Gorgeous weather, but...

Many years it seems like we jump straight from summer to winter, so having what feels like a "real fall" with cool temperatures and blue skies is definitely appreciated.  Of course we could use just one good rain event.  While many parts of the country have been getting way too much precipitation, we certainly have not.

The brisk nights and shorter days help to reduce turf stress this time of year, but with clear skies, a nice breeze and low humidity, there is still a fair amount of moisture loss occurring.  

Again, regardless of how good an irrigation system is, there is no substitute for the uniformity that comes from Mother Nature.  A nice rain will evenly rehydrate the soil and go a long way towards allowing us to turn off the irrigation for the season.  

Until then, we will likely continue to deal with the Goldilocks conditions of too wet here and too dry there that come with "artificial rain."  While there are a number of fall projects we'd like to be working on, for now the team will continue to be dragging hoses.

Earthworms—Friend or Foe?

As you have likely heard on the news, September was extremely dry in our region, down 80% from the average rainfall for the month.  However, this dry spell has not prevented the appearance of worm castings on the tees and fairways.

Earthworms act as nature’s aerifiers, providing a service by creating pore space for air, water, and plant roots, as well as increasing the microbial population in the soil they process. How important are earthworms to healthy soil? To quote Charles Darwin: "...it may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures."

So why wouldn’t we be happy with the help in creating pore space in the soil?  Well, the work they do below ground is fine, but the downside to having earthworms on a golf course is that when they expel soil on the surface, it leaves little hills, like miniature volcanoes.  At best, these piles can be dragged or broomed off when thoroughly dry.  However, when we have moisture in the air, these piles stay wet.  Dragging them turns them to mud.  Left alone, the piles get squished by carts and mowers leaving mud spots about the size of a silver dollar.

Numerous strategies have been employed on golf courses where worms have created such a problem. This includes spraying mild soap solutions in hopes of irritating the worms and discouraging their surface activities, as well as aggressive topdressing programs of straight sand to create a surface that is abrasive and uncomfortable for the worms. Fortunately for us, the worm activity always seems to fade as quickly as it appears.  

A final thought about the earthworm population to contemplate: Some scientists calculate that in the soil of a dairy farm, per acre, the total weight of all of the earthworms that live underground exceeds the weight of the cattle grazing above ground—that's a whole lot of potential fish bait.

Practice Tee Turf

It isn't too often that we have a day with unimpeded access to the practice tee.  So when this does happen, we take full advantage of it.  Given this summer's heat, the Bermudagrass on the practice tee flourished, and has spread well beyond the original section of the tee that was sodded to Bermuda.  

Because of this, instead of overseeding a small percentage of the upper tee, we covered almost the whole thing.  This process requires several steps, including seeding, aerifying, dragging, blowing, brooming and fertilizing. 

The somewhat gloomy weather throughout the past week may not have been great for golf, but was perfect for getting the seed up quickly.  As a matter of fact, even some seeds that landed on the practice tee mats decided to pop:

Tournament Preparation

The lead-up to one of our final major events of the year, the fall Member-Member, meant a lot of time was devoted to working on the greens.  On Monday, we tickled the turf with our verticut units to remove any grass that was growing horizontally.

This process generated quite a bit of material.

Beginning on Tuesday, we double-mowed and rolled the greens every day.

The end result was some pretty slick surfaces, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

An Early Haircut

The summer of 2024 had some rollercoaster weather patterns, with plenty of heat, and all or nothing rainfall patterns.  One of the consequences of this was early turf dormancy, as well as a tremendous amount of weed growth in the Fescue areas.

While we tried to beat back the weed pressure, these areas have had some pretty inconsistent playing conditions throughout the season.  At this point, the best option is to cut them down a bit earlier than we have done in the past.  This will help to achieve the goals of having these areas be penal, while also allowing a player's ball to be found (more often than not), and be advanced.  The mowing definitely creates a more uniform surface.

With 40 acres of native areas to mow, this process is never quick.  However, this year, due to delays in getting a new trim mower for cutting tee and green surrounds, our Ventrac tractor is being asked to do double duty.  The machine is mowing the close cut turf a couple of days each week, then switching attachments for mowing the Fescue.  It will definitely take a while for us to get all of the native areas mown down.

What's that?

 At first glance, this might appear to be just a little dirt spot on the edge of one of the flags:

However, if you look very closely, you'll see that it is not dirt at all.  More than likely, this is a Fall Armyworm egg mass:

Fall Armyworms don't mess around--a few years ago they caused serious turf damage in the region:

So is this a serious concern for us now?  Probably not.  While Fall Armyworms are wreaking havoc in the south once again this year, they don't do well at low temperatures, and the cool nights we have been experiencing lately will dramatically lengthen their egg hatch period.

The Break We've Been Waiting For

It may sound unusual, but it was great to have an irrigation break, and repair this past week.  Why in the world would we want to have to deal with a break in August?  Well, for quite some time, we have seen the pump station's small pressure maintenance pump cycling about four times per hour.  This meant that the system was losing one gallon of water per minute somewhere...  

It should be noted that by most standards this really isn't a whole lot of water.  For perspective, municipal water systems, which provide our drinking water, often have leaks accounting for over 20% of the potable water supply they are pumping.

Pump cycling four times per hour.

While a gallon of pond water may not sound like much, we still wanted to know where it was going.  After all, small leaks can turn into big leaks.  The location of water loss was finally found in the back corner of the property behind #4 green.  With a large storm drain inlet just a few feet away, the water wasn't creating a puddle, or stream of any kind.

The repair was straightforward, simply requiring us to cut out a cracked 2" elbow and replace it.

You could say that the pump station is now "flat lining," which is great in this situation.  Below, you can see that the black line (indicating the current discharge pressure) is virtually unchanged for a full hour, and hovering right above the red line (the system set pressure).

 

Other than a lightning strike, this is the first break we have had in two years.  The total spent in irrigation parts to make these repairs was $30--not bad for a 35 year old system!