Timing is Everything

I am a firm believer that actions taken in the Fall and Spring will indicate how successful the summer will be.  Most catastrophic turf loss can be avoided if certain steps are taken at the correct time, especially in the Spring.

I use a soil thermometer about 4 times a day beginning in March to monitor soil temperatures.  Soil temperatures, NOT air temperatures indicate what is going on with the grass plant.  The first big number to hit is 50, when root growth is initiated and a green-up should begin to occur.  If the soil has been between 50 and 55 for a prolonged period and you have seen little to no activity above ground (green grass), there are problems...either too little fertility or winter damage.

In New England soil temperatures can fluctuate greatly, increasing the difficulty of timing pesticide applications.  When soils reach 55 on a consistent basis, it is time for us to treat Bentgrass for Take-All Patch and Pythium Root Dysfunction.  If the timing is off, meaning the preventative applications are made too late or too early, you won't know until mid-July.  The causal pathogen for these two potentially devastating diseases infects in the Spring once the soil has warmed to about 55 degrees.  In the Spring, the grass plant could care less if it is infected because the growing conditions are optimal.  However, once the mid-July heat causes root dieback and the plant is under a little stress, the pathogen starts to exhibit is effects and large stands of turf will just collapse due to a poor root system.

Just this week we hit our third important temperature: 65 degrees at a depth of 2 inches for 5-6 consecutive days.  SUMMER PATCH...this one will never leave my mind.  As discussed before, our fairways are mostly Poa annua which is the grass species most susceptible to Summer Patch.  Prior to 2010 I had never seen Summer Patch on the fairways at Widow's Walk, and thus did not preventatively treat for the disease because it is very expensive to do so.  2010 started out wet; very, very wet.  After the prolonged period of sopping wet fairways at 65 to 75 degrees, Magnaporthe poae was a very happy fungus.  This pathogen had always been there, but it was never given the perfect opportunity to infect and then subsequently express its damage.  Following this wet spring was a VERY hot and VERY dry summer, which in its own right is challenging, but even more so when dealing with Poa plants with virtually NO roots.  This "perfect storm" led to wide-spread turf loss, I am talking acres of dead grass that you could literally do nothing about.  It is the first time I have ever felt embarrassed to drive around the course with my "product" out there for everyone to see.  I am fortunate to have a core of very understanding people who play and work at Widow's Walk...and the fact that the greens were unscathed and actually quite good that summer.

From the 2010 season forward, the Fairways are now preventatively treated to suppress the causal pathogen (Magnaporthe poae) from infecting Poa annua to decrease the probability of seeing Summer Patch.  Sound confusing and a little bit unsure of the methods?  That is because this disease is very difficult to control, and if you see it once the pathogen is there surviving in the soil and waiting for the perfect time to infect.  That being said, we have greatly reduced the incidence of the disease, and are very diligent in our monitoring of soil temperatures and TIMING of our fungicides.  Timing is everything, especially in the Spring when a pest-free plant is allowed to flourish and produce a solid root structure that will hopefully get it through a very stressful Summer.

#!@&* Poa annua

Poa annua (annual bluegrass) is commonly reffered to as the most prolific "weed" of golf course turf.  It may be a weed to most, but some superintendents must live with the reality of coddling this grass through stressfull summers and hoping it survives stressfull winters.  At Widow's Walk we experience both ends of the Poa spectrum; trying to keep it alive as our primary fairway turf, while keeping it off of the putting surfaces.

The fairways were grown-in as a blend of Colonial Bentgrass and Creeping Red Fescue, but upon my arrival in fall of 2001 very little of the original grasses remained.  Reasons for the infestation of Poa are not certain, but in my experience I could guess that the original stand of turf had a hard time standing up to the incessant cart traffic coupled with the very poor soil beneath the fairways.  These factors would have lead to a classic "weed infestation", where a weed will take over an area where the indigenous species has been weakened.  If the Colonial/Red Fescue stand was injured from cart traffic or mis-managed in any way, the seeds of Poa annua were allowed to germinate, and eventually become the dominant grass.  I assure you that this can happen fast, but conversion the other way can be very slow and tedious (more on that in later posts).  So a weed is no longer a weed when it must be managed as the dominant grass, which I have had to do with the fairways at Widow's Walk.

Spring is such an important time for the management of Poa annua.  I will discuss the various strategies used to keep Poa alive in future posts, but will now concentrate on seed-head control.  One of Poa's most annoying traits is its ability to produce an immense amount of seed at ANY cutting height.  Think about your lawn for a minute.  If you skip a mowing or two in the late spring you may see the emergence of seed-heads that will grow above the leaf blades by a few inches.  When you finally get out there to mow, the seedhead is mowed off, and as long as you keep up with the mowing they will not be seeen again.  Poa annua will produce seed-heads at 2.0" (rough), 0.5" (fairway) and 0.125" (putting green).  There is an opportunity to stop this from happening by timely application of a growth regulator.  On the fairways at Widow's Walk we use Embark T&O growth regulator applied in mid-April.  As seen by the photo below, this stuff really works when used properly.

The light colored section was covered up by a piece of plywood while we applied the Embark, thus making a "control".  What you are seeing is actually thousands of seeds that were produced in this 2'X3' square.  If Embark was not applied our fairways would more or less have this appearance for at least two weeks.  The reason for controlling seed-heads is three fold.  First, seed structures are UGLY because golfers are expecting lush green fairways not white straggly fairways.  Second, in order to keep the greens free of Poa annua it is best to have as little seed on the bottom of a golfer's spikes as possible, as they can become an instant seed planter.  Finally, if the plant is "told" not to produce seed structures, the carbohydrates will instead be used to produce roots and tillers, making the plant stronger for the summer months ahead.

Is Poa annua a weed?....the answer is sometimes.  The definition of a weed is "a plant out of place", so at Widow's Walk Poa annua lives as a weed on the greens and as a desired species on the fairways.  This dichotomy is just one challenge that we face at Widow's Walk as we try to produce the best playing conditions within our means.

2013 Golf season is under way

What a difference between seasons!  2012 started out with record high temperatures, while 2013 brings back memories of a "normal spring".  The cooler spring has allowed us to catch up on extra projects instead of scrambling around to get areas mowed.  Many projects were completed during the winter, most noticeably the expansion of the rough between holes 9 and 10 along with the areas between 13 and 15.  These areas are such popular landing zones, as they are immediately adjacent to the right sides of the involved fairways.  The project was started during the fall fairway aertion of 2012, using the fairway plugs as our "soil" for the expansion.  The existing soil was terrible, containing large stones, gravel, sand and stumps.  The below photos show our progress: