Here is a great video of another maintenance crew enjoying their job. It was posted a couple of weeks ago, and have been meaning to share it. It is from The Glencoe Golf and Country Club in Alberta, Canada.
The Glencoe Golf and Country Club - Turf Care from MOLiFE/NZC Films on Vimeo. [.....]
We have started to over seed areas in the fairways that thinned due to the hot and wet summer weather. We hope to be finished with the fairways areas today, then start on the areas in the rough that were damaged by summer patch.
The first step is using an aerator with solid tines to poke shallow holes into the soil to create more soil surface area for the seed to contact.
We are then running our seeder over the area. This seeded cuts shallow channels [.....]
August Was Great! One More 90° Day, Summer Patch, Dollar Spot, University of Illinois Turfgrass Research Field Day, and Tim says Kingpin
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
So, now are we happy? Happy? At the end of this week, I can honestly say it has been a good month - August. Although we hit 93° in Chicago on Wednesday that will be the last hot day we'll see this month. For the month it was only our third day above 90° on Sunshine Course in Lemont. [.....]
The course measured 1.3 inches of rain this morning from the storms yesterday. Washed out bunkers is the only clean up we will have today. There was very little wind, so no tree work is necessary. The course will be wet in the usual areas, but responsible cart usage will be allowed today. [.....]
August Is Nice and Dry: The Unusual, Summer Patch, Pythium Blight, Dollar Spot, Fairy Ring Returns and Tim says Spoon-feeding
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
It's dry and we like it. Maybe we shouldn't so much but you have to understand it distances our memory of July's flood. July was THE month that really challanged us with rain, more rain, and rain. It happened at peak summer heat when kids stay near the pool. Since that time kids are back in school, sorry Nathaniel, and we've [.....]
August Continues to Cool: Rootless Turf is Weak, Summer Patch Hurts, Hot Temperature Diseases Halt, Dollar Spot Returns, and Tim is Stressed?
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
It happened. It seems we have survived another difficult summer. Can I really say that? I think I can. We are now almost looking mid-August square in the face and the extended forecast is without 90s for highs and now we can reflect. From the very beginning this growing season was trouble. A very wet spring interfered with our [.....]
Hopefully, we are through the summer heat at this point. The recent cooler temperatures have been much more comfortable to work in and grow grass in. We do several things through the summer heat to avoid damaging the grass more that necessary. One is the use of carpets on our approaches near the greens.
This is an area of concentrated traffic where mowers constantly turn. The greens mowers turn in this area, as well as the approach mowers. The damage from the mowers rubbing on the grass [.....]
We have a few areas on the course that have suffered from flood injury and pythium blight again this year. Dr. Settle wrote about this in the August 5 Turf Scouting Report. Here is what he highlighted:
Plants are in survival mode as July transitions to August. A difficult time on Chicago golf courses as it's our historical period of cool-season turf physiological decline. We've been trough another difficult summer and weather is to blame. Sound familiar? As August starts, the coming weeks are important because further [.....]
August Cools: We Catch Our Breath, Flood Injury, Pythium blight, Physiological Decline, Fairy Ring Develops, Tim's IS-AP18, and Peter says Microclimate
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
It's now August and this summer now seems a little less ominious? Not a bad thing if you are a superintendent responsible for acres and acres of green. This week began hot as ever, but that all changed Tuesday night when cooler air moved temperatures 10 degrees in the right direction - that would be down. As the calendar page [.....]
This is a quick post to supplement the Divot Repair post from a month ago. Erwin McKone is the Director of Golf Operations at Briar Ridge Country Club in Schereville, IN and has a YouTube channel, and World of Turf blog that I follow. He has posted a good video regarding filling divots that I wanted to share.
Note: We do not have the divot bottles on our carts, and request that divots in the fairways be replaced when possible. The Green Department will take care of any further repair. [.....]
What do you call a turfgrass disease that occurs during the summer months and shows itself in the form of reddish-brown patches? Summer Patch. The symptoms of this disease have been showing for 2 weeks now. The weather conditions have been perfect for this disease to continue to spread throughout that time. The pathogen that causes this disease is in the soil and becomes active during periods of high soil temperatures and wet weather. We have has plenty of both the last 14 days. Soil temperatures have regularly [.....]
The following article recently appeared in the USGA Green Section Record. It was written by Ty McClellan. Ty is our USGA regional agronomist. We utilize his expertise on a regular basis; he visits Naperville CC regularly to evaluate course conditions. This is part of a program offered through the USGA Turfgrass Advisory Service. The article is very timely so I wanted to pass it along.
By Ty McClellan, agronomist, Mid-Continent Region
July 13, 2011
Randomly scattered divots (on the left) remove up to 50% [.....]
Record Wet July: Brown Patch Peaks, Pythium Blight, Physiological Decline of Bentgrass and Poa, Type 1 Fairy Ring Begins, Tim recaps Wisconsin's Turfgrass Field Day, and Peter sees and says Agrostis ipsilon
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
A week of plant health fallout. It was not entirely unexpected because as of last week we had just experienced our hottest air and soil temperatures. But one more thing happened that tipped the balance and on Friday, July 22 it began to rain. When the deluge was over, July [.....]