I know it has been a while since my last post but we really did not have a lot projects going on. With our hands full just mowing grass I wanted to wait until the Men's Member Guest was over before we started do a lot of the cultural practices that we typically do in the fall. During October we have groomed and topdressed the greens twice after an application of a granular fertilizer. The tees have all been aerified and select ones were seeded with perennial ryegrass. The tees that have a lot of bentgrass were verticut in two directions. We were doing well seeding fairways and almost got through the ones that we wanted to seed before our tractor that pulls the seeder had to have a repair done, so we are still waiting to get that back. The fall annuals were planted around the clubhouse earlier in the month. Following our second frost of the year we have started to see the leaves really change colors. This past Wednesday with nearly .8 inches of rain a lot of the leaves and pine needles that are shedding have started to fall. This is just the beginning of about a 4 to 6 week leaf cleanup season. While the grass is still growing and our efforts are still focused on mowing which is our first priority and leaves are second, we will do our best to keep them mulched up as best we can.
If you look closely you can see lines of new shoots emerging after grooming the greens. This is just another tool we use in trying to get the grass to stand up before we mow the green. Brushing and topdressing are other practices that aid in this as well.
Here you can see lines of the newly seeded perennial ryegrass growing. Typically at first until the new grass matures some grows taller than the existing stand of turf. This will go away as the grass matures and after a few cuts.
Newly planted pansies on the back patio
Some mums added as well
This picture was taken on October 22nd on the 4th green. I'm not quite sure what has happened here but I know it is not oil or gas. We are going to keep an eye on this area and plug out any necessary areas that need it.
Here we are verticutting the tees that have a lot of bentgrass growing in them. We verticut in two different directions to help thin out the thatch which we have a lot of. After this is completed we mow the tee and back ready for play. In the near future we will topdress these tees to help firm them up.
Here is a look at the what was causing the toilet to lean in the ladies bathroom. The joists and wood sub floor is very rotted. The contractor placed new blocking around the toilet flange and replaced two layers of plywood and a new layer of cement board on top to get ready for tiling.
All complete and back open for business!
Here is a picture of some maintenance we are doing to the sand filter at the back of the driving range. We have continued to see the filter work correctly since the work was completed. Our job is to keep it looking as good as we can between inspections and to do the necessary work that the county requests when they perform the inspections which are done every three years. Our next inspection is scheduled between January 1st 2015 and March 1st 2015.
Here is a look at a good size bald face hornets nest we had to remove from the bushes along the stairs leading to the green on hole 13. Bald face hornets are actually a beneficial insect but because of the location of the nest it was necessary to remove it.
The naturalized areas are starting to be bushogged throughout the course.
About 2 weeks ago we were able to have all of the lights in every building changed over to LED. This program that PEPCO was offering will help them lower their energy needs and lower our own electricity consumption and hopefully our bill!
This week we have completed our second aerification to all of the greens. The weather also held up well for us with some cloud cover that keeps the stress levels of this operation minimal. We started on Monday August 18th and went ahead and completed the practice green to get that one out of the way and to give the new guys a chance to see what this operation is all about. We also used a smaller hole or tine size this time on all the greens which will help with the healing process. Even though every Superintendent has different methods they use during aerification and constraints here is a brief list of the different steps we perform during our aerification.
1. We apply a granular fertilizer about 5days prior to aerification to get the grass growing.
2. We spray the greens four days prior with plant protectants, bio-stimulants and wetting agents.
3. We mow the green to get the dew off so it helps with drying the surface.
4. The aerifier starts to aerify the green.
5. Cores are cleaned off with blowers and picked up.
6. The greens are rolled.
7. Topdressing sand is applied to fill the holes and smooth our the surface.
8. The topdressing sand is dragged in using a brush towed behind a cart.
9. Calcium and magnesium amendments are applied.
10. Green is watered.
11. A new pin location is cut ready for play the next day.
Below is a brief video that explains why we need to aerate.
A new fixture has been placed at the stairs by the green on hole 13. A very generous member brought this to be mounted to let everyone know when the green is clear and they can hit up. Mr. Pellerite, first off Thank You Very Much. But I do have one question, I just have to know how long did you sit in front of your computer searching for this perfect bell.
This last project is finally underway at the cart storage building. Here is a picture of what is left after the old wooden fence has been removed. The old wooden fence is being replaced with a new vinyl tan fence that will give our curb appeal a big lift.
Wow! What a difference a new fence can make. Now we just have to hope that the cart staff can keep from hitting it with the golf carts as they are cleaning up the carts.
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.
It's nice to see the weather change for the good once in a while and to get the temperatures we are getting now in the middle of July, I don't think anyone can complain. We have received just over 3 inches of rain in week with some pretty unbearable humidity. The course overall held up well and we got some much needed rain out of the storms that swept across the Mid-Atlantic states. Along with the rain came some very cool unseasonal temperatures that allowed us to get some much needed work done. The weeds in the rough have been a priority of mine for a long time but until last year there wasn't a product on the market to allow me to spray the tough to kill weeds like nimblewill and dallisgrass that I wanted too, and we needed some cooler weather and moisture in the ground to alleviate any injury to our grass in the rough. Now we are going full speed in trying to "weed out" the roughs. We were also able to get a light topdressing on the greens this week to help smooth the surface out a bit. The venting process has continued to occur on the tee box on 14 and the practice green. With the amount of rain and humidity we encountered the aerifier was sent out to solid tine the new tee and practice green on 1.5 inch centers. You will have to look close to see the holes but I promise they are there. The red rock path leading to the back patio had some work done as well. The second step leading to the back patio was leaning causing a trip hazard so we dug it up and leveled it. The the red rocks were raked back up that were washed down from the heavy rains we have had.
During the heat and lack of rain when the grass wasn't growing as much we started bunker edging a few weeks ago. It is a long process but the end product looks great! We will continue to keep knocking them off one by one until we get them all finished.
Safety first! Here we are touching up the yellow caution stripes on the steps leading to the back patio. Our first concern is that everyone is always safe at Montgomery Country Club.
Here we are venting the practice green with a 8 mm solid tine that goes down about 3 inches. We aerified the green in a 1.5" x 2" spacing to create lots of little holes for good oxygen exchange. Since this green is not sand based like the others on the course and does not have any internal drainage installed it is important the we create air channels to promote this oxygen exchange to create a healthier plant.
This tree on hole 7 will be probably taken down in the fall of this year. The reason is it creates a double hazard from the fairway bunker which is unfair. Knowing that this locust tree will continue to get bigger and be more penal in the future it will have to be removed. Not only knowing what kind of trees to plant but also where to plant them is just as important.
