Indian summer?

We have had the Malton rugby club golf day on the course today and they have certainly have been treated with the weather. A glorious day and the course is in great condition for all. We have cut all areas, now reverting to half and half cutting on the fairways for the end of the season.

Renovations continue, the range tee was completely renovated, covered in soil/ compost material and over sown with rye seed. This area is out of play however the front of the range tee is now being used until the weather changes.

We had problems with an area on the 18th green where the turf died back due to an oak tree near by stressing the turf in the hot conditions this summer. As it was not growing back we have replaced the turf. Next week it will be topdressed out and the rest of the surrounding area will be over sown. The surrounds and approaches have been fertilised. Also the leaves are starting to fall so we have been clearing off a few tees and fairways.

Soil samples old and new

Work is turning to more renovations as the main golfing season is coming to a close, we have finally got round to filling in the test pit we dug at the 13th hole to inspect the drainage in that area. As we are not continuing with drainage in this area in the foreseeable future we decided to tidy the turf to make the area playable once more.

Tomorrow we will begin to renovate the turf practice tee on the range, for the next few weeks we will allow golfers to use the turf in front of the practice tee until the weather turns colder. The area will be clearly marked, please remain in the marked area for safety reasons.

On the course we are continuing to work on the greens to ensure disease pressure is minimised going into cooler, humid, moist conditions where disease is more likely. We have applied a phosphite product which, as mentioned in my last blog is to strengthen the sward against disease attack. Micro tining is to start on 1-18 greens next week so a preventative fungicide will be applied to the greens before the end of the week. This will take us through till November when the climatic and turf conditions will be assessed once more to see if another fungicide is needed.

 

Other areas are now slowing down so cutting isn't quite as intense as a few weeks ago, however we have a number of swans that seem to have taken a liking to one of our fairways, slowing down progress!

On the 18th September I posted this image of the current soil profile of the greens and the impact the sand we are adding is making

I came across this picture in my office that was taken just before I was appointed Head Greenkeeper, it is the same green 6 years ago.

Sorry about the quality of the picture, it is a picture of a picture. However it does show how far we have come in improving drainage, aeration (little black layer), rooting and thatch reduction. The old plug has NO root past 50mm and layered thatch accumulations, the blackening in the soil is a clear sign of anaerobic conditions. It is also clear to see the depth of sandy material we have accumulated in the 6 years. A reason why the surface of the green is much firmer than it use to be, plus roots are protruding from the base of the current sample. Continual but less disruptive aeration will see the greens improve further over the years to come.

Tine and feed

This week we have started to micro tine the greens, 19-27 and the front putting green have been completed. We are using 8mm tines at a depth of 150mm at 50mm x 50mm spacings. This will allow the surface to remain open and improve rooting coming into the cooler seasons. All the greens were then fed with a mix of 3kg N, iron, seaweed and a small quantity of growth regulator as soil temperatures have risen in the last couple of days stimulating growth again.

Fertiliser watered in following application to ensure it is taken up by the roots of the plant. A foliar feed of phosphite will be applied later this week to boost the natural defences of the plants coming into a period of high disease pressure.

 

The plant conditioner is a rapidly absorbed foliar feed that provides high levels of phosphite - a nutrient known to stimulate healthy growth and support the plant's natural defences.

 

It behaves in a completely different manner to conventional phosphate fertilisers. It is rapidly absorbed into the plant leaves where it is translocated as phosphite within the plant cells. This stimulates strong, healthy growth and plants with a better root structure that are more able to withstand stress. The phosphite is rapidly distributed througout the plant using both upward and downward transport systems (xlyem and phloem) ensuring all parts of the plant are quickly affected.

 

We are continuing to brush opposed to grooming to reduce stress, but to ensure lateral growth in the sward is controlled to some degree.

 

 

A look back to last year

I was looking through my blog photos and thought id share some that highlighted how the weather and other problems effects the course and the work we do.

 This is Sept 21st last year

Last years wash out in freezing conditions

June 2012

And the good and bad times of 2013

Rescue on the surrounds

Yesterday Adam and myself attended a STRI turf research event at the STRI base in Bingley Yorkshire. It centres around 7 different stations discussing trials they are carrying out on turf to improve the way we manage our sports turf. Some very interesting points raised and some information we can take back with us to use at Malton and Norton.

