Ready to go again

Maintenance week 1 is complete, now we gear ourselves up to start all over again on holes 10-18. These holes will be closed from Monday this week up until Friday morning. In this time we will carry out the same procedure as on all the other greens we have done so far, 12mm solid tine, 6mm hollow tine, topdress and roll. The greens on 1-9 will be beginning to settle down now, we have rolled them over the weekend to help smooth the surfaces, we will try to cut them as normal from Monday, depending on sand on the surface. On Wednesday they will be sprayed with fertiliser and biostimulants to promote healthy recovery.

On Thursday and Friday we continued solid tining walkways and some wetter areas on the fairways on holes 1-9. This took its toll on the solid tines as some areas of the course on holes 1-9 have stones very shallow below the surface, these areas are unknown when tining and all it takes is to hit one and bang, the tines end up like the ones below. All told around 12 tines were damaged beyond repair from doing walkways on holes 1-9, fortunately the chances of stone damage on holes 10-18 is a lot less as the subsurface is deeper and turns to clay opposed to stone. We will also try to complete 10-18 bunker edging this week.

I have previously mentioned worm cast issues we face and the lack of chemicals available to control them. A recent video I saw online of worms being extracted by the use of mustard made me want to experiment a little to see if was of any use to reduce damage to our turf. I selected 4 areas where i know cast are a real issue. 3 of them around the practice green and the last one around the edge of the front putting green. The area around the practice green was sprayed with a mixture of ground mustard powder and water, at a rate of 50gms per 5 litres water. One area spayed once, one sprayed twice and the third sprayed 3 times, so in theory doubling and tripling the amount of product applied to each area. The areas were 6m x 6m each and clearly marked to identify whether the mustard has had any effect of casts. The forth area was treated with the same amount of product per 5 liters of water, however this time was applied using a watering can to ensure the soil was soaked sufficiently. The sites will be checked this week and any changes to casts will be recorded and I will publish my results on my next blog.

Maintenance week 1

This week work began on holes 1-9. Starting off with a 12mm solid tine and followed by a 6mm hollow tine, the same process as we carried out on the 2 putting greens.

The greens were then topdressed with straight sand and brushed in. The first couple of days the weather was ok, a few showers which didn't stop progress. The end of the second day we had only 1 and a half greens to collect cores from when we had a very severe thunderstorm. Fortunately it wasn't long lasting and we got off lightly as only 1 mile further north received more rain and more damage. 9mm fell in 20 minutes which created softer than ideal conditions to collect the rest of the cores and to start topdressing. We have now completed the work to all 1-9 greens, we now are looking to promote recovery and return the greens to a playable condition. To help increase the surface smoothness and encourage good growth the greens will be rolled regularly, cut when possible and an application of fertiliser, amino acids, biostimulants and wetting agent will be applied next week.

As holes 1-9 are closed until Friday morning to carry out the work we are taking full advantage and carrying out other tasks to the course. All the grass has been cut on holes 1-9 in the afternoon when we are not able to work on holes 10-27 and we have edged all bunkers on the closed course as well. All 1-9 tees, walk ways, worn areas and hopefully approaches and greens surrounds will be solid tined too. The team have worked really well this week to complete all necessary tasks.

I must stress this type of aeration is a once a year operation that has to be done at some point in the year. We feel this time of the year is the ideal time as recovery is the quickest it can be. I appreciate golfers will wonder why the greens are done right in the middle of the playing season, but to be honest the playing season is a 12 month cycle nowadays. So there is no 'good' time to do it from that point of view. The rest of the year maintenance is planned to be of 'minimal' disruption, however it is ongoing throughout the year. We have had a lot of compliments regarding the course and the greens over the last few years and it all boils down to the work that is put in, to get the course that way and make play on them possible on the greens for a 12 month season.
The picture below is the front putting green only 7 days after the work has taken place, another 7 days and I would expect the surface to be back to a near normal state.

This is what it was like 7 days ago

 As you can see from the picture the sand we apply every year is beginning to show in the soil profile, the upper portion of the green core is dominated by sand and the roots penetrate deeper below this through the aeration holes. The amount of organic matter in the upper profile is not thick, matted or excessive and it smells aerobic (anaerobic soil smells like rotten eggs). 

The full profile shows the problems we face regarding drainage, the lower profile is quite heavy soil which drains very poorly. With no drainage on the majority of greens, this can lead to poor upper surface drainage once the water table rises sufficiently during heavy rain, however during moderate amounts of rain the nature of the sandy top layers can cope and remain firm, the work we are doing can only improve this.

Next week we are starting on holes 10-18, repeating the same process as above. Greens on holes 1-9 will be back in play however will not be regularly cut until the sand on the surface reduces as this causes severe damage to the mowers when cutting in wet conditions. A poor cut due to blunted blades will quickly increase disease.

Recovery

With the 2 putting greens complete we now turn our attention to the rest of the course, holes 1-9 will begin on Monday morning (31st July). Repeating the same process we have carried out on the putting greens. Initially a 12mm solid tine followed by a 6mm hollow core. The two processes combined ensures we get deep decompation and aeration to the area within the soil where we want roots to grow and the removal of organic matter and increased drainage in the upper surface. The adding of sand help dilute organic matter build up and helps smooth the surface after the work.

