August 6 Update

The golf course continues to excel despite another warm July. July 2012 saw nearly identical weather as July 2011. The high temperature average was .2 degrees cooler this summer and rainfall was .2" less. We had timely showers in late July 2012 saving 500,000 gallons of irrigation water versus last July. Warm temperatures early this year pushed irrigation gallons ahead of last year by 3 million gallons to 13.2 million gallons pumped as of today.

Areas of greens' collars have failed during the summer. Most of the failed areas were comprised of weak perennial ryegrass, a turf that is improper for green collars because it cannot continually tolerate the low height of cut. These grasses were planted years ago, probably as a "rescue" seeding to establish turf quickly. We plan on lightly renovating these areas beginning this week with a machine that prepares a proper seedbed followed by seeding with creeping bentgrass, the correct plant for these areas in our climate. (Many of you already know that I am NOT a fan of perennial ryegrass for close mowed turf as it has NO business there. We have never planted a ryegrass seed to a fine turf area at Potowomut, nor will we) Planting bentgrass seed on collars provides no guarantee of success this time of year. (Think of greensmowers turning daily on collars...stressful) Anyway, if this light renovation fails, we will look to add creeping bentgrass sod to failed areas of green collars this fall.

Remember when we were worried early in the season about potential crabgrass infestation because of warmth in March? The infestation didn't happen here, but I have heard of and seen plenty of crabgrass this season. We worked fast to get all our pre-emergent chemicals down by March 23rd when soil temperatures were warming quickly. If your lawn has crabgrass, remember next year that an early application is better than a late one because once it become established it is very difficult to eliminate. Plus, last year's crabgrass plants have left plenty of seed in your soil to germinate next spring.

Yellow nutsedge has made its annual appearance in roughs and bunker bankings. This year, we have used a new control product and are very happy with our results. The best method we've found is for yours truly to carry around a mixed tank of herbicide in the back of my cart and stopping to spray the nasty, fast growing weed as I travel the golf course.

We have finally begin to catch up a bit so we will have time to start a few small projects. These will include minor repairs on cartpaths and continued clean up work on the #12 pond. Cattail population will be addressed this fall because they are choking out that pond, as well as the pond on #18 which needs to stay clear for irrigation purposes.

Aeration season is upon us with mid August approaching. We will double aerate tees when weather turns just a little cooler this month. Greens are scheduled to be aerated the week of September 10th, earlier than in past years. The earlier date will enable greens to heal earlier than in the past. Finally, each fairway and intermediate rough will be aerated twice with solid tines during September and October.

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Patrick M. Gertner CGCS