Wet Wet Wet

After the wet summer we have had it was only a matter of time before the course gave in to the relenting weather. More rain through October has left us with saturated surfaces, the rain has causes us many headaches not just with the amount of wet areas across the course but has not allowed us to cut grass or collect leaves as we would have wanted to. Access across the course is limited to only the driest of areas. Where we have been able to get to has made more mess than i would have liked but again we are working to a needs must philosophy until the ground conditions improve.

There are a lot of leaves falling at the moment and the new amazone machine is working great (if we could only get on to the course to use it), as soon as we can get on to the course we will have a full round up of all in play areas. It only takes one man a couple of days to cover the course, by far easier and quicker than the previous machine we had. The time saved has allowed us to spend more time on other areas. It's mainly been swallowed up by the amount of time we have to spend switching and brushing casts, and to be honest I don't think I expected the damage to be quite as bad as it currently is. The worm casts are worse in some areas than others but most areas are seeing visible damage and some turf loss. The amount of rain coupled with cutting and general play from golfers is making the damage more evident.

To limit damage we have been out with hand equipment only, back pack blowing leaves from around greens and tees, using hand mowers to cut banks and wet areas around greens and tees.

We have a number of areas roped off to prevent long term damage, please could I ask all golfers to abide by the restrictions and to not move hoops and ropes to allow access. If a ball hits the ropes and hoops then you are entitled to retake the shot.

As we go into winter and the weather deteriorates further we may have to adopt a more sensible approach to the course playability. If we feel there is going to be long term damage caused to the course we will have no option but to limit play in some areas.

I have to thank the buggy users, so far the new restrictions we have applied this year seems to be working and the buggy users are sticking mostly to the semi rough.

All 1-18 fairways have been sprayed with iron, in an attempt to slow worm activity, but will help strengthen and add colour to the sward. The greens have been sprayed with a preventative fungicide, this was done on Monday of this week, thankfully before the weather took a turn for the worse. This will help limit damage to the greens turf caused by turf diseases such as Fusaruim. Another big chemical taken off the market this week has been announced. This is an extract from the Bayer press release which can be found online

''Products containing the chemical iprodione are to be withdrawn from sale following an EU ruling by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed banning use of the substance.

Bayer makes iprodione products Chipco Green, which controls fusarium patch, red thread, dollar spot, anthracnose, leaf spot and rust, and Interface is used on microdochium patch, red thread/pink patch, dollar spot, anthracnose, leaf spot/melting out and rust.

Bayer professional product manager Steve Bishop said the company would update industy in the coming weeks with timescales for the sell-out and usage periods of iprodione product based registrations.

Bayer professional product manager Steve Bishop said: "We have a large regulatory team based in the UK who’ll keep the industry informed on all of the latest updates."

Earlier this year, Bayer launched Exteris Stressgard, which increased the available number of fungicide groups from five to six, with the new turf SDHI fluopyram. 

"Unfortunately the loss of iprodione will reduce the available turf fungicide groups back to five, meaning that rotation strategy remains a critical element of integrated disease management," Bishop said.  

"With other chemicals also due for assessment, a further reduction in the total number of products on the market, and therefore the number of available groups for rotation, for turf disease control is not out of the question.

"This is why we’re constantly investing into the research and development of new chemistry, to continue to deliver solutions to our customers well into the future."

This is another bitter pill to swallow for anyone who has to manage turf, especially after the withdrawal of carbendazim. This fungicide active is the sole contact/curative left which can be used once active disease is visible. As greenkeepers we now need to be proactive, rather than reactive. Most greenkeepers will already be on a preventative fungicide strategy of some sorts but now we will have to be more careful both culturally and chemically, with more focus around preventative measures to keep the turf in good order. To now say we can keep the turf disease free is a stretch, even with all the products available it would be expensive and sometimes difficult to implement given such factors outside your control such as the weather. We still hope other alternative effective chemicals will become available over time.

The team have started to edge some of the practice bunkers, we are looking at ways to solve a recurring piece of feedback ive been receiving over the last year, the ball finding its way under the grass lips around the bunker edge. On the practice ground we are taking the grass edge a lot further up around the perimeter of the bunker, shaping the ground beneath to allow the ball to run into the center of the bunker. This style requires more maintenance as the sand constantly works its way down from the bunker edges, needing to be pulled up on a daily basis. Please try and view the bunkers in question and give us feedback.