Its been only 3 days since the putting greens were completed and they are already improving, the sand on the surface has reduced and the holes are beginning to close. The work we have done this year, as I have already mentioned, is to create less disturbance for a quicker recovery. Looking at past data and information which can be found on the blog, recovery using larger tines and more sand was anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks. I'm hoping for recovery this year around 10-14 days. During the last 9 years we have made great improvements to the greens, this has come through the work that has been done over that time. Initially we hit the greens hard trying to remove thatch and improve the soil structure, over the years slowly reducing the severity of the work and improving techniques to allow the greens to be more playable. Now we are at a stage where we are happy with the annual thatch balance (gain v removal) work can be less intense, we will never stop doing the work as we need to keep the balance of thatch build up in our favour. We have still got areas where we need improve the greens, the most important is drainage, as wet greens will always be prone to poor grass quality and growth. Installing drains or changing the greens structure will hopefully be the next step.

While the verti drain is on the tractor and we cant continue with any greens until Monday, work started on deep tining the tees, mainly on 10-18. This is again to relieve compaction and increase drainage. Other tees will be done during the maintenance weeks.

The course is still growing at a rapid rate due to rain which has fallen nearly every day this week, unbelievable making July the wettest month of the year so far with 109mm to date with 3 days still to go in July. June was previously the wettest month of the year with 66mm. There is no wonder the grass is growing, the two hottest months of the year (June and July) we have more rain than the previous 5 'winter/spring' months combined, below is the data for 2016 and 2017 to date.

2016                                           2017

January -         78mm                 January -         23mm

February -       52mm                 February -        52mm

March -           78mm                 March -           41mm

April -              63mm                April -              18mm

May -               28mm                May -               41mm

June -               56mm                June -               66mm

July -                33mm               July -                109mm

August -           71mm               August -          

September -    32mm                 September -   

October -         38mm                October -        

November-      65mm                November -    

December-      34mm                 December-     

2016 Rainfall - 628mm             2017 Rainfall –            350mm

Average annual rainfall- 620mm                                           

 Most areas of the course are still in great condition, however the usual wet areas are getting a little muddy with a little turf damage through continuous cutting and traffic damage, we have placed some hoops out to limit damage further.

Start of the annual maintenance

On Tuesday this week we started the annual maintenance, don't panic we haven't touched the course greens as yet, this is still planned for 31st July. We have done the two putting greens leaving a small area to putt on. The rest of the greens have been firstly solid tined with 12mm tines, followed by one pass with 6mm hollow tines.

Immediately after the work the greens were sanded with straight sand and brushed into the holes.

This year we have taken the decision to reduce potential disruption by using smaller hollow coring tines. We have based this decision on recent soil samples and green condition and the fact we have started using alternate methods of aeration, such as the Air2G2 machine later in the year. Using smaller tines leaves smaller holes so the amount of sand applied to the greens has been reduced from previous years. We put around 2 tonnes on per 500 sq/m in 2016 when we used 12mm hollow cores and did a double pass with the solid tines, this year we have reduced the volume to 1/2 tonne per 500 sqm. We are hopeful that the reduced disruption and reduced sand sitting on the surface will give a quicker recovery time. We are aiming for a 10-14 day recovery. I will update on the progress over the coming weeks.

Just before we started the work we sprayed the greens with the second application of preventative fungicide to help reduce the likely hood of anthracnose. This was mixed with iron to help strengthen and boost vigor of the the greens ready for the upcoming work.

Overall the condition of the course is great and the team are working hard to keep it in the best possible condition given the very unsettled weather. Now we have completed a number of annual tasks, such as the entrance lane, long rough cutting and are on top of general tasks such as intermediate rough cutting and strimming we have given Lynsey a go on the vibrating roller machine. she is our summer worker, however she is more than competent. She is also regularly divoting and raking bunkers around rolling and other general cutting tasks.

More recent rain has led to some of usual wet areas of the course being chewed up a little. The 6th tee area is becoming one of the worst on the course. We are aiming to vertidrain a number of areas during the maintenance weeks taking advantage of the course closures. Other areas I would like to concentrate on are the tees, approaches and greens surrounds, including all walk on/off areas. Depending on growth in the coming weeks the bunkers will also be edged.

Maintenance weeks approaching

In the next week we will be 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 31st July until 6.am Friday 4th August. To prepare the greens we have been grooming, cutting and spraying with growth regulator and biostimulants. 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 greens would be soft and bumpy, especially in the winter and disease levels would be higher

The process we are adopting during maintenance is:

Tine using 12mm tines

Tine again but in opposite direction on compacted areas

Tine again using 10mm hollow core tines

Sand

Brush sand to fill all holes. 

Roll green

Water turf

Spray wetting agent/ biostimulant

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 from the sand.

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 gives the soil air in which healthy growth can occur. 

To ensure the machinery and equipment is ready for the start of maintenance week we will tine sand and brush the 2 putting greens next week as long as the weather is ok.