Discussing organic matter reduction.......in the rain

Back at work today and we sprayed 9 surrounds with Rescue to reduce Ryegrass which is an annual problem at the club. We sprayed 1-8 and 15th, these are the worst for the most course type of Ryegrass. We should see it start to die back within a couple of weeks

Applied through a knapsack sprayer ensures it is delivered just to the surround surface, the semi rough is all Rye so we don't want to over lap on to this area. More updates will follow. The rest of the course was cut up ready for the weekend, which looks like the sun is to return.

Am Am

Today we had a mixed am am on the course so earlier in the week we were preparing the course for the event and for a save the children event on Monday. All was left to do this morning was to prepare the greens surfaces, cut surrounds, rake bunkers and continue with semi rough. The greens were brushed, groomed and cut looking good ready for play.

Unfortunately on Monday we discovered this on the 14th green, it was easily repaired however the actions of some golfers spoil the course for others.

When changing the plug I took the opportunity to look at the rootzone profile and how the work we have done over the past few years has added sand and improved the drainage characteristics.

As you can see the top 120-150mm of the plug is consistent sandy material with cores of pure sand running down from the surface, this is going to aid drainage and increase rooting. The roots are clearly visible at the bottom of the sample penetrating through the heavier soil.
Next week we are continuing with our aeration, micro tining all the greens using 8mm tines, following this we will roll and groom to smooth the surface, using the small tines will not effect play.

Its been a busy week at Malton, the weather is certainly turning autumnal and the trees are starting to change colour and loose there leaves.

Recently we have been getting more rain which has encouraged worm activity, the greens, surrounds and tees have been sprayed to suppress worms this week, however further treatments may be needed if the wet weather continues. The tees were also sprayed with sulphate of iron to discourage worms, knock back any moss and to add colour.

The recent rain has washed the fertiliser we applied last week in well and the greens are now a lot denser and greener, we will monitor growth rates and apply growth regulator until we feel the temperatures have dropped off not to warrant applications.

We have also been grooming to reduce lateral growth, however now the weather is cooler and wetter it is important not to over stress and bruise the grass plants making disease more likely. So brushing will increase to help get a better cut on a morning, the height of cut remains at 3.0mm (actual) and will do until all summer competitions have finished. As we did last year the height of cut will be raised to 4mm (actual) in winter and the greens and surrounds will be cut with the hand mowers to reduce stress and machinery wear on the greens.
We have continued to edge bunkers and all long and intermediate rough has been cut once more, the ditch running across 10 and 13 has been cleared and the bridges tidied, the grass heaps have also been cleared from the course.

Other cutting continues as normal although the mornings and nights are drawing in.

That's me moving the hole on the 9th this morning......................................somewhere in the picture!

Bunker maintenance

This week we are edging all bunkers, probably for the last time during the season, they will be tidied, washed down and checked before winter sets in but now growth is slowing this work will see them into early November. Once again the team is doing a sterling job to get all 70 bunkers done this week, weather permitting.

We are also spraying surrounds approaches and tees with carbendazim and soluble iron to supress worm activity in these wetter conditions. Plus the greens are being treated with a small amount of growth regulator to thicken the sward, these is now a decreasing element within our maintenance approach as soil temperatures are decreasing slowly.
This year we have applied around 160 tonnes of sand to the greens to help build up a drainage medium near the surface. We are to reduce the application of sand over the next couple of years as we are reaching our target of firmness, however we will monitor the impact of reducing amounts as we don't want organic matter to rise once more giving the need to disrupt the surfaces unduly.

