Naperville Country Club Green Department

Coldest Week of Fall Yet: Earthworms Everywhere, Skunk Damage, Rust, and Tim likes Morton Arboretum's 41,000 Species

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

We just survived our first real chilly week of fall (Sunshine Course: 3 of 7 nights below 32˚ F). Most of what I now hear is that final golf course projects are complete or are in the home stretch. No more pest issues are being reported as cool nighttime temperatures are in control. This time of year we've concluded and are summarizing all studies on dollar spot and brown patch - creeping bentgrass is highly susceptible to both. It would prove to be our second stellar year of fungicide research and, as it turns out, a combination of heat and humidity is ideal for numerous plant pathogenic fungi (aka summers 2010 and 2011).

Thankfully summer is a distant memory now and in November we'll continue a new North Central Region fertility trial and we'll finish a study with Dr. Bruce Branham and Bill Sharp that sought a new way to remove Poa annua without harming bentgrass in fairways. Meantime our superintendent Chris Painter shut down the irrigation system, other courses will follow. My scouting brought me close to animals this week? I saw an amazing amount of earthworms on fairways and more skunk damage on a rough in search of white grubs. Freezing temperatures and snow should be about a month away, but today a headline shared on Twitter said "Major October Snowstorm Targets Northeast". Uh Oh.

Click here to view the October 28, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a great weekend and enjoy fall!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog

We will be dealing with frost again for Saturday. This looks like our heaviest frost so far this year. We will keep you updated on when the first tee times will be.

A heavy frost has settled in for Friday morning. We will keep the pro shop updated on the frost status. A frost for Saturday morning is likely also. Early tee time should plan accordingly.

On Tuesday we took a trip to our fertilizer supplier Masterblend International in Morris, IL. The company moved into a new facility this spring and they hosted an open house yesterday for their customers to come and see the operation. We buy nearly all of our fertilizer from this company each year. They provide specific services that we find very useful.

The facility is over 52,000 square feet and houses their bulk storage, offices, mixing facilities, and bagging facilities.

This is their rail spur where they take delivery of their bulk fertilizer delivers.

The fertilizer is unloaded from the bottom of the rail cars onto conveyer belts into the building. Two conveyer belts are used to avoid contamination of different fertilizers.

This is the bulk storage area of their building where they can store 4000 tons of fertilizer.

This is the part of the facility that we find very useful. Masterblend has the ability to mix a specific fertilizer for our particular needs. These black containers can each hold a different product that can be blended together.

The different fertilizer products are moved to a hopper at the top of this machine. This machine can blend 2000 lbs of fertilizer in 2 minutes. After the fertilizer is blended it is dropped down into either 50 lb bags, 2000 lb totes, or 1000 lb totes.

For the superintendents who read this, if you use UMAXX or UFLEXX it was bagged in this facility.

It was nice to see the facility and process that they use to blend the fertilizers we use.

Cold, Windy and Wet: Dollar Spot's Last Dance, Rust Rages, Yellow Tuft, Earthworm Activity, and Tim's Nice Summary of Dollar Spot in 2011

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

It was Thursday and my daily notes said, "Clouds are above and light rain is falling. It all began Wednesday with 0.75 inch recorded on Sunshine Course." As it turned out, Chicago had been enjoying an Indian Summer the first two weeks of October, but by the 20th our high would not cross 50 degrees. Weathermen would tell us it was our coldest day since 26 May. It got windy too and little Sunshine Course recorded winds at 9-19 mph every hour that same day. Now that's unusual. Closer to Lake Michigan, Soldier Field would clock gusts of 53 mph and north shore places like Highland Park would feel winds of 45 mph. In the landscape the cold, wet, windy weather meant the peak fall color of many trees promptly ended. Within the week, cottonwood leaves would be completely down, though I had to wait to see the change - I was out of town.

This week saw our first real hard frost as low temps dropped below 30 degrees in places like North Barrington and Aurora. Nevertheless, effects of a warm October are still with us and my weekly scouting would find terrific rust, amazing dollar spot, and that yellow tuft stuff. Superintendents noted earthworms had returned and course projects were in their concluding phases. Next up, irrigation pumps will be off and folks will say two short words - SNOW mold.

Click here to view the October 21, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend and stay warm!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog

As we expected, frost has set in for Saturday. This is a heavier frost than yesterday, and will be a lengthy delay.

We do have a frost delay for Friday.

Looking at the weather report for Friday morning shows a possibility of frost in the morning. The major factors contributing to frost appear to be lining up for it. We have only seen spots of frost this year, and expect this may be the first wide-spread frost that results in a delay.

Here is a piece from a paper written by D. R. Cook, "Predicting Frost At Your House", Journal of Meteorology, Vol. 15, no. 153, November 1990.