Autumnal tasks

Below is a great link which discusses some of the points I have previously made on this blog regarding the trees on the course.

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/clubhouse/2017-ungated/10-17-ungated/five-things-to-know-about-trees-on-golf-courses.html

This week we are making great progress with the rough management, nearly all the long rough has been cut down, along with some longer areas of intermediate rough. Leaves are starting to fall thick and fast, so we are out on a daily basis with the back pack and tractor mounted blowers. The leaf collector is also being used as and when possible on a morning.

We had another period of windy weather which brought down a number of larger branches and a couple of smaller trees, fortunately one of the trees was dying and probably the reason why it was weaker than it should have been.

With most of the debris tidied we are now concentrating efforts on tidying uncut bits of long rough and around trees which cant be accessed with the amazone. These areas are strimmed or will be cut with a smaller mower. This is a long process but will ensure we keep the course in the best possible condition going into winter. Leaving areas of rough makes leaf collection difficult. A long reach pruning saw will be needed in some areas to make collection easier in the future.

We are also starting to spray fairways with soluble iron, this will help deter worm activity, also strengthen the sward heading into winter. I'm normally not over keen on applying high amounts of iron to turf as it can lead to black layer as high iron levels limits natural aerobic activity, however it does lower the pH as iron sulphate is relatively acidic. The lower the pH the less worm activity we will hopefully see. I have tried a number of expensive worm suppressants with very limited results so applying iron is a very inexpensive way of trying to improve the turf. We will continue to apply treatments until weather conditions deteriorate. The greens have also been sprayed with a mix of amino acids and biostimulants with a very small amount of Nitrogen mixed in.

Unfortunately there are a number of areas that are getting a little sticky and cutting is making them look even worse. At the moment we cutting on a needs/ must basis, picking dry days and ground conditions to cut where needed. Its a difficult balance to keep the course tidy without making more damage than we need to, the team are doing a fantastic job to deal with an ever changing challenge. On a positive note the work we do to the greens on an annual basis seems to proving a success as the greens surfaces are healthy and performing ok. Due to the wet year there is a little moss on some of the wetter/shaded greens and the remnants of a little fusarium that was knocking around a few weeks ago. We have since sprayed a fungicide so there is no new activity, this will be monitored over the coming weeks. Nights and mornings are drawing in so most mornings the team are out with torches and lights on the machines, its essential we still start work early to ensure the course is checked, set up and ready for the days play. Please note the course information line will be updated at 7.30 at the latest from 1st November (currently 7.00am)

Here comes the leaves

As the temperatures begin to drop the trees are changing colour and the leaves are beginning to fall. We are gearing equipment up to start collection, the new amazone machine should make a real difference to the labour involved in the annual task. To make collection easier we have to cut down all the long rough on the course, again utilising our machine we are cutting and collecting all areas and composting the grass in our designated areas across the course.

The weather has been good for this task, dry and windy for a change. It certainly helps when the long grass is dry, it compacts better and makes the job quicker.

However the wind has been causing chaos on other parts of the course and causing a few issues for even simple tasks such as cutting greens and fairways. The wind has gusted at 40mph at times, fortunately no damage has been done to the course. However the strong winds have brought many small branches down and quite a number of leaves, there has also been a lot of pine needles, keys and bits from leylandii and other trees close by to greens and fairways. We have had staff out clearing areas so cutting can be carried out, adding time to all jobs, it is critical that debris is removed so damage to the turf doesn't occur.

Cutting is going to be a real test, one that is going to have to be thought about carefully as we head into winter, worm casts, as previously mentioned cause damage to the machinery and to the turf when cutting occurs, the drier the ground conditions and casts the less damage occurs, especially to the turf. Picking days to cut is going to be the key to minimising damage. Unfortunately they can be few and far between as we head into November and December, making the decisions ever more difficult. To help the cast smearing we can brush and switch areas, however sometimes this just isn't possible. Other measures we are trying, to prevent long term damage are; minimising traffic to cast prone areas such as fairways and high wear areas, buggies will cause a lot of damage to turf once grass growth stops, smearing casts on to the turf which then can't recover, so please try and keep buggies to the semi rough as much as possible. We are putting out the usual traffic management hoops and rope, we will be trying other chemicals and acidifiers to reduce general castings and sanding areas which we feel are getting to severe. Please appreciate that worm casting is a problem for most clubs now so we are not alone, its a very frustrating issue we need to deal with on a daily basis, and hopefully something we can strive to improve over time.