Naperville Country Club Green Department

High Temps Hit 90s Early: Lack of Rain = Dry, Handwater Management Starts, Peter thinks Root Research, and Tim says "Fairy Ring Research Begins"

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

Memorial Day Weekend Arrives and yet it doesn't seem quite right. So far this season has advanced early, but the poor old calendar just progresses according to numbers. To me and to others, Memorial Day came and went a month ago - this calendar is of growing things. To the uninitiated all seems well, but folks that maintain the landscape are tired - they had to start "doing" a month earlier than usual. What continues to concern us, just a little bit, is exactly just how this growing season will play out since such a spring has never been recorded. March amazed us with 80s for highs - nine consecutive days. Later, April calmed us with more normal temperatures, but a lack of rain meant we were very dry. May saw the usual zig zag of spring as Mother Nature's final cold frosty breaths were exhaled. May's final full week has arrived and already Chicago is counting her first few days above 90 degrees - usually this begins in June.

But May is not over when one more piece of awe inspiring meterological information (AIMI) hits the news, a 100 degree day forecast for Sunday, May 27th. Currently, it isn't even summer and eyebrows (mine especially) begin to look like twin mountain peaks. During summer in Chicago we know the century mark is unusual to cross at any point. For example, we saw 100+ last July, but the last time that had happened was 2005. The earliest 100+ degree day in Chicago (Midway Airport) hails back to May 31, 1934 - dust bowl years. Hang on, summer just arrived.

Click here to view the May 25, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy your holiday weekend and... summer early!

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 cart path project at 4 green was started and completed last week with no problems. We hope to have some cart traffic use this path to relieve the wear between 4 green and 5 tee during the hot months of the season. After heavy rain, this path will also gives us the opportunity to rope that area off and move carts to the cart path.

Monday we painted lines for the edges of the path, and soon after the crew began trenching a line for the edge. This insured a nice clean edge for the cart path.

The soil was removed, then a base layer of gravel was soon to follow. The finish layer of gravel is the same red gravel that has been used on other paths around the course. A great job by Juan, Samuel, and Antonio who did all of this in one week. Enjoy the series of pictures from the project.

The lines that you can see in the rough are from a recent cultivation practice. This is done to allow better air and water movement into the soil. We completed this in areas of the rough that receive heavy traffic, resulting in compacted soils. When soils are compacted, air is displaced from the rootzone which causes a wide array of problems. It is more difficult for roots to survive and water to move in the soil.

The machine we used is called a Verti-Quake. It has thick blades that slice into the soil to break up the compacted zone. The channels the machine makes will allow for water to soak into the soil quicker and space for roots to grow. The grass will grow back over the channels, but they will still be in the soil through the season. We can dig in areas where we have used this machine in the past, and still see the channels it created.

May Is Dry, Yet Temperatures Perfect: Ideal Turf Health, Our Few Diseases Subside, Peter from Purdue Returns and Tim's Dollar Spot Review of Bentgrass

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

If you live in the upper Midwest, you should be smiling. If you are a golfer you should be beaming. Dry conditions and warm temps create fast ball roll speeds on greens - more like midsummer they say. I take note because it is a departure from the cool, wet, and nasty springs that we experienced in 2010 and 2011. Back then a superintendent was not considered quite the mastermind of their club! To be sure 2012 has been different and it's about Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit or, if you prefer, Anders Celsius. Especially warm from the get-go and it all started this winter - if you can call it that. The story 2012 warmth is told by more than just early appearance of flowers, insects and fungal diseases (we scout). For example a weatherman's blog headline today said, "Lake Michigan's water temperature hits 60-degrees Friday--three weeks ahead of the first 60 a year ago." When a really big pond gets such a head start, that says a lot.

In other news, this week was special because we passed a key frost-free date in northern Illinois. And guess what I saw all week on Chicago's courses? Flower planting of course. At the same time plant health is peak, a cool-season turf thing. Kentucky bluegrass and other Poa spp. are enjoying life and words like supraoptimal temperature have yet to be spoken. We wish we could just press a big red hold button and have highs of 70 to 80 and lows in the 40 to 50 range. HOLD

Click here to view the May 18, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy more near perfect weather this weekend, though we need some rain.

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

This week we started our last major project of this spring, a cart path off the right side of 4 approach that travels around the back of 4 green to 5 tee. We had planned to do this project late last fall, but we were unable to get to it(we were do the drainage work on 11 fairway).

The cut for the path has been made. We will begin to lay the gravel base layer today. Once the base layer is in and packed down, red gravel will be used for the finish layer.

You can never be certain what you will find when you start digging on the course. Here, the guys pulled up and old irrigation line while cutting for the new path.

May's Temperature Zig Zag: Soils are sub-60 again, Fairway fungicide programs begin, Waitea, Microdochium, Dollar spot, and Tim's Waitea data is early!

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -

This week did you sit back and enjoy the fruits of ideal growing conditions? ...for cool-season turf? We would have, but were mowing. You see, April frustrated us a bit because we stayed cool and it didn't rain much. Rapid warm-up spring came to a screeching halt. May has us back on track - most trees have now leafed out nicely and birds seem to be everywhere. Canada geese are also increasingly around and on Sunshine Course in Lemont the bluebird houses are already busy with activity - only it's the sparrows and tree swallows making the first move. Meantime, lawns and roughs are growing like no other, helped by alternating days of good rain then bright cloudfree sunlight. Interestingly, the landscape continues to remain ahead by about a month based on our historical records of scouting for flora and fauna (that's flowers and fungi for me).

