Course Update

 

 

Here is an example of a tissue test that we perform on several greens every three weeks during the summer.  This one is a report of #1 green.  If you look to the left you can see the elements that we are testing and the middle column shows our results and the finally the far right shows the range or target values for bentgrass.  You can see we are only really short in phosphorus by a hair which gets tied up in the soil easily. Potassium is the other we are short in which leaches very easily with rain.  We are constantly spraying potassium or applying granular applications to make sure we are giving the plant what it needs to keep it happy.

 

You probably have noticed some weeds on the course that are "bleaching" or turning white.  This is happening because of a new herbicide that we have sprayed in the roughs and a couple of fairways to rid the golf course of a couple of weeds that we have not been able to control in the past.  Weeds like dallisgrass, nimblewill, bermuda and goosegrass are just some of the tough to kill weeds that this new product works well on.   This new product came out last year and even though the bleaching is distracting to the eye I assure you that it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do which is inhibiting carotenoid biosynthesis and then they start turning white because of chlorophyll loss.  Soon after this the weeds die.

 

It is nice to see roots this length during summer.  Now I wish I could say that all the roots are this long consistently every where on the greens but usually that is not the case.  It is also good to see the the sand particles sticking to the root hairs on this profile as well and not falling off.