We watered!

After a dry and beautiful Independence Day weekend, the golf course finally needed some water that was not provided by mother nature.  Even though we were watering in chemicals (grub control), the golf course was definitely in need of a drink, so we are going to count that as the first regular irrigation cycle of the season, and a big cycle it was.  The course was very dry and our goal was to water heavily to provide the turf with enough water to last a few days.  A superintendent's, golden rule for irrigation is "water deeply and infrequently."  Wetting the entire soil profile and then letting it dry as much as possible encourages deep rooting of the turf.  On the other hand, watering light and frequently keeps the top of the soil profile moist and causes shallow roots because the turf never has to work to reach for the water.  Watering deep and infrequently is a practice that homeowners need to follow also.  Too many times I hear about and see yards or businesses that have the sprinklers turn on everyday for a few minutes.  Not only is this practice wasting a great deal of water, it's encouraging shallower rooting of the turf, contributing to disease problems, and not allowing the grass to be prepared for stress.  If you are one of these "offenders," consider changing you irrigation habits.  Make sure to stop Adam or Me on the course and we can explain to you how to slowly change over to proper irrigation habits.  (It could get ugly if you go cold turkey on the watering.) Your grass and the environment will thank you.

Keeping with the topic of yard advice, time is running out to apply preventative grub control products, that is the chemical that had to be watered in with the irrigation yesterday.  We apply grub control every year to a good portion of the golf course.  Greens, green banks, tees, tee banks, fairways and about 15 feet of the rough around the fairways are treated for grubs.  Other areas of the rough we are willing to take a chance on damage because they aren't as important to golf, and they are not irrigated.  Grubs prefer irrigated turf over non-irrigated turf.

The forecast for this week looks absolutely beautiful, and dry so I'm sure that it won't be the last time we water this week.  Summer is actually here!