If you have liked this unusual spring (March wowed us) then you should also like this knowledge - some of that early solar energy transfered below. Early warmth without too much rain has meant that we are now enjoying our best roots in what might be ages. Root Olympics 2012? It's been very different from springs 2010 and 2011- both were overly cool and wet (I called each rootless/ruthless). It got me thinking, since my arrival to Chicago in 2006 this might be the best spring for root growth yet. That's good news since a dry Chicago summer is kinda-sorta overdue.

Click here to view the May 11, 2012 Scouting Report.

Enjoy the near-ideal conditions for plant growth AND any opportunity to be outdoors this weekend!

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

Another group of arborvitaes were delivered early this week to finish the plantings along the fence near one green. This line of arborvitaes gives this area a much cleaner look and provides a nice barrier from Chicago Avenue. Here is a list of the past posts about planting these arborvitaes spanning the last three years:
Arborvitaes Near 1 Green
More Arborvitaes Near 1 Green
Arborvitaes Are Done

In this stretch of trees, the crew had to deal with some large roots of the adjacent trees. Thankfully, they were able to space the arborvitaes between the roots so nothing needed to be cut.

The drainage projects last week took most of the crew's time, and also most of the content on the blog. Those projects have been finished, so we can move on to other items. Here is an update on other projects that were completed or started last week:

Our yearly maintenance on the pump station was completed early last week. This involves changing the oil in the pumps, repacking bearings, tightening spindles, checking connections in the panel, etc. We do have a weekly checklist that is completed throughout the season. When it comes to the pump station, we feel you can never perform too much preventative maintenance.

The pump station was also washed and waxed last week as well. As cooler well water is pumped through the pipes during the summer, condensation forms on the pump station surfaces. A regular cleaning and a wax will help these surfaces resist rusting as they age.

In a previous post (here) we mentioned we had seeded our fairway nurseries. Last week was the first time to mow them. They are coming in well, and the warmer temperatures and rain are pushing them along as fast as we could have hoped.

We have started another round of arborvitaes near 2 tee. A few arborvitaes were planted along the fence next to 2 tee on Friday, with the remainder of them planted yesterday.

More arborvitaes are scheduled to be delivered today. Those will complete the line at the fence along Chicago Avenue.

The area that was used to put the spoils from the dredging of 11 pond is holding water in the middle. We will need to ad a drain in this location at some point. While the water is has been standing in this spot, a duck as taken a liking to it.

Here is a quick video of the sod work that was done to finish up the drainage project on 14. There is no sound on this video.

It's May, We Warm: A Trifecta of Disease, 1st Waitea, Microdochium patch, Dollar spot returns, and Tim says "Early Dollar Spot Research"

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle -
It became May and well... we warmed. This would my first week to see a lot of core Chicago courses - I'd be in diagnosis mode. Compared to March's freakish warm, this time around it would be less mysterious. I would recognize the usual fungal diseases of late spring. I would see three different foliar diseases - triggered by the recent rain and warmth of May. It began last Saturday when a superintendent's two email sentences would excite me. "Looks like Waitea is active on our green in the test area. Very faint, but lots of rings." But my first incline that Waitea had finally arrived would be nothing compared to another arrival. On Monday and Tuesday, following our rain, an outbreak of Microchium patch would sporadically occur across the Chicago District - Poa annua showing greatest susceptiblity. For example, I would document Microdochium patch (aka pink snow mold) affecting golf surfaces (mainly tees) in travels to three north suburb courses, two west suburb courses and then I saw it on the south side. I was quite well versed when I received a call for help from a far south suburb superintendent. Then as a bonus, in my travels I would see more Waitea and find my first significant outbreak of dollar spot on a fairway. My eyes and lens had began to overheat. This week represented the first real bout of the usual contenders of spring. Growing season 2012 just began to make some sense.

Click here to view the May 4, 2012 Scouting Report.

Have a good weekend and enjoy those dwarf Korean lilacs beginning their bloom!

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

After only 4 days of work, the drainage project on 14 and a small drainage project at 4 approach and 5 tee is done. The contractor started marking irrigation lines and laying out the pipe on Monday morning. They started digging across 14 approach on Monday afternoon and had all the pipe in the ground by Wednesday afternoon. The project on 14 went quick enough that the contractor had some time left and asked if we had any other work they could do for us. We had plans to put a drain in to help the area between 4 approach and 5 tee so we let them do that job as well.

This project will help keep the approach on 14 dry and gives us the ability to expand the drainage into 13 fairway in the future. Six drainage basins were installed in this area to prevent the water from moving over ground for too long a time. This will also keep the hillside on 14 more dry, and allow for better turf conditions through the summer.

This area between 4 approach and 5 tee benefited this week also. The project on 14 went much quicker than planned, which allowed us to do this drainage as well.

Here are some pictures from both projects:

A job well done.

The fairways have be all different colors this spring with the weather we are having. This picture shows what a few spots in the fairway look like now. The bentgrass is off color with yellow/brown leaf tips, while the annual bluegrass is green. We assumed it was a combination of the several frosts we received last week along the dry conditions we had. We asked Dr. Settle from the CDGA to look at these areas and give us his opinion.

Dr. Settle was here yesterday and looked these spots and agreed it was likely a result of the frosts that we received. This is why the bentgrass is brown, and not the annual bluegrass. Annual bluegrass will tolerate the cooler temperatures better than the bentgrass. Dr. Settle also added that mechanical damage could be a cause of what we are seeing. The worst of these areas are in locations of the fairway that receive a lot of traffic. The cold nights with frost will stop the grass from growing. This will delay its recovery from mowing, or cart traffic. With some warmer nighttime temperatures this week, we expect the grass to begin growing out of it.

There were no obvious symptoms of disease in these areas but Dr. Settle did take this sample to try and isolate a pathogen.

These are the leaves out of the sample. You can see the yellow/brown tips on the leaf blades.

The leaf blades set up on petri dishes in an effort to identify a pathogen.

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