PHIL’S – OSOPHY
Heat, Humidity and Turf
With the on going stretch of this hot and humid weather pattern I feel its time to learn how this type of weather affects turf.
When dealing with daytime temps. over the 90 degree mark and night time temps. not retreating from the 70's the ability of a Superintendent to better control soil moisture is removed. Especially if this weather is combined with the rain that falls under these conditions. High humidity by day and night slows the ability of the plant and the soil to rid of excess moisture. This ability is called evapotranspiration. This atmosphere rots the root systems in turf with decreased air pores now filled with water. It keeps turf from absorbing nutrients, and if there is no food produced within the plant photosynthesis is also slowed. If a plant is full of water and it has nowhere to go it can't eat, and if it can't eat death is soon to follow. Fortunately for us here is Michigan there are a few cooler nights mixed in with a prolonged heat spell. This is why you don't see as much dead turf during this type of weather.
Unfortunately this type of weather makes it very difficult for Superintendents to produce a constant green speed and this is why. Bentgrass and Poa, Two types of cool season grasses found on putting greens like to live and thrive in temps. between 60-75 degrees F. The best soil temps for the same grasses are roughly ten degrees cooler. In the weather we have currently everything slows within the plant as mentioned above. The absents of cool nights does not give cool season grasses the temperatures needed to recover by being within its best growing temperatures for survival.
Under these hot conditions Superintendents use maintenance practices to save turf and try increasing plant health. Some of these practices are;
- Increase mowing height
- Decrease or stop rolling greens
- Aerification to increase to amount of air in the soil
- Hand watering greens to only apply moisture where it is needed
I know what you're thinking. These are all maintenance practices that compromise greens speed, but they are the practices used to make sure there is still turf once this hot, humid weather breaks.
Localized Dry Spot
Many of you are asking about the condition of some of the tees on the Eastwynd and I have all the answers. First on holes 4 and 17 there were problems with the satellite boxes on the course that control the sprinklers on those tees. Repairs were made immediately, but with the temps we have had it does not take long for things to go south. A second problem with these two areas are sprinkler heads being used. As you can see in the picture below the water is hitting the center of the tee and nothing else.
This is caused by sprinkler heads that do not have the correct nozzle or are missing a nozzle. The effect is dry areas that quickly become hydrophobic or they do not allow water to pass through the soil profile. Once again when speaking of the Eastwynd tees thatch is the main culprit for areas like these to appear.
The solutions we have implemented to solve the tee problem on the course are;
1. Core aerify - remove thatch and replace with sand.
2. Replace obsolete irrigation heads ( if necessary ) to new sprinklers with uniform sray patterns.
3. Hand water hot spots to increase hydration where needed.
4. Apply a wetting agent. ( These are adjuvants that break the soil bonds that create Hydrophobic soils and allow water to better enter the soil.)
5. Pray for natural rain. Nothing helps better than a good storm.
One thru Four are already completed. Number 5 is out of our control.
Till next time,
Phil Hopper
" Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry."
- T. Jefferson -
Practice and Perfection
As we approach the week of The Patriot lets focus on what we are trying to accomplish during this time of year. Perfection. We are working hard to keep greens free of ball marks, bunkers without deer and footprints in them, and fairways with little to no divots. As we played this morning we came to this area on # 4 fairway.
Areas like this should never exist on a fairway when a practice facility exists. We are attempting to provide the best conditions possible. Please refrain from using the course to practice the short game and use the practice chipper and driving range to hone specific shots. Thank you.
Fun turf facts for you
1. Grass plants are 75 to 80% water by weight.
2. 90% of the weight of a turf plant is in its roots.
3. A 50 by 50 foot lawn, or 2,500 square feet, releases enough oxygen four a family of four per day.
4. An acre of turf can produce enough oxygen for 64 people per day.
5. Grass is the third most important source of oxygen behind trees and algae.
6. The net carbon intake of a well managed turf is 5 to 7 times higher than the carbon output to mow it.
7. Eight average size lawns provide the cooling effect equal to a 70 pound air conditioning unit.
* provided by the lawn institute.*
" Our obligation to our country never cease but with our lives."
John Adams
John Quincy Adams.
This is what we are after
All Superintendents and others in our field are out to accomplish the same thing. Quality, healthy turf. It's the name of our game. Its what make you on the course happy. It is what keeps us employed. We all learn in Earth Science way back when about things like photosynthesis and the nitrogen cycle. These are our starting blocks in the day to day operation and what we create out fertilizer programs around. If you understand the life cycle a turf plant follows and adheres to it becomes more apparent to the eye what the plant needs at certain times with in the growing season.
Photosynthesis is the process in which a plant takes in sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create and give off nitrogen. Its amazing how we are taught in elementary school something that daily, is responsible for all living plants on the planet.