Frost formation is a complex process, and conditions have to be "right" for it to occur. Frost forms on surfaces directly from the vapor state, without condensing as dew. If dew forms, frost formation is unlikely, even if the temperature drops below freezing.

Frost is more likely to form on surfaces above the ground first, such as house roofs, or automobiles, because the air immediately above the ground is usually a few degrees warmer than air a few feet higher. There is some heat transfer from the ground to the air a few centimeters above it. If there is much wind, frost will not form either. (Neither will dew, as both these occurrences require little or no wind, so the atmosphere will not stay mixed.) If the skies are cloudy, usually dew or frost will not form either, as the clouds reflect the radiated heat from the ground, which helps in keeping the lower layers mixed.

So the ideal conditions for frost formation is a night with clear skies, light winds, and a temperature forecast to be near or a little below freezing. Standard temperature measurements are taken from about 2 meters above ground. On a calm night the ground temperature can be as much as 5-7 degrees cooler than the standard temperature reading. If there is some wind, the air stays mixed, and the temperature difference disappears.

Here is the hourly forecast for tomorrow morning. It is showing that we will have "a night with clear skies, light winds, and a temperature forecast to be near or a little below freezing." Tee times tomorrow morning should plan on a delay.

Here are our other posts about frost:

Frost

Frost Delays Start Again

Our fall projects are underway this year. The main concentration this year is a continuation of our drainage list, along with our soil cultivation and fertilizer applications. The majority of our soil cultivation has been completed. Greens, Tees, Approaches and Fairways have all been aerated and topdressed. We are going back through our fairways with a verti-quake now. This is the machine that slices the soil and leaves the lines.

Here we are adding small drain lines around the catch basins in 8 fairway. The areas around the catch basins always stay wet after rains for obvious reasons. These lines will help move more of the moisture off of the surface and into the drains after rain. We plan to complete the basins in 8 fairway, 12 fairway and 5 fairway by the end of the season.

Yesterday we verticut and topdressed the approaches to finish the aeration process on them.

It's Cloudy: Goodbye Indian Summer, Dollar Spot Returns, Watching Yellow Tuft, Fall Color and Tim's Tenacity vs Bentgrass Update

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

An interesting week weather-wise. We continued a record pace of completely cloud-free days until Monday, October 8. On that day we saw 95% of full sun and it meant our record 8 days of 100% straight had come to an end. In the interim it was a nice experience. Arguably, we had experienced some of the best fall color ever to be produced by deciduous trees. The main thing is that rain, and associated wind, can easliy knock colorful leaves off as their petioles teeter on the edge of senescence. Quick story. I met some out-of-town friends on Sunday. As I was passing through Mellinnium Park my eyes were filled with gold - the golden color of honeylocust and ash trees within the venue. I said, "To arrive in Chicago this week was just genius!" They agreed.

In my scouting this week I saw a few things. I saw golf courses do their final push of core aerificaiton (greens and fairways). I saw dollar spot return (lows rose to 50˚). I saw yellow tuft continue to do its thing (bentgrass fairways). I saw a golf course continue drainage installation (on greens). I saw earthworms return (with rain). I saw leaves fall (with wind). I saw trees with great color (honeylocust, black locust, red bud, sugar maple, ash and cottonwood). I like to scout.

Click here to view the October 14, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a great weekend and hold onto your hat - it's gonna get windy!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog

It's October, It's Cloud-free: Enjoying Fall Colors and Indian Summer, Skunk Damage Means Grubs, Flowers Peak, and Tim says Sclerophthora macrospora

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

So, it looks like I may have been out of town? You would be right and I missed some of the best weather the Chicago environment has seen all year. All I can say is rats! Soil temps are now below 60 degrees and root growth, of say creeping bentgrass, is now unencumbered by "supraoptimal temperatures". Many of our issues related to cool-season turfgrass, and for that matter landscape ornamentals, are root-related. Yet, we still have a poor understanding of roots, root diseases and root growth dynamics. When soil temperatures rise above 70 degrees we have real trouble maintaining root biomass due to a natural physiological decline. Now we are enjoying optimal root growth - these periods occupy a relatively short window in spring and fall.

What else? Chicago's ash trees are now peaking in color while most maples and oaks have yet to do their thing. Chlorophyll, the green pigment in leaves, gets denatured as we experience cooler evening temperatures. Meantime, the reddish anthocyanins attached to sugars continue to accumulate in the leaves. It won't last long as senescence of leaf petioles is up next. But, for now it's all about yellow, orange, red and even purple. Did I say I like it yet? I do.

