This cicada was just off the edge of the green near the burrows.
This cicada was just off the edge of the green near the burrows.
This cicada was just off the edge of the green near the burrows.
This picture shows a silver maple that was removed between 6 and 7.
July 23, 2010 Scouting Report
A Brief Break: What me worry? The Kitchen Sink, Pythium blight, Fairy Ring, Summer patch, Brown patch, Dollar spot, Localized Dry Spot, Poa trivialis looks dead, Poa annua is dead, Tim's Biorational study and Nick says Mini-Rhizotron.
Sometimes we just ask for a break - a break in the weather that is. This week it came. On Monday highs were about 5 degrees lower - we reached 86.5 degrees on Sunshine Course near the practice putting green in Lemont. We were thankful for cloud-cover and waited for the rain - it fell in central Illinois this time around. In response, average soil temperatures at a 2 inch depth dropped a digit below 80 degrees the next day. Natural root mortality should slow a bit...
Today, we are told, may be our hottest day of summer, 2010. As I drove to work thinking of an early morning email from a Superintendent my eyes turned north just for a moment. Ominous thunderstorms were still probably flooding Wisconsin and parts of Northern Illinois and yet Chicago remained dry. My truck's outdoor temperature reading was 80 degrees at 8 am. Yep, it was to be a hot day. Summer and the dang forecasters continue to be right. So were we though, using experience and history turf professionals were expecting this one. But it hasn't been any summer. This one has remained consistently humid without regard to rainfall. During peak heat stress it is better to be dry. Superintendents will tell you there is no other important ingredient than water. There is not greater blessing, about mid-summer, to be in control of water. My other life, tenor who sings in a choir, will continue - come summer, might just answer a prayer or two.
Click here for the July 23rd Turf Scouting Report
Once the decision was made to bring a crew in, other trees that did not leaf out in the spring were included in the work (check Tree Work Part 2).
The stumps of the trees are still in place. After all the slated tree work is completed, the stumps will be removed and sodded over.
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
We have just weathered two storms. Well, counting two long holiday weekends with difficult weather. A superintendent with good insight reminded me of this week. And what will the third long holiday weekend bring – Labor Day? This humid Midwestweek, we continue to monitor unusual disease pressure caused by an especially warm summer. Scouting of our big three (dollar spot, brown patch, and Pythium blight) went too well in a week. However, in most cases, we handle diseases quite well given correctly-timed fungicides. It is physiological decline that scares us most – heat-intolerant Poa annua our weak link turf-wise. Our eyes got bigger as the weathermen’s oppressive predictions for a hot July continued to come true. We logged a few more 90-plus days and now have less memory of summer’s 2008 and 2009 (a cool anomaly X 2).
More upsetting, we lost our cool nights this week – allows plant recovery/healing. This has meant soil temperatures continued to climb. At 2 inches below, rootzones are now topping 80 degrees on average – natural summer root mortality just accelerated. Beam me up Scotty?
A Difficult Week: Letter of support, Lots of disease pressure, Poa annua greens decline, Wet fairways cook, Wilt and traffic injures roughs, Tim's fairy ring research, and Nick talks industry news
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update:
The occasion was the 4th of July weekend. All were smiles, especially golfers. We all were finally experiencing an extended dry period since early May and turfgrass growth had finally slowed. Golf balls would move fast and true, without jump or wiggle. Meanwhile superintendents were bracing themselves - likely to be an aftermath. A big weekend of play coincided with an especially hot and LONG weekend. In total, we logged 4 straight 90+ degree days (Sunday to Wednesday) and our current running total, 7 days, just beat the 6 of 2009. We are to expect 18 hot days this summer (normal).
Plants are adapted to growing zones and ours is "Cool and Humid." Therefore, a potential for physiological decline will always exist if temperatures remain hot - this week. With cool-season golf surfaces in the upper Midwest, it is just a plain fact that during peak summer heat respiration (energy use) exceeds photosynthesis (energy production). Nevertheless, golf continues largely unfazed by weekend decline and blemishes. Our next round is coming - July's 3rd week is always hot. Superintendents always make it look a lot easier - quickly adjust practices to optimize plant health. Up next...Round 2. - Derek Settle
Click here for the full report
The tree will be removed shortly. I will keep you update with its removal, as well as other tree work that will be done at the same time.
The club continues to take advantage of a service offered by the USGA called the Turf Advisory Service. The Turf Advisory Service or TAS visit was conducted on Tuesday this week. Ty McClellan, USGA agronomist for our region visited, and followed up on details from the previous visit and make recommendations for the coming year.
Mr. McClellan was very positive regarding conditions of the course, and recommended to continue much of what has been put in place since the renovation project.
Some of the topics discussed included rough mowing patterns, creating more fescue areas like we have near 10 tee, fairway topdressing and possible tree removal due to health problems.
Mr. McClellan will create a report for the club discussing his findings.
Here is a link from the USGA discussing the TAS.
Mr. McClellan was very positive regarding conditions of the course, and recommended to continue much of what has been put in place since the renovation project.
Some of the topics discussed included rough mowing patterns, creating more fescue areas like we have near 10 tee, fairway topdressing and possible tree removal due to health problems.
Mr. McClellan will create a report for the club discussing his findings.
Here is a link from the USGA discussing the TAS.
This week we tried to take advantage of the cooler temperatures to do some verticutting. We preferred to accomplish this during the cooler temperatures because to the level of aggressiveness we wanted to take with the practice. We used a new piece of equipment that will remove more material from the turf surface. Our goals for the approaches was to stand up some of the grass that has been laid over from mowing the same stripe continuously in an effort to achieve the look we want. This verticutting will be a usual practice with this mowing pattern. Due to the level of aggressiveness we took, the approaches may look a little yellow or brown for a week to two weeks while the turf begins to fill in some of the areas where leaves were removed. Even though the short-term results in some off color turf, the long-term benefits are well worth the effort.