It is when this process has started and turf green up and growth has begun that we begin our fertility program. It is also when we begin to take care of the never ending weeds with in the turf. We can reduce the amount of weeds by continuously doing two things all the time. Keep the fertility active all season, Think of fertilizer as the turfs vitamin, and keep the turf cut at a little higher cutting height. The golf course rough is maintained at two - and - a - half inches. It is by no means a cure all for weeds, but if you can keep weeds seeds from germinating by eliminating sunlight from reaching them, you're in the front row. A dense healthy turf stand will always have less weeds. Fertilizer does multiple things with in the plant. We all know it feeds the plant by giving it the minerals it needs to continue photosynthesis and the nitrogen cycle. It strengthens the cell walls of the plant to help ward off disease and to retain needed moisture during dry times of year. Once again, fertilizer to turf is no different than a daily vitamin to us.
Many people stop and ask why Lightning or a thunder storm seem to make their lawns green. There are a couple reasons for this to take place. The first is that our atmosphere is 78% nitrogen. The bond a nitrogen molecule has a very strong one and is not easily broken, but a bolt of lightning has the ability to break those bonds releasing a very easy form of nitrate for the turf to use quickly and help add color shortly after the storm is over. The other reason grass looks so good after a good storm is by the rain itself. The ground water used in this area has a higher PH than natural rain water. It has a PH of 8. Rain water will have a PH of 6.5-7. This is within the best PH levels where grass prefers to be and grow. It aids in breaking bonds within the soil making nutrients available to the plant that are bound together by using the higher PH irrigation water.
Small things like this. Things we have learned from the age of ten are important to us now. Simple understanding of science can help create a turf that will green up in the spring and be healthy through the summer. It will tend not to wilt and dry out during times of stress, and it is because you give the plant the fertilizer, water, air movement the plant needs to survive, and a little help from mother nature will also play a big roll in the health of the plant in ways only nature can provide.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
T. Edison
Thatch
Over the next three weeks we are going to focus on Greens maintenance. These practices are typically what make golfers upset with the turf managers. They are disruptive at times but are necessary to maintain a healthy turf stand. The first topic we will focus on is thatch. What is it? How do we manage it, and why a little thatch is a good thing.
Thatch is NOT what we make roofs out of. In the world of turf it is the layer of dead and decaying blades of grass and their roots. This layer forms at the base of the plant and if not managed causes increased disease and insect pressure along with a surface that feels as if you are walking on an air mattress. Turf with excessive thatch creates another issue. The roots of plants will tend to remain in the thatch layer instead of growing down where they belong - in the soil. Roots will reside where they get what they need to survive. Thatch acts as a sponge. If the moisture and nutrients are in the thatch layer so are the roots.
Thatch is managed with monthly to by-weekly topdressings. We all know these days on the course when you reach the first green and there is a thin layer of sand on them. This is necessary maintenance. The sand when applied and brushed in dilutes the thatch. The sand and thatch are mixed firming the turf. A smooth, firm surface maintains a true and faster putting surface.
Verti-cutting the greens is also a good way to manage thatch and is sometimes combined with topdressing. This is a practice in which we cut fine trenches into the greens surface. This does multiple things to the greens. It cuts surface tension allowing better infiltration of water and nutrients. It also allows small avenues for the topdress sand to better penetrate the thatch. This practice also initiates bent grass grow by cutting tillers forcing the creation of new plants.
The third way to manage thatch is with aerification. This would be the second worse time to golf but is also an important maintenance practice. Punching holes and collecting cores removes thatch from the playing surface. A golf green should have around twenty percent of the playing surface removed a year to maintain a proper layer of thatch. This means aerification should happen at least twice a growing season in spring and fall.
A half of an inch or more is considered excessive on well managed turf. This is where a maintained thatch layer of a quarter to half inch is a good thing. Roots will reside in the soil where they belong. The turf will except foot traffic and ball marks without damaging the crowns of the plants, and with the proper maintenance being done will produce a turf that is true to putt on and not crater when hit into.
Well here we go. Another Michigan Spring is unfolding into
what is sure to be a great Michigan Summer.
We are in project mode here at the maintenance department as we are
repairing cart paths, installing new landscaping on the south side of the
Westwynd grille, and readying ourselves for the delivery of thirty crab apple
trees.
All these things are
steps we are taking to achieve our number one goal. To give you an oasis to drive into, relax and
play. If you see Ron Betz or myself on
the course and have questions please don’t hesitate to ask. That is what we are here for, and we love to
talk.
I look forward to
future installments of Phil’s-osophy and can guarantee the following written works
will be deeper than this one.
Phil Hopper G.C.S.
“
In matters of fashion flow with the current.
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
T.
Jefferson
1 comment:
Very interesting
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