When the holes are closed for maintenance, we will strim the bunkers on the course, this helps get them done quicker and the staff will be uninterrupted. 

The full schedule for closure:

Holes 1-9                                 Mon 31st July - Fri 4th August

Holes 10-18                             Mon 7th August - Fri 11th August

Holes 19-27                             Mon 21st August - Fri 25th August

We have had a small issue with the new irrigation system, one of the 3 way joints started leaking under pressure, as the new system has been recently installed this has been put down to a weak weld during installation. This is the only plastic weld joint we have had an issue with. The problem was fixed within 24 hours and the system back up and running. 

The weather has been more settled over the last 2 weeks and growth has been a little more consistent, enabling the course to be in great shape but more importantly from a maintenance point of view helps us plan a little more, concentrating on the smaller tasks once more. All secondary tasks and less frequent tasks will be covered before we start maintenance. 

We have tidied the entrance lane, cutting the thorn hedge back at each parking place so cars don't get scratched and at the end of the lane so visibility is clear to the right.

We have started to cut the 22nd tee ladies tee with the tees mower, this will now be cut regularly and will be in play within the coming month. The new turf will need a light topdress to help improve the turf quality long term. The sides of the tee were seeded however it hasn't been a great success and we will turf them at a later date.

Cloud burst

Well my last blog highlighted the dry conditions have disappeared quickly, and that's even more the case after the last week. On Thursday we had the most amazing thunderstorm since 2012. It was forecast to build up throughout the day and to pass over Malton around 6 pm, however the forecast was to only had isolated showers that would bring heavy but intermittent rain. Unfortunately that wasnt the case, the area of rain grew and when it got to Malton, stopped and unleashed a huge volume of rain in a very short time. Like the title suggests the last time I saw rain like this was a cloud burst in 2012.

A 4 hour deluge deposited 42mm of rain, and as you can imagine the course wasn't pretty. A lake everywhere, the only saving factor was that it had all night in which to soak away and minimise the work for the staff. The scene on Friday morning wasnt pretty, fortunately most of the water had found its way into bunkers and low areas. I was really happy to be honest with the amount of standing water, it showed all the work we have done to the course has made a difference, 5 years ago the course would have been closed due to the standing water, we managed to get the course open for 7.30 with minimal disruption. All but a few bunkers were GUR until we had a chance to put all sand back in position and rake where possible. The team worked hard to get all areas cut as best possible and the course in a playable condition. It also showed us where we still needed to improve the drainage for similar events in the future.

The downside to all the rain and in between the warmth, is the amount of growth, its unstoppable and very difficult to get to grips with. We are working on cutting semi as much as possible, with all other in play areas prioritised, as you can see from the pictures below the amount of grass taken off has to be collected to ensure the course looks ok and remains undamaged.

The dry spring and now humid, wet conditions are ideal for anthracnose disease. We have sprayed the first preventative fungicide of the year to control the spread of this disease. Below is some infomation regarding the disease.

Anthracnose

Identification

Anthracnose occurs in two forms, basal rot and foliar blight, which can develop at different times of year according to weather conditions. Anthracnose most commonly affects annual meadow grass, but can affect all grasses.

Basal rot symptoms are yellowing leaves, with the youngest leaf brick red in colour and black rot appearing at the base of the leaves.

With foliar blight, symptoms appear as irregular, yellow or brown patches of turf, which turn tan and die. It can be mistaken for drought, however the symptoms worsen with watering and fungal fruiting structures (acervuli) with fine black hair-like setae can usually be seen by using a magnifying glass.

What causes Anthracnose to develop?

Anthracnose is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum cereale. It occurs when climatic conditions are suitable and the turf is under stress due to inappropriate or inadequate maintenance.

Basal rot occurs in autumn and winter when conditions are cool and wet. Foliar blight occurs in summer when temperatures are higher. Both are more likely to occur when the turf is stressed due to low fertility (particularly nitrogen), compaction, drought and excessively low mowing heights. Moisture on the leaves and insect/nematode activity can also encourage development of the disease.

Treatment of Anthracnose disease

Fungicide treatments are available to control Anthracnose, however if the underlying causes are not rectified the disease may return more severely.The disease is best managed by correcting the underlying causes of the disease and following an appropriate maintenance regime will reduce the occurrence and severity. 

1. Prune and thin vegetation surrounding the turfed area to reduce shade and improve air movement in the morning, allowing the foliage to dry quicker.
2. If watering is required, this should be done less frequently, ensuring water percolates through to the soil. Irrigate early in the morning rather than during late afternoon or evening.
3. Remove dew first thing in the morning by switching/brushing the turf or dragging a hose across the surface, allowing it to dry quicker.
4. Follow an appropriate feeding regime.
5. Mow the turf at recommended heights, increasing the cutting height if necessary to promote grass growth and aid recovery.
6. Reduce excess thatch.
7. Aerate compacted areas.
8. Check for insect or nematode activity.

Personally i think this is more severe than fusarium from my experience at Malton and Norton Golf Club, as once the disease is visible the grass is infected to  a point where it can not recover. During summer fusarium is present in isolated areas however the grass can recover and will give opportunity for increased bent grass coverage.