Poa Seed Head Control--Succes or Failure?

Each year, beginning on January 1, we monitor growing degree days in order to determine the optimum timing for our spray program targeted at preventing Poa seed head development on the greens. 

If you looked at the greens last week, prior to being aerified, there definitely was a flush of seed heads on the greens.  At first glance, one might think that our applications of plant growth regulators did little to prevent seed head formation.

So how do we know how we really did this year?  One of the best ways to evaluate the efficacy of any treatment on the golf course is to leave untreated check plots.  The rectangular area in the picture below is a check plot on #14 green, absolutely filled with Poa seed. 

 

While our applications didn't prevent all seed head formation,   they clearly made a big difference in the quality of the greens this spring.  Without them, the entire putting surface would be like the check plot area. 

For those seed heads that still did form, thanks to some of our maintenance practices such as grooming, mowing and rolling, the bumpiness caused by Poa seeds hasn't been too bad throughout most of the day.

Lean Greens

We've received a good deal of positive comments regarding the greens this spring.  A second application of plant growth regulators was made this week, in an effort to reduce the severity of Poa Annua seedhead formation, and the bumpiness which is associated with Poa seeds.

The greens have also been kept on a strict diet thus far, and like a competitive athlete, are looking "lean."  We obviously keep close track of what has been applied to the greens.  However, sometimes it's tough to judge just how stingy we've been with greens fertility, until you see an area that actually received some fertilizer.

Often times on greens, this contrast can be seen following a bird's deposit.  Currently though, we're seeing some speckling where a few prills of the fertilizer used in the Bluegrass surrounds got onto the greens.


A few speckles of green caused by fertilizer.

 

Of course, another indicator of how lean the greens are is the clipping yield from the mowers.

Not much grass from mowing an acre of greens!




 

Bunker Pump

In an ideal world, bunkers would drain flawlessly and never require pumping to remove water.  However, realistically a bunker pump is a necessary piece of equipment for most golf courses.  Our old pump required two people to carry and a lengthy discharge hose which had to be rolled out and then gathered up after each bunker.

This year we replaced the old pump with a unit that one person can operate by themselves, and no hose is required.  The new pump attaches to the back of our 25 year old bunker machine.

While pumping bunkers is never a lot of fun, this piece of equipment is a huge improvement for us.


Our mechanic, Joseph, checks out the operation of our new bunker pump.

Fire Prevention

As you play the course this spring, you may notice a strip of sod across #2 fairway, and wonder what happened.  Here's the story:  Our tractor-mounted fertilizer spreader has a hitch under the spout.  I guess it's possible that you could use this hitch to tow a trailer of material to a site, then unhook it and begin using the spreader.  However, I've never known of anyone to put this hitch to use.

Unfortunately, as you can see below, we have found this part of the spreader cuts an excellent gouge into the turf when the spreader is on the ground and the tractor moves forward.  In a perfect world, the spreader would only be lowered to the ground for filling the hopper, and always be well off the ground as the tractor moves.  This may sound pretty simple, however the operator has a lot to keep track of--the speed of the tractor, the engine RPMs, his spacing between passes, the need to engage the tractor's differential lock or four wheel drive, etc. 

A bump of a lever can inadvertently lower the spreader, and voila, in a few seconds we have a pretty good dig mark.  So, that answers the question of why we needed to sod a strip on #2 fairway.  But here is the rest of the story.

While the accidental lowering of the spreader has happened only a couple of times over the years, it clearly creates a significant issue when it occurs.  Instead of putting out fires like this, we would prefer to practice some fire prevention.  To that end, our mechanic, Joseph, came up with a simple solution that will prevent us from having to deal with this headache in the future.

As you can see in the picture, Joseph attached an old mower roller and bracket to the back of the spreader.  If it gets too low, it can now safely glide along without causing any damage.  We always welcome innovative ideas that help the operation.  Great job, Joseph--that's one less fire we'll ever need to put out!

Winter Injury

The good news is that 99.9% of the green surfaces made it through this brutal winter without any lasting injury.  However, we're now seeing that 0.1% wasn't so fortunate.  The putting green at #1 tee has a low area where ice formed, and the Poa in this location didn't fare well under these conditions.

In order to help recovery, we have aerified, seeded, topdressed, and rolled this area.

The Bentgrass is green and healthy, having survived the winter much better than the Poa Annua.

Why was this the sole spot to have turf loss?  Ice is the short answer, but this green has other challenges which may have predisposed it to weakened grass, including growing environment, size, traffic volume and drainage.  We will monitor this area closely and take additional steps as warranted to aid in recovery. 
   

Bunker Etiquette

This may fall into the category of a picture being worth one thousand words.

A bunker is a hazard, and is intended to be penal.  However, it's truly adding insult to injury when your ball lands in a 2" depression left by someone's unraked footprint. 

Keep in mind that if your ball landed there, someone else's may as well--please be sure to leave the bunker raked smoothly for those that follow.

Practice Tee Expansion

When the weather finally breaks and you make it out to the course, one of the improvements you'll see is the expansion of the upper practice tee.  By having a retaining wall installed at the front of the tee, additional teeing ground was created.

We have sodded this area to one of the new, cold tolerant, Bermudagrass varieties, Latitude 36.  As we've seen on the lower practice tee, the Bermudagrass thrives in the heat.  With a quick recovery when it's hot, this will now allow more use of the upper tee during the summer months.

The crew is finishing some sod work on the front of the upper tee.