As I am sitting here writing this post the current temperature outside is 58 degrees and the sky is cloudy. The forecast was for the high today to be in the middle to upper 60s, however I don't think that is going to happen. Yesterday our high temperature reached 85 degrees! Twenty degree difference in the matter of 24 hours makes for a shock to the system for sure. Yesterday it was short sleeve weather and today it is a two jacket and glove day! Many of you that have played this week have probably noticed some of the native areas have been mowed down. We don't normally mow these areas but they also don't normally have the weed population that they had this year either. A lot of moisture throughout the season and five flood events will make these native areas weedy and unsightly. Now that things have slowed down a bit on the golf course with regards to the amount of mowing and hand watering that we were doing we have been able to address these areas and get them cleaned up. I have attached a few pictures below showing a few of the areas that have been mowed. I am also talking with some chemical professionals and looking into some options for 2016 that can help us in these areas keep the weeds more manageable. Normal years these areas haven't been to bad, but this year was enough for me to start looking at some programs for treatment so that we won't hopefully have them look like they did this year again. As I have mentioned in previous post the zoysia grass has really slowed down and is really starting to loose it's color. I took a picture today of #18 fairway to show everyone how much color they have lost. Needless to say we are done with fairways and tees for the year. Earlier in the week on Monday and Tuesday we did a needle tine on the greens to vent and open up the surface. Every time after we aerify the greens the surface tends to seal off a bit as we have done a lot of rolling and mowing getting the greens smoothed back out. Our greens were actually not taking water like we wanted them to so we do the needle tine to help them take the water and oxygen down to the roots so the plants can utilize them . I know it tends to make the greens a little more bumpy then usual for a day or two, but the benefits this practice provide for the greens is huge! Looking ahead to next week it looks like the great weather is going to stick around. We are planning to do a light verticut and topdress on the greens on Tuesday. Verticutting helps us to control the thatch accumulation at the surface of the greens along with helping to keep the putting surface firm and smooth, by helping the topdress sand to get incoporated into the green profile by cutting a tiny line in the thatch layer of the green allowing the sand to fall into the line. As the forecast continues to stay dry our watering practices in the roughts have had to increase especially in areas around the trees as the turf has started to show some drought stress from the trees taking all the moisture. I know that the increase in watering has caused a few areas to be more soggy then others. Please be patient as we are still trying to grow in some areas we overseeded and thus have to water them a bit more than normal. If we can get some nice rainfall soon we will be able to back off of the irrigation. Have a great weekend and Lets Go Royals!!!
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| Mowing down the native on #12 |
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| Native area mowed on #18 tee |
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| Zoysia going dormant |
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