After the last two cool years, we have seen a steady rise in poa annua and poa trivialis in the fairways. It invades in areas of high traffic, low and wet, or shade. Worst is a combination, see right side of 3 beyond the posts. The fairway mowers increase its invasive tendencies along the fairway edges from the mechanical damage when mowing on a slope.
Since the time I arrived we have been on an aggressive program to hold it in check. We and all the other clubs use a variety of growth regulators. These help strengthen the plant, reduce clippings, and have a tendency to be hard on poa. After several years on a program we decided to try another tack and used a mixture of regulators. The effect was immediate, the growth slowed, all varieties of poa were stunted and the bentgrass was fine.
Unfortunately the regulation affect was magnified by the weather. Abnormal heat in early May coupled with no rain created a brown tint to the grass. Since the growth has slowed its not fast enough to mow off the brown. The positive is the bent grass is very good, the poa has been severely set back, and water requirements were less. The downside is the color. Playability has not been affected, in some cases slightly firmer conditions.
We will have to back off the regulator just to ensure the poa we have survives the summer (thats a lot of grass), but we know the direction we want to go in the fall, when we will resume applications and begin to inter seed bentgrass.
Here is picture of the rough we sprayed as well. You can see the distinct line the width of the sprayer in the loop around the fairway. We have a lot of poa!
As always if you have any questions, please stop me and ask, beware I like to talk turf. I can also be reached by office phone and email.
No comments:
Post a Comment