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.

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Some unfortunate damage has occurred over the last week.  This damage is from the fertilizer application that was made to the fairways.  We used a contract service to apply the fertilizer as we normally do.  This time a different truck and applicator were here for the application.  The areas of noticeable damage are around slopes that caused a heavier application.  Areas of damage are in 9 fairway, 5 approach, 11 approach, 15 approach and a few other scattered areas.

The applicator truck is equipped with two spinners to broadcast the fertilizer.  This picture clearly shows the application pattern of the two spinners.  Fertilizer is a salt, and when excessive amounts are applied to the turf, the salts pull water out of the plant which result in plant death. These areas are dead, and will need to be sodded.

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Our fall fertilizer applications have all been completed.  As we normally do, a bulk truck applied the fertilizer in the fairways and the roughs.  It is very convenient to have this done.  The bulk totes of fertilizer were dropped off first thing in the morning. The truck arrived about 2 hours later and began fertilizing.

Here is the link to the post about fall fertilization last year: Fertilization Finale

Here are the reasons for the fall fertilization application copied from last year's post:


"The late fall application is an important application for the health of the turf through the winter months, as well as green-up when the cold temperatures break in the spring time. The timing of the application is the most important aspect of this application. The goal is to spread the fertilizer after the grass has stopped growing, and the last mowing; but, before the ground begins to freeze. Though the leaves above ground have stopped growing for the year, the roots will continue to be active until the ground becomes frozen. This means the roots will be able to take in the nutrients from the fertilizer application, and instead of utilizing the energy for growing leaves, it will us the energy to grow roots and store nutrients. These stored nutrients become important when the turf starts to grow again in the spring. The stored energy allows the turf to green up sooner in the spring, and begin to grow out of the winter dormancy quicker."

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On Monday we made a fertilizer application to all of the roughs on the course.  The picture on the left shows the fertilizer in one of our bins waiting to be spread.  We had to cover it over the weekend to prevent in from being rained on, lucky for us, it did not rain on Monday and we were able to make the application.  Usually our fertilizer arrives in 50lb bags, or in 2000 lb totes if the bulk truck is applying, this time 22 tons arrived by the semi load.  Arriving by the semi load wasn't the most convenient, but the price was right.....free.  We did have to pay for shipping, but the fertilizer was free.  We had not planned on a fertilizer application right now for the roughs, but the opportunity presented itself, and we did not want to pass it up.

We did rent a spread to make the application quicker, and we used our own material handler to refill the walk spreaders.  The larger spreader was used around the fairways, while the walk spreaders were used around the greens and tees.  The picture on the right shows the walk spreaders getting a refill.

The typical application involves 50lb bags, or the 2000 lb totes, so this type of application was a first for us.  Everything went well, and we were able to fertilize the roughs on the course, as well as the driving range and chipping area.

The only downside that may come from this application is the odor.  The product is and organic fertilizer from the Milwaukee Sewage Commission called Milorganite, for MILwaukee ORGAnic NITrogEn.  We spent yesterday spreading a by-product of the sewage from Milwaukee residents.  The fertilizer is continually be produced, if a stock pile begins to accumulate, they need to get rid of it, which is how we were able to receive the fertilizer for the shipping costs only.

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No April Fools Joke!  Thursday, April 1st, the course will be ready!  Carts will be available, the driving range and chipping green will be open, and the halfway house will be open.  The abnormally warm weather has been good to the course.  The soil temperatures are rising quickly, and the grass is beginning to grow.  The partial crew we have had this week have gotten lots done, but still have more to do.

The spring flowers have arrived and are in place for the Easter weekend.

We have started our first round through the bunkers this year.  This job normally takes a few days to ready the bunkers after the winter neglect.  This job involves cleaning out the debris that has entered the bunker, then removing any soil that has settled at the bottom of the bunker.  After the contamination is removed, the sand is replaced from any washouts, then raked.

The course supplies are back on the course.  The benches, trash cans, ball washers and tee markers are back at home on the tees.  And, signs and target posts are back out.

Wednesday we made an application of gypsum to the fairways.  If you are out on the fairways this week, the white material on the fairways is the gypsum.

This material will break up quickly and shouldn't be very noticeable after a mowing.  The white streaks in the fairway are from the dust from this products.

Gypsum is calcium sulfate, and we use it to supplement our soil which is a little deficient in calcium.

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Another maintenance practice that is indicative of the fading golf season is our final fertilizer application called the dormant application. This application was completed on Monday this week. We again utilized the service of a company to apply the fertilizer over 80 acres of fairways and roughs.

The late fall application is an important application for the health of the turf through the winter months, as well as green-up when the cold temperatures break in the spring time. The timing of the application is the most important aspect of this application. The goal is to spread the fertilizer after the grass has stopped growing, and the last mowing; but, before the ground begins to freeze. Though the leaves above ground have stopped growing for the year, the roots will continue to be active until the ground becomes frozen. This means the roots will be able to take in the nutrients from the fertilizer application, and instead of utilizing the energy for growing leaves, it will us the energy to grow roots and store nutrients. These stored nutrients become important when the turf starts to grow again in the spring. The stored energy allows the turf to green up sooner in the spring, and begin to grow out of the winter dormancy quicker.

The fertilizer application was made on Monday using the application service. They arrived at around 6:30 in the morning and had were leaving the course at 3:30 in the afternoon. During their time on the course they were able to apply 22,500 lbs of fertilizer over 80 acres of the golf course. Utilizing the application service is an extremely efficient way for the us to apply large amounts of fertilizer very quickly. Here are a couple of videos showing the truck in action on the course:

We purchase the fertilizer from a company locally, but the application truck travels here from Ohio. The truck brings the fertilizer in 2000 lb. bulk bags, and pulls a trailer with the application truck on it. Here are two videos showing the truck refilling:

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Once again the rain forced us off the course for the day. We were unable to get equipment onto to the course today, and hope that the forecast for tomorrow only brings light showers. We were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Monday and Tuesday. Monday is typically a big day for the green department. We take advantage of the course closure to do our heavy maintenance. Monday maintenance included fertilizing all roughs and fairways, irrigation repair on the driving range tee, topdressing greens and fairways (more information on these practices soon!), and mowing all areas on the course.

Rough Fertilizing

The local distributor of our fertilizer offers a service the we take advantage of for fertilizing our roughs and fairways. We had them out on Monday this week after being rained out last week. The fertilizer is brought to the course in 2000 lb. bulk containers and applied to the course with a fertilizer truck.

The truck and fertilizer waiting to go.

The advantage of this truck is it's efficiency. On Monday the truck spread 12,000 lbs. of fertilizer over 80 acres and was on the property for approximately 4 hours.

Refilling the fertilizer truck.

Fertilizer truck on the course.

You may notice some tracks in the fairways from the truck. These tracks will recover in a short time with no adverse effects.

Now is a good time to fertilizer turf. The summer heat is beginning to break and evening temperatures are getting cooler, this results in less stress on the turf. Fertilizing now will allow the turf to remover quicker from summer stresses and traffic, and provide a healthy stand entering the winter months. If you fertilize your own lawn, you should try to make an application in the next week.

Driving Range Tee Irrigation Update

The irrigation problems that I wrote about earlier have been repaired now. The contractor was in on Monday, and early Tuesday to make these repairs.

Pipe-puller used to install new pipe.

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