Mark Hunts weather blog

Heres an extract from a great weather blog which incorporates agronomic notes for sports turf highlighting the disease pressure we experienced over the last few weeks.
The full site can be found at http://weather.headlandamenity.com/category/mark-hunts-weatherblog/

The devil is in the detail though because August’s high total figure hides 3 distinct GDD peaks (see below) that impacted on a number of scenario’s ;

1. High Disease Pressure
2. High Nematode Activity
3. High Grass Growth (One of these over The U.K Bank Holiday)

Disease Pressure
A lot of Fusarium lingering around and with the heat of last week and then rain, it’s quite aggressive. Looking ahead to this week, I expect it to become even more so on the west side of the U.K and across Ireland because you’re getting the warmer air from the Atlantic. The tricky bit now is do you spray early with a systemic fungicide (normally I go late September over here in the U.K with a preventative systemic) or knock it back with a contact and keep your systemic powder dry, so to speak, for later in the month / early October ? Personally I’d favour the latter because we know the highest disease pressure historically occurs during October and at least the first part of November, so if you sprayed a systemic now, I’d expect its effect to be running out in the first week of October, follow that with another and you’re be sitting in early November wondering what systemic you can rotate into that will work when the soil temperature can still be quite high (remembering that the last week of October and first week of November has been traditionally warm / very warm over the last 4-5 years)
So a tricky call, personally I’d knock it back with a contact if you have heavy disease pressure and keep your powder dry, but equally you could go early and then factor in an extra app for early November. I’d also slip in some cool-temperature available N into that tankmix along with some iron to speed uptake duirng these cooler conditions and strengthen the grass plant at the same time.

The end of the week has brought some welcome rain, the course is dry and even the 4mm we had today is welcome. An application of 4-0-8 fertiliser was put on the greens yesterday so it watered that in nicely. The turf will start to benefit from the added nutrients early next week. The last stage of solid tining will be around the 17th September, from then on the greens will be micro tined regularly with 8mm tines to keep them aerated, reducing the applications of sand when growth slows. I'm sure all golfers will welcome smoother greens towards the end of the season.

Yesterday morning we had a couple of moments of bad fortune, an animal had caused slight damage to the 2nd green which had to be plugged out and one of the greens mowers sprung a oil leak on the 19th green.

All the long rough is cut down and collected and will be tidied up again next week.

Disease pressure

Over the last few weeks it has been noted that disease pressure has been at one of its highest levels throughout this growing year. The week leading to and the bank holiday weekend in August was the point where a lot of diseases have raised there damaging head, anthracnose was the first disease to show its presence as mentioned earlier in this blog, now after the aeration work carried out on 19-27 greens take all patch is present on 2-3 of the greens on this 9. I feel this has been increased due to the high use of the irrigation system this year, the water we use is fed from the River Derwent which is alkali, hard water. Take all is a disease we have always been battling with at Malton and Norton Golf club due to the underlying chalk and the hard water used to irrigate the course. Take all is a disease that infects the roots of bent grasses in alkali conditions when the soil temperature is around 12-18 degrees C killing patches of grass up to 1m in diameter. Greens 19, 21 and 23 have patches around 30cm in diameter.
Over the next few days we are applying a granular fertiliser to greens 1-18, this is a conventional release fertiliser applying 12kg N and 24kg K to harden the plant, provide recovery going into the cooler month of October and help prevent further disease attack.
As the nights get cooler growth has slowed, but with rain forecast on Friday this might pick up once again.

Collection of the long grass continues, around 10 tonnes collected so far.

Autumn is on its way

Well were into September and it certainly feels like the summer is drawing to an end. The nights are getting darker and cooler and the trees are starting to change colour. This morning we had to clear a number of greens for needles, leaves and debris blown off trees nearby. The daytime temperatures are still good, and according to the weather forecast for the next two weeks they are not going to fall off to dramatically, excepting a small dip this weekend. I hate to mention badgers again so soon after our spring problems, but there was the first sign of damage this morning, on the 3rd surround. It was only a little scrape but nether the less its damage.

The area around the 3rd green was checked for chafer grubs however none were found, so i'm hopeful they are searching more than anything.
This morning Rob and myself started at 5.45 to continue with solid tining of the greens before a ladies competition started. We tined, seeded and topdressed 9 sections of 1-9 greens. Following this they were rolled with a heavy roller to smooth the surface.

As the greens are firm the heavy roller doesn't add too much deep compaction, but consolidates the surface to make them playable straight after the work. The 19-27 greens are coming on well after they were worked on last week and will be cut as normal this week.
Other tasks this week are to divot tees, cut down long rough and tidy around the trees in the long rough with the strimmers.