Some Problems Of Wet Weather

The month of June has been abnormally wet.  We usually welcome the occasional rain event, however this month has brought several rain events.  The biggest problem with the rain events were they spaced themselves through the month in a manner that prevented the course from being able to adequately dry.  This has brought on several issues this month, and possibly more issues into the summer.  Here are a few pictures of what we have seen on the course.

The picture on the left is showing symptoms of the disease brown patch on one of our tee boxes.  The weather patterns have kept the surface of the tee boxes wet, and combined with the heat has brought on visible disease symptoms.  We do treat the turf with products to prevent the outbreaks.  The downside is these products are not 100%, and during times of extreme disease pressure symptoms will still show.  These products have been beneficial to prevented the disease from progressing to excessive levels and causing turf damage, which at this time of year would be very detrimental to playing conditions through the rest of the year.

This picture show symptoms of Black Layer on a green.  This condition can be extremely difficult to manage if it becomes widespread.  Lucky for us this picture is of an isolated spot, this is not typical of all the greens.  This spot is in a low part of the green on 3.  Black Layer is a symptom of anaerobic(oxygen depleted) conditions in the soil.  Though plants take in carbon dioxide, they also need oxygen in the soil to continue the necessary processes.  When soil remains saturated and oxygen depleted for extended periods of time, nutrients in the soil undergo changes as well.  The black color that you see in the soil is a result of a build up of nutrients in the soil.

This picture is more difficult to see the problem, but in the bottom of this drainage swale the turf has become discolored.  This is a result of water draining to this area, then having temperatures rise quickly to the 90's which heats up the water and damages the turf.  Once this area dries, the turf will recover.