CDGA Turf Scouting Report, June 12th

A week that promised quite a lot became a week that rapidly fell apart and put rootzones into an awkward situation. The high temperatures created problems for turf and this combined with reported deluges of over 1" in under 30 minutes particularly on the southern side of the city that resulted in some very stressed turfgrass. The heavy damage to bunkers and undermining of cart paths will require some time for repair and of course some expense incurred. These intense storms while building up the monthly rainfall total do absolutely nothing but wreak havoc for turf managers as far as clean-up is concerned. Further to that the excess moisture and hot weather will have driven up the chances for patch disease and root problems developing. The saving grace is two-fold - night time temperatures stayed below the 70°F mark and there is a cool down forecast coming - which hopefully will also bring some drying out of the soil profile. Regional research meetings took place this week and many of you will be glad or sad to know that the problems with seed head control were not just localized - some sentiment was that the timing seemed to be too early. Damage from winter in the Midwest was not considered anywhere in the realm of last year. Conditions in Iowa were equally extreme early in the week and in certain ways the Chicago area may have been lucky based on some of the rainfall other locations have seen this year to date e.g. Kansas City saw >16" of rain for May - monthly normal is 4". Growth potential models are a collaborative project which will receive attention amongst the group going forward. Finally, for those of you that have forgotten - rounds for research is still ongoing. The money raised really makes a difference going forward and if you want to investigate or bid on the donated rounds please take a look here: http://www.rounds4research.com/ Click here to view the June 12, 2015 Scouting Report As always if you have a question or query please do not hesitate to ask. Ed Nangle PhD Director of Turfgrass Programs Chicago District Golf Association www.cdgaturf.org Follow us on Twitter @TurfResearch