Finally some Rain

The course got some much needed rain with 3/4 of an inch falling in the afternoon hours yesterday. The humidity is still very high and the chance for more showers are forecasted each afternoon for the next few days. Drought stress will be eased but disease pressure will increase until the humidity breaks. I have written earlier this year about the tissue and water testing that we are doing on a frequent basis this season and how our irrigation water is high in sodium. We have sensors in the greens that monitor temperature, moisture, and sodium. These sensors yesterday captured the rain flushing the sodium left from weeks of irrigation  away from the greens surface through the soil profile. Notice how the sodium levels increase in direct relation to the rain event.

Rainfall is the graph on top and Sodium the graph on bottom

Course Update - Early August

July was an extremely dry month where we saw moderately hot temperatures on a consistent basis, while the irrigation system was being heavily relied on the new VFD drive paid off in huge ways during this seasons dry spells. The small irrigation projects that we completed last fall have also been a huge success this summer. Thankfully August has brought some rain and even better that it followed our dry-ject sand injection of the greens Monday night. For the 4th consecutive August we have dry-ject the greens creating sand filled channels allowing the soil to breath for the remainder of the summer until we implement our aggressive aerification process following the club championship at the end of September. The greens were brushed and rolled followed by over seeding of Crystal Blue bentgrass seed at a rate of 1 pound per 1000 sq ft. I know your saying so what, interestingly there are 8 million bentgrass seeds per pound so on average each green has 40 million new seeds with a chance to develop. We are mowing on our regular schedule with afternoon rolls and dry-mows to maintain smoothness and speeds.

2 days after dry-ject

Sunscreen/Bug Spray and Turf don't Mix

Sunscreen/Bug Spray and Turf don't Mix

Please do not apply sunscreen or bug spray while standing on the turf. This photo above is from the 2nd green and the green footprint can clearly be seen in the picture. Please apply these products in the locker room or on the cart paths.