Post Plug

Aerification Update

Greens aerification was completed Monday and Tuesday and they're on the mend.

good density

The greens have been fertilized and topdressed and the plan is to let them grow a bit before we start cutting them back down. This recuperation is necessary to battle the sins of the summer that we create as we chase green speed and perfect rolls.

low spots tend to drain slow and thin out

Two weeks is the normal span of time it takes for the greens to get back in shape. After a summer like this one, it's a needed rest. Enjoy the beautiful lush slowness of healthy greens!

beautiful and healthy

Fairway Mayhem
If you're at all conscious, you'll have noticed that something ugly is afoot on a few fairways. Two weeks ago we had a spike in heat and humidity that was the coupe de grâce for a handful of susceptible fairways that were just barely hanging on through a punishing season.

diseases move fast

When we see risky weather conditions heading our way our standard operating procedure is to apply a protective fungicide ahead of that weather.  We do this to areas that have shown weakness before as they're a good indicator of disease pressure, and we did that. Those treated fairways went unscathed. What we didn't expect was to see an outbreak of strong diseases in fairways, 1,3,8, and 15. These are  healthy fairways that see low incidence of infection.  This time, it would be different.
The the weakest grass species (poa) was severely injured. Similar damage was seen by many in our region that don't (or can't afford to) treat all their fairways and tees.  In fact, we fared better than most from reports we're getting in on how courses made it during that last hot spell.  It was a tipping point for many.   Courses that choose to apply on all fairways at regular intervals saw little to no problems.

The damage was done in just 3 days and the diseases responsible were Pythium and Anthracnose. The species of grass that was most affected was Annual Bluegrass or "poa" that makes up about 40% of the fairways.. Fairways at Tuscarora are composed of a mixture of ryegrass and "poa". Poa tends to be susceptible to every disease as well as heat stress, but is especially damaged by Anthracnose outbreaks.

outbreaks were random - 9 fairway: not a mark

Things are already improving and we have germination where we've aerified, and slit seeded.   Affected areas were fertilized and curatively sprayed with fungicide. Unfortunately the damage is done and what we have now is a "grow-in" situation where we're starting from scratch in the barest of areas. On a positive note, it's a good opportunity to introduce the tougher ryegrass species.

Going forward, we're looking at how to upgrade our fungicide program so that it treats all of our fairways equally to guard against future outbreaks. It's something that's due.  This season's extreme weather has shed a new light on the risk of not being covered versus trying to get by with the bare minimum.  What we'll see going forward with a comprehensive spray program is a marked increase in overall quality of the fairways through the entire summer.

More next week when we discuss upcoming fall projects.