Maintenance weeks approaching

This week we are preparing for the up coming maintenance weeks. The first greens on the course we will be working on are 1-9. These holes will be closed from 6am on Monday until 6.am Friday. To prepare the greens we have been grooming, cutting and spraying with growth regulator and seaweed. This will reduce growth but increase stress resistance. 

The greens are still in really good condition and some may question why we are carrying out maintenance at all. 

As the plant grows, in this case a golf greens grass,  it builds up levels of Organic Matter (OM) in the soil predominantly near the surface.  Golf greens are intensively managed areas, which need  to cope with the large amounts of wear and are fertilised more intensively than most areas.

This high growth rate causes larger than normal  amounts organic matter to build up in the soil profile. 

If we have too little OM, surfaces would be very unstable, ball response would be poor and water use would be excessive. Greens would dry out very quickly. Conversely, if we have too much OM then 

1.       Greens would be soft and bumpy, especially in the winter

2.       Disease levels would be higher

The process we are adopting is:

Spread sand

Tine using 12mm tines

Brush sand

Tine again but in opposite direction

Brush sand 

Spread more sand 

Tine again in original direction

Brush sand to fill all holes. 

Roll green

Water turf

Spread fertiliser

Water in thoroughly. 

Then following the maintenance the green is left for a couple of days until cutting can be carried out with out causing damage to the machine. 

With good soil temperatures recovery should be fairly quick. Triple tining also has the maximum effect without causing major surface disruption. 

Applying heave lifts and disrupts the soil beneath relieving compaction, adding sand into the thatch and soil and giving the soil loads of air in which healthy growth can occur. 

To ensure the machinery and equipment is ready for next week we tined sanded and brushed the 2 putting greens today as the weather was perfect. 

A catch up

Since we sprayed a number of greens with jewel, a selective herbicide that targets moss we have since a disticnt change in colour and vigour in the silver thread moss. Above is the silver thread moss which is brown/ grey opposed to its usual bright silver/ green. After a short period of time it is good to see the chemical having an effect. The cushion moss seems to have been less effected. With maintenance weeks approaching it will be a good time to scarify and tine through the moss and incorporate sand to improve grass cover. The chemical has 'stressed' the grasses a little but should recover within the next couple of weeks. 

The overall condition of the greens is still really good and are putting well after the top dressing application. We will start to groom them once the top dressing has fully settled into the turf canopy. 

The other trial I was running was the rescue application to long rough areas. This has just started to take some effect. Different areas seem to be reacting differently, the Yorkshire fog seems to be showing the worst symptoms at this stage with a high amount if die back. 

Yorkshire fog on the right compared to fescue on the left. 

Other tasks this week have been brushing and cutting fairways. Brushing with a double stiff brush to remove grain, stand up the grass and get a cleaner cut. 

Fairways looking superb

Top dressing

Yesterday with perfect conditions we topdressed all the greens on the course. 30 greens topdressed in 2 and a half hours. Around a third of a tonne of straight sand was applied per green left to dry and drag matted in. We need to apply sand to stop accumulations of thatch and to keep the surface firm. We try to have two applications in the growing season and a heavy dressing in the maintenance week where incorporate more sand into the root zone.

Following sand dressing the greens were sprayed with growth regulator and irrigation was applied during the night to help work the sand into the canopy. 

The tees were also sprayed with growth regulator following cutting.

Mixed bag

This week has been up and down weather wise the forecast not good at the start of the week but picked up and has turned out better than expected. 

The only bad weather was on tues where we had thunderstorms which passed very close to the course. We had a couple of heavy down pours that effected the 12th green only but was easily solved. It once again shows this green is needing some attention. 

The two main weather systems that were forecast this week scraped by us, the first as mentioned was thundery moving up the coast, we only got 7 mm of rain where as some areas only a few miles away received triple this amount, the second system on Thursday came in from the east stalling around 10 miles from us before moving south. So a potentially wet day turned into a really good dry one. 

The front across to the east. 

On the course we have mainly been cutting ready for a busy weekend of golf. The course looks superb once more, the team have been working hard to bring the consistent playing surfaces all golfers want. 

A couple of other tasks we have carried out are firstly the greens have been sprayed with a moss killer. Products that kill moss by a true chemical breakdown of the structure are hard to find nowadays. Greenkeepers and even gardeners have to rely on ferrous sulphate (iron) all to often. Most of the time that is fine, however most of the time this only scorches the plant, stopping growth and giving the grass around it a chance to outcompete. 

Moss is usually a sign of other issues, compaction, thatch, poor drainage, lack of nutrition or simply low cutting heights. 

We have two main types of moss, silver thread moss and cushion moss. The product we sprayed the greens with has had a good effect on the silver thread moss, we may have to use a different product to combat small areas of cushion moss. 

We have also been touching up weeds on paths and steps. 

Here's a picture of the 2nd green and surround, this was infested with ryegrass a year ago, the rescue application has worked really well, but who can spot a sliver of rye grass I missed. 

The greens received an application of fertiliser wetter and iron which was watered in to get the product in to the soil. 

Next week we will topdress the greens, work on sprinkler heads and tidy ditches

Ready for a busy July

The calendar of events at malton and norton golf club is packed, so we have another busy month of preparations for big competitions coming in July. We like to think we keep the course in prime condition most of the time, but the schedule of golf competitions creates routines and maintenance tasks which in turn creates minor peaks and troughs in top end presentation. 

The course is once again looking and playing very well, the continued dry weather has increased green speed and slowed grass growth helping us catch up on jobs and carry out some trials. 

We use rescue herbicide on selected areas on the course to remove rye grass, most recently on surrounds to great effect. We are currently trialling it on areas of long rough, which this year due to the wet spring is very thick. The trial is being carried out on different thicknesses, varieties and lengths of rough to see the effects. Hopefully over time will enable us to reduce the more course grasses in these areas. 

More information will be posted on these trials in time. 

Other work on the course been carried out this week has mainly been cutting, however we have continued tree pruning in problem areas, tidied areas around the car park, sprayed another compost tea application, divoted tees, fixed an irrigation burst at the 1st and tidied the fallen oak tree at 14.  

We have also had Eric bell, a member volunteering his time to stain and varnish the clubhouse furniture. Our thanks go out to him. 

The good weather does continue

After my last blog we were supposed to get a period of wet and unsettled weather. Thankfully a lot of the heavy rain circled around us and hit other areas of the uk. Overall we had 3mm of rain which was welcome and keeps us looking defined but without the excess growth.

Grass growth in General is beginning to slow, as mention previously semi had continued to grow at pace, even this is beginning to check up a little. At times there was too much for the machine to disperse so blowing excess grass was the only option. 

The course remains in excellent condition, judicial use of the irrigation system is producing fast greens which more importantly are smooth. The good weather, aeration and nutrient regime is giving good top growth but underneath is creating a good rooting environment. 

Here good white roots are seen extending below the bottom of a hole plug. 

Now growth has slowed we are concentrating on a few smaller jobs that are still outstanding, the tree on 14 and an irrigation problem ft left of the 1st green.