Monday, July 23, 2012

Course Update

The greens were topdressed with sand this morning to help dilute our thatch layer, smooth the greens, and protect the turf from scalping during these hot and humid periods of weather.

The collars were fertilized with a granular organic fertilizer to help with the stresses applied from our equipment this time of year. We continue to limit the use of our roller as the damage on the collars and edges of the greens was confirmed by Rutgers as mechanical damage from the roller. I am working with the BOG to remedy this problem for the 2012 season.

The tees and fairways were sprayed this morning with a wetting agent, fertilizer, growth regulator, and fungicide combination. The fungicide, Interface, is a great product for this time of year but it has a green pigment added to it which causes the turf to look "fake green" in my opinion but after a few days you won't notice it. A small price to pay for superior fungus protection. The wetting agent will help the irrigation move into the ground more evenly while the fertilizer and growth regulator will keep the turf strong but not grow excessively.

The rain that hit the course at the end of last week gave the irrigation system a few days off and help to flush some of the sodium from the root zone. The rain was not enough to bring back the dormant conditions of the rough. The rain also saturated the greens creating slow and soft conditions. The drier weather on the way combined with the sand topdressing will increase the playability of the greens.

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