We finally have a night without frost, the cold east wind continues however with much cloudier conditions we could run the irrigation system to irrigate the greens to take some of the 'crispiness' from the surface. The drying winds aren't good for the grass when temperatures are so low, the grass plants go in to a state of dormancy as there is limited water within the plant to promote growth. The rootzone is still moist so a large volume of water is not required. We calibrate each green to 180 and 360 degree turning circles to ensure consistent coverage across the whole of the green. The spacing between sprinklers, pressure, number of sprinklers per green and angle of throw can alter greatly the water applied. The calibrations are then set into a irrigation computer which then can be altered to apply how much water we want on each green. Depending on the evapotranspiration rates, current moisture levels and sometimes chemicals applied will determine the setting for each application. Sunday night we applied around 3mm of water with a wetting agent to help penetration into the rootzone. The recent aeration will also allow water to penetrate into lower rootzone where it is more beneficial.

 



On Monday Alistair and myself  took part in some 360 degree excavator training, with test to follow.

 

Without frost we brushed, cut and rolled the greens, along with moving holes and starting to repair the badger damage onn the course