

The Great White Experiment

By now you are wondering what is going on along the cart paths.  Long stretches of white turf and weeds, punctuated by areas of green grass.  Alien invasion, a new disease.... nope, just an experiment and an example of the challenges of our multiple types of turf.

 This is Bermuda grass sprayed once with a new compound that suppresses bermuda and several types of weeds.  If we decided to try to reduce or eliminate the bermuda what is the reaction to the turf under its normal summer conditions.  As you can see it has stripped the plant of chlorophyll and weakened the turf.  Multiple applications may eliminate this turf along with multiple weeds at the same time.

Is this something we want?  Our rough consists of 5 to 7 varieties of grass, all different textures and growth habits.  All of them are cool season except the Bermuda grass.  In the spring and late fall it leads to many inconsistencies in the rough.  Of great interest is if we spend money to sod areas with a more desirable species can we stop the bermuda invasion in the summer.

From this test I would say yes,  but at what cost on a large scale?  Do you want to see this look for years to come as we try to reduce the overall population or is it better to play what we have?  As can be seen there is a lot of Bermuda.  In fact when a specific species dies, or becomes diseased you notice how much of the property is covered by that turf.  In our case major areas have a large percentage of Bermuda, the right side of 8 rough below the hill is almost entirely Bermuda.  This grass can make finding a ball extremely tough in the summer months as it nestles to the bottom.

The picture below shows the effect on the 3rd fairway.  Here the test is a little less harsh, and the chance to reduce Bermuda from the Bentgrass fairway is more acceptable.  This is one we would like to pursue, although if we do not attack the rough, this will continue to be an issue, since it creeps in from the edges.

The discoloration of the bentgrass is a little less evident after a few days, but the bermuda is still discolored.  It will take multiple applications to reduce these populations to levels considered to be under control.  Once again, your never sure how much Bermuda you have until you spray the entire surface.  We will continue to evaluate this product over the next few months with repeat applications to some fairway areas and some recent sod to determine how well it accomplishes the task.

As a reference on the strength of this product, the entire 5 acres treated contained only 1.25 ounces of product in 300 gallons of water.  Extremely effective I would say, now I only need to calibrate an eyedropper to measure the dosage!

Trouble on the greens

By the start of next week, I'm sure many will be wondering what happened to the greens at 4 and 5.  Basically they failed under the heat of the July 4th weekend.  Why this happened has multiple causal agents.  Not all understood but this goes back not only to this season, but many years before when these greens were built.

The trouble this year is related to several factors, some direct, some unknown, but all play a part in the health of the plant.  This was the year that Poa annua seeded, no matter what the method to prevent it, it happened.  A long warm winter with rainfall, created a condition that was hard to judge when seedlings would arrive.

The products we use to inhibit seed heads on the greens all require timing to what is happening in the plant.  The timing is more art than science and different areas and greens types seed at different times than others.  Why is this important, well the plant uses a tremendous amount of energy to produce a seed.  This energy expends carbohydrates stored in the roots to push the seed out.  This energy stored is what we count on for the plant to use to promote rooting going into the summer.  Thus a lot of seed heads makes for  a weaker plant to start the year.  Coupled with the intensive amount of maintenance to smooth out the greens, the plant basically arrives at summer with short roots and no energy reserves.

Earlier this year we were beset by a disease called bacterial wilt.  This specific pathogen only affects poa annua on the greens.  There are no preventative or curative products for this pathogen.  The cure is to promote good health in the plant, which is usually counter to the ability to achieve greens speeds that membership requires.  The effect of this disease was to weaken plants and reduce rooting even further.  The worst outbreaks were on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th and 17th greens.

Practices were put into place to promote better health and things were turing around.  The 4th and 5th green were still struggling ( more on this latter).  The extended wet weather lead to shallow rooting.  If the plant does not have to reach for water and oxygen is depleted ( as in a water saturated soil),  roots move up in the profile.  Couple this shallow rooting with several very hot dry days and the  plant goes from drowning to wilting quickly.  Of course all of this also happened on the weekend of the Club Championship, when we are trying to get the best greens condition possible.

Pictured below was the start of the problem of bacterial wilt back in early June on the 4th green.

Below is what was observed this morning July 7th.

The course of action now will be to coax both these greens back to health, which is always tricky in the heat of summer.  Some plugging, some seeding , some fertilizing and a lot of gentle practices will be the  order of the day for the next few weeks.


Now how do these issues all relate?  Well the most problematic greens on the course are both the 4th and 5th greens.  The 4th green contains a lot of silt, which happened when the last rebuild occurred many years ago.  This causes the green to hold excessive moisture.  We have added a fan, as well as installing drain lines to help improve the surface, but this still only helps in certain cases.  The excess moisture in the green reduces rooting, and causes the soil to become anaerobic ( low oxygen) during much of the year.  Aeration and sanding along with all the other tactics only help so much.  We really require a dry year and some luck to get this green to perform well.

The 5th green has had many struggles over the years.  It too was rebuilt many years ago and I believe the poa annua grass in this green is a weaker species than the others.  The green was originally seeded to bent and was taken over by poa annua from the rough.  It's adaptation to greens poa annua has not been good and the struggle continues.

Both greens have been tested extensively for physical and chemical makeup with no major deficiencies noted.  Our next step will be to test for any long term herbicide residual that may be present just to determine if old treatments may be inhibiting rooting in these greens.  We will continue to solve the issues present, but many times, environment wins and we do our best to work around what nature throws our way.  The heart of this is the grass itself.  In no cases have we seen bentgrass affected, only poa annua, which for us is the majority of the grass on the greens with the exception of the 8th green.

A lot has happened

It's been a while since I last posted and I hope to provide some catch up to everyone reading this.  The first and foremost is the weather.  June turned out to be the fourth wettest on record.  This has made things very lush, but also set up up for some rather delicate issues for the summer.

First this is what the radar seems to look like day after day.

Once the rain has come and gone,  I then receive a posting of the diseases most like to be present during this period.  As you can see, almost every disease known to turfgrass is present.   The Poa annua on the greens is susceptible to almost all of these.

As soon as we plan a course of action again comes the rain making areas not only unplayable but unmanageable as well.  Not sure how to treat, mow or travel around in these conditions.

Once the sun comes out, this is usually what we find as we attempt to put things back together again.  The sand restoration process is about as miserable as it comes.  Shoveling wet heavy hand into washout areas and then removing the silt by hand, and reloading new sand back into the bunker.  If this happened once or twice it is a process that drains you physically for a day or two, but the repetitive nature of this years storms has made this a job no one wants to see their name attached to in the morning.

We hope to see a return to a normal pattern, But we know that the one thing we can count on is not knowing the pattern for the rest of the summer.