Click here to view the October 7, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend and enjoy this wonderful run of nice weather!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog

The rain held off just long enough for us to complete the areas that we wanted to have done before the rain came. The greens have been aerated, topdressed (will be topdressed again soon to completely fill the holes), and fertilized. The tees have been aerated, verticut, topdressed and fertilized. The approaches have been aerated, but we have not topdressed them yet. That will likely be done next week.

We did not make any progress on the fairways yesterday. The machine broke down, and will be a few days before the parts arrive to fix it. However, we will be continuing the fairways with our other aerators today. Our verticutter for the tees also broke down yesterday. (getting towed back to the shop on left) Fortunately, only two sets of tees did not get done. Fairways 11 and 14-18 have not been aerated yet. We will be working on them this week, but won't complete them until early next week.

The rain that we received overnight did a good job of working in the sand on the greens. It will take a few days of growth to get the sand worked in better and start the road back to smoother greens. Until then (probably sometime next week), the greens will be slow and bumpy.

We were able to finish the greens aeration yesterday, and the tees have been aerated and cleaned. We are waiting for the material that we will use to topdress the tees. We did start on approaches last night, and were able to complete 10 and 17.

We will be topdressing the greens again soon to ensure all holes have been properly filled. The greens will be bumpy and slow through the week as we work to get them smooth again.

We are continuing the fairway aeration today. 9 of the 14 fairways are completed. We are also aerating approaches in play the rest of the week. Please watch out for the workers.

Aeration that we started yesterday will continue today. 1-14 greens have been completed, and we are finishing 15-18 today. 1-6 fairways have been completed and we are continuing the fairways today also. The fairway aeration will be taking place all week, so please watch for an employee in the fairways. We started in on the tee aeration yesterday, an may finish it up today.

The greens will be slow and bumpy this week. We will not mow the greens until later in the week, and it will take a few days of rolling to get them smooth again.

The forecasted rain tomorrow may interrupt aeration, but we will continue as conditions allow.

The weather forecast looks like it could cooperate with our aeration schedule this time. We are planning to begin greens aeration on Monday, and complete the process by Tuesday night. The approaches and tees will be aerated following the greens.

The leaves have started to change and the fall color is showing. It is very nice to see the color, but with that comes the falling leaves.

We try to keep up as best we can, but when a breeze is blowing like it is today, it is a futile effort.

The drain is completed on 14 fairway. This will eliminate the lagging wet area after rains. This is the first of several drains that we plan to install this fall.

The bag that is sitting off the right of hole 10 is the silt and muck that was pumped out of the pond on 11. The bag is designed to hold the silt while allowing the water to seep through. Once the water has dried, the bag will be cut from the pile of silt. This will take about 60 days.

Yesterday we began trenching lines for a drain in 14 fairway. This spot is one of the usual suspects when it comes to wet areas after rains. This valley collects most of the water from the first half of the fairway.

The lines have been trenched and cleaned, and are now ready for gravel and pipe. We hope to have this done by the end of the day tomorrow, and have it cleaned up for weekend play. If you are out today or tomorrow, please be mindful of the workers in the fairway.

Of 144 Years, We're Record Wet: Enjoying Fall Colors, Yellow Tuft of Bentgrass, Dollar Spot Ends, and Tim Tim says Mesotrione and Kentucky Bluegrass

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

As seasons go, I really like fall. I said that recently to a friend and was then reminded that our favorite season is sometimes just the one in which we currently find ourselves. I said, "Ok! Fall is my favorite!" As far as the seasonal life of plants go, we now have begun to move quickly. More and more, fall color has appeared in the landscape. The larger color palate now extends to lawns where tree leaves have begun to appear. In my neighborhood this week, I would see my favorite honeylocust trees give up about half their leaves - helped by 45 mph winds on Thursday afternoon. Oh, and at work I've begun to admire a couple of woody ornamentals I've otherwise walked by - white fringe tree, Chioanthus virginicus, and downy serviceberry, Amelanchier arborea. Currently, Chioanthus is a clear yellow and Amelanchier is a nice reddish-orange.

As far as turf issues go, you won't hear many complaints from the land of cool-season turf. Our current soil temperature is optimal (roughly 60° at 2 inches). Also, our high/low values all week have been 60° by day and 40°-50° by night. Now that's nice! Lingering dollar spot has quickly faded now that nights are cool. Instead of plant health, talk this time of year focuses on course projects. "Glad aerification is complete and everything healed up. Working on leveling tees, next week we begin work on drainage for greens." On the last day of September...no complaints.

Click here to view the September 30, 2011 Scouting Report.

Have a great weekend. An Indian Summer is on the way!

Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
630-685-2307
dsettle@cdga.org
Weather Blog

Timothy A. Sibicky, MS
Manager of Turfgrass Research
630-685-2310
tsibicky@cdga.org
Research Blog

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