The other "problem" with no snow cover

It's going to be a mess out there this spring.

January 12, 2012

Golf course finally looking like its supposed to in January....white!

Interesting Look to #1 Fwy

I don't know for sure what the cause of this is, but there are distinct lines of different looking turf on both sides of the first fairway.  It's possible that at some time, the sides of the fairway were killed off and seeded with a different variety of bentgrass, but there is also defined lines of earthworm activity.  The earthworm activity leads me to believe that there is some difference in the soil on the outsides of the fairway. 

The black specks in the grass on the left side of the picture are soil castings, created by earthworms.

Is it March?

This morning I took advantage of this unseasonable weather, and took a walk on the course to check on all the greens and evaluate how they are fairing through this very mild winter.  Overall things look good, but there are a few small spots that are looking a little weak and will need to be monitored through the rest of this snowless "winter" we are having.  Snow cover provides protection to the greens from the winter winds and cold temperatures, without snow cover, some of the weaker areas of turf can be susceptible to winter kill. 

Dead Ash Tree Near 3 Tee

Without having many cold days, it's been hard to get out on the course and do our tree removals that we have planned for the winter.  It's best to do this work when the ground is frozen in order to minimize the damage to the turf from falling trees and the heavy equipment we need to use to clean up the mess.  The cold weather we had at the beginning of this week finally provided us a window of a few days to get out and work.  Most of the tree removals that we will be doing this winter are due to the emerald ash borer (EAB) that has infected most, if not all, of the ash trees on the course that are not being treated. 

Click on the Picture to Enlarge and see the EAB galleries that cut of water and nutrient supplies, killing the ash trees.

Since we haven't been able to get out on the course as often as we like, it's been busy here in the shop.  About half of the equipment work has been completed, but there is still a long way to go to get ready for mowing and opening the course in the spring.  It will be here before we know it!