The seed has been sown...

 Now that all of the sod is down on the short game area, it was time to seed the greens.  This process involves several steps:

• Raking and dampening the surface.
• Applying gypsum and a pre-plant starter fertilizer
• Applying a granular fungicide to prevent "damping off" of seedlings
• Using a drop seeder in two directions for uniform coverage of the Bentgrass
• Lightly raking the surface with the back of a leaf rake
• Carefully driving over the surface with our Sand Pro's knobby tires to increase the seed to soil contact
• Rolling the surface by hand
• Irrigating lightly and frequently to keep the seed moist

The picture below was taken last Monday afternoon.  Very soon, the greens will transform from gray to what they are called--green.

We were fortunate to be able to acquire some "Coho" seed, which is one of the best performing new Bentgrasses.  The seeding rate was a total of 1.5 pounds per 1,000 square feet.  Compared to Perennial Ryegrass (on the right, below), Bentgrass seeds are miniscule, so a little goes a long way.

When you step back and consider how lifeless these seeds appear to be, then what they become, it's hard to argue that nature is amazing--fall is here, and this is perfect weather for growing grass!

 

Let it grow...

 While the team from Mottin Golf are awesome to work with, it is always satisfying when major construction projects are completed.  The creation of a short game area, construction of new tees on #10, and bunker work on #11 were significant, and took a great deal of planning.  The Club is fortunate to be working with one of the most sought after golf course architects, Andrew Green.  

Now that seed and sod are down, one of the challenges is maintaining turf that is at different levels of establishment.  That is, the needs of sod which was  put down a month ago are not the same as a roll that was installed last week.

Until everything is well-rooted and we can allow conditions to firm up a bit, the mowing will all be done by hand, and we won't be able to drive a sprayer onto these areas.  With any luck, in a month from now, we should be able to include most of this in our normal mowing routine.

Without a doubt, the installation of a tee to green cart path on #10 is a huge help at this time, as it allows us to keep cart traffic off the newly seeded and sodded areas.

It will be spring, 2022 when the short game area is ready for use--we are all excited to see the divots start flying at this new amenity!

Waging War on Weevils

 As we've talked about in the past, the Annual Bluegrass Weevil is aptly named, due to the fact that it is primarily a pest of Poa annua.  In the springtime, we consider this insect a good biological control in helping to prevent Poa encroachment in the tees and fairways.  For the most part, the weevils take out the Poa, allowing the Bent to fill in.  

But what's a weevil do when there's no more Poa?  Well, while Poa may be like filet to these insects, and Bentgrass is ground beef, when their first choice is gone, they aren't going to pack their bags and leave.  No, we are finding weevils--and their damage--in record numbers this year on Bentgrass.

What do we mean by record numbers?  In sampling over the past couple of weeks, throughout most of the fairways, we have been finding fairly consistent counts of 100 weevils per square foot--that's over four million weevils per acre!  As you can see below, the larvae are very small, but unfortunately there is power in numbers.

We have treated all of the fine turf areas of the golf course for the little guys, and have seen some positive results.  When we start finding "Rice Krispies" coming to the surface, it means somebody isn't feeling well.

One of the tricky things when treating for weevils is that many control products need to be watered in.  With all of the rain we have had lately, you might think we could just let Mother Nature do the watering in for us, but we need a fairly specific quantity of water, not a deluge.  Therefore, even with soft conditions, we have had to run some sprinklers to get the plant protectants where they need to be.

A few cooler days (and nights) have been good for turf recovery, and will start to slow weevil activity.  However, in planning for 2022, it will definitely be necessary to monitor Bentgrass more carefully and be prepared to play whack-a-weevil at a moment's notice. 

What's a few degrees matter?

 September is here, and it feels like someone flipped the switch, sending us from oppressive 75 degree mornings, to much cooler temperatures in the upper 50s.  For the turf, this is just what the doctor ordered to aid in recovery.  Looking back at the month of August, in addition to the rollercoaster of "all or none" for rainfall, we ended the month with an average daily high temperature three degrees above normal.

So you might be thinking, yes, it was pretty warm in August, but does three degrees matter?  Well, an argument can be made that when those three degrees are for an entire month, it does have an impact.  In the short term, warmer temperatures over the month may lead us to include an additional application of fungicide for prevention of Pythium Blight on the golf course, which comes at a fair cost.

August is also the month of the year when cool season turfgrass has its shortest roots.  Prolonged warmer temperatures may further delay turf recovery into the meteorological fall.  More warm days also extend the window of opportunity for our insect nemesis, the Annual Bluegrass Weevil, to cause damage.  Of late, for the first time this year, we are seeing weevil damage in Bentgrass.

Bentgrass thinned from weevil damage.

Longer term, warmer temperatures allow weeds, such as Dallisgrass to become further established on the golf course.  Dallisgrass is a warm season (think southern) perennial grass that looks like Crabgrass on steroids.  This weed hadn't been seen on the golf course until a few years ago, and giving it more days to actively grow, isn't what we need.

Again, we are grateful to be in September, and fortunate that the remnants of Hurricane Ida led to nothing more than a soaking rain event for us.  But don't discount the cumulative impact of temperature changes--the weeds, insects, and diseases aren't.