Mid Winter Update

Winter is a time for us to recharge batteries a bit, prepare equipment for its future duties, seek out the best deals on fertilizers and pesticide products and attend education sessions to learn new developments from distributors and university researchers. Of course, we are always here to help the golf course get through its long nap unscathed. While the golf course sleeps under a thick protective blanket of snowcover, potential problems are on the horizon due to the thaw and freeze cycle we've seen this week.

The first month of winter with its La Nina sent winter weather provided consistent cold temperatures with plenty of snowfall. The impressive snow cover provided an excellent layer of insulation from the cold, and also protects turf from damaging winds. However, because of the rain and mini thaw we saw this week, combined with extreme cold we'll see this weekend and beyond, potential ice problems loom on the horizon for fine golf turf in New England.

An ice layer has formed and will thicken on greens over the weekend. Ice acts as an impermeable layer over the surface of turfgrass, choking off plants from oxygen. Even in winter, plants need to breathe. If the ice layer stays for over forty days, problems may develop for Poa annua plants present on the greens. Luckily, as yours truly came to Potowomut from northern hinterlands near Rochester NY, we have been through this exercise before. If conditions are unchanged by later February, we may need to clear the greens of snow, and apply a truckload of black sand to break the ice layer. Black colored sand directs warm March sunlight to the surface, melting snow and ice quickly. We will keep you updated.

A few golf course trees have been damaged by the weight of heavy snows and strong winds. We have cleaned up a few, but more remain to be cleaned up when snow cover dissipates. Also, dead trees have been removed on 2,8 and 18.

As mentioned in my last post, the well that provides irrigation water will be serviced this winter. The contract has been signed and this work will be completed before we need water in late March or April.

A new nematode control product was introduced to the marketplace just after January 1st. (Nematodes damaged several greens last July.) I have scheduled meetings with the manufacturer and with the most learned nematode researcher on turfgrass, Dr. Wick from the University of Florida during a scheduled trip in February. Like the experimental walnut extract product we used last year, this is a bio-nematicide, a product applied that isn't a pesticide. Azaguard uses neem seed extract to shrink nematode populations because nematodes and neem seed extract act as two "north" magnets pointed at each other. Nematodes won't live under neem trees and the material acts as a deterrent.

We are excited already to get back to work on the golf course. With some luck, the golf course will remain unscathed through winter and will be open as soon as conditions permit. Back to regularly scheduled winter activities, and thanks for reading!!