Rain Rain Go Away

Despite all the rainfall we have seen this season, we still occasionally run irrigation cycles. You may wonder why.

This morning, (Friday) we ran a 12 minute irrigation cycle on fairways to water in the growth regulator that was applied on Wednesday and Thursday. This particular chemical enters turfgrass plants from roots only. Therefore, we needed to send the chemical into soil so it can be picked up and utilized by plants.

Other materials need to be watered in as well. These include:
1. All granular fertilizers. Salts present in these materials can burn turf leaves.
2. Insecticides applied to control subsurface feeders like grubs.
3. Pre-emergent crabgrass herbicides. These materials prevent seeds present in soil from germinating.
4. Most wetting agents. Wetting agent materials work to hold more water in soil so plants use less.
5. Fungicides that target soil borne disease, such as fairy ring.
6. Fertilizers applied that supply nutrients to cure soil deficiencies.

On the flip side, other materials do their work by staying and drying on turf leaves. If these materials are watered in, they move into soil where they won't work. These include:
1. Fungicides applied to prevent or cure fungi that attack turf leaves. (Anthracnose, dollar spot, brown patch)
2. Insecticides for surface feeders and for products that get inside plant cells where they do their work.
3. Foliar applied soluble fertilizers.
4. Herbicides applied to control existing weeds.
5. Growth regulators that work by entering plants through leaves, where they slow cell elongation, and thus growth.

Tidbits....To date, we have pumped 4 million gallons of water, much of which was used to water in fertilizer and chemical materials!! Last year we used 4.8 million gallons as of June 26th.