Taking advantage of a break...

After a long stretch of weather in the 90's (upper 90's in some cases) we have finally moved to a little cooler weather pattern.  As we should, we are taking advantage of the cooler weather to catch up on some much needed work.  We will be out in force over the next couple days eradicating the many weeds that have taken hold this summer.  We will be using both physical removal and herbicide treatments to get the job done (see picture) and hope to have most of the weeds killed or removed by the time the hot weather comes back.

During the most recent heat wave, we were unable to deal with the weeds for several reasons.  First, selective herbicides tend to lose their selectivity when applied during periods of high heat or when the turf is under stress.  It is safe to say that our turf has definitely been under some stress lately!  Secondly, the labor it takes to physically pull weeds was being directed at other projects, many dedicated to hoses just to keep our turf alive.

As we slowly transition from summer to fall, we will be out re-seeding many areas affected by the summer of 2010, and in some cases even laying new sod.  Please continue to be patient and respect any "traffic directing" items such as ropes and/ or arrows.  Soon we will be able to again enjoy the beauty that is Champaign Country Club!

Why does turf die in the summer?

The summer of 2010 has proven to be a difficult on for turf managers.  Nationwide, with very few exceptions, golf courses have borne the brunt of Mother Nature be it too wet, too dry, and without fail too hot.  Here in central Illinois we are no exception.  Our golf courses have experienced turf loss on a grand scale with very few exceptions.  As it has worked out, the problems have been mainly with Poa annua.  Naturally then, golf courses who have more Poa annua have had more difficulties and golf courses with less Poa annua have faired much better.  The embedded video was produced to help explain the effects that heat has on turf.  As you watch the video, consider the fact that here at CCC we have routinely seen 2" soil temperatures spike at 97 degrees in the heat of the afternoon! Difficult growing conditions to say the least!

We will continue to fight the fight, man the hoses, and baby our turf until cooler temperatures prevail (I can't wait) at which point we will begin making our way around the course to reseed areas that are too far gone to recover.

While we certainly haven't been the hardest hit in our area, we do have some trouble spots.  Let's hope for a fall that is conducive to seed germination and subsequent growth!

Struggling...

I'll be brief today as I have a golf course to try and baby through another day.  Today I measured the 2" root zone temperature and, as you can see it is hot! About 96 degrees in fact... Supra-optimal is what the experts call this... I call it something else (which I will keep to myself).  Combine the root zone temperature, humidity and nighttime lows in the upper 70's and you can see why we struggle to keep things pretty.  Improvements will come, but right now we are simply focused on maintaining a solid stand of turf.

The weather is supposed to break tomorrow and we will drop our daily highs about 10 degrees, more importantly our nighttime lows will be dipping into the 60's for the first time in what seems like forever...

Drainage Pimple, Bunker Repairs (again)

Mother Nature continues to keep us on our toes.  This afternoon we recieved around 1" of rain in about 30 minutes while the Golf Shop guage showed nearly 2" (just about 220 yds north of our shop).  After touring the golf course, it is apparant that the northen half of the golf course took much more rain than the south half!  Crazy weather...

The deluge caused a rather large bulge in the 9th fairway due to an old clogged drain line.  See picture and video to see just how much water was trapped under the sod!

 

                                        

As always, the heavy rain caused our bunkers to washout.  We were able to start repairs right away and will continue the process tomorrow.  Kudos to the crew for their hard work fixing our bunkers after heavy rains!

Disheartening Irony

As I mentioned in my previous post, we suffered some turf loss due to "too much, too long" referring to the heat, humidity, and water on the golf course.  Since that post, the humidity has pretty much left along with all excess water from the course, although the heat remains.  Good news, right? Well not entirely.  When I say the humidity left, I mean it really left!  We have been experiencing ET's (evapotranspiration - a numerical value that refers to the amount of water lost during a day due to evaporation and plant transpiration) in the 0.3" range for over a week now.  That basically means we have to supplement 0.3" of water just to break even, more to re-hydrate the soil.  Currently, I am watering to the maximum capability of our irrigation system, about 320,000 gallons of water per night.  It takes our system from 9pm to nearly 7am to put out this amount of water due to the supply situation at the pumphouse.  With all of this water being used, I struggle to match the 0.3" of water. 

Now to the irony...  we have been seeing the worst wilt and dry turf around the areas where we lost turf due to an overabundance of water!  I believe this is largely due to a compromised root system from the heat and saturated soils.  So here I am watering the "wet spots" to prevent further turf loss!  Frustrating to say the least.

We have been seeding into the areas where the turf will not recover and will continue to do so until we make it through the entire golf course.  With cooperative weather I would expect this to be by the end of this week. 

Too much, too long...

Rain, heat, humidity...  it all fits into the "Too much, too long..." title.  Recently we've endured the toughest stretch of weather for several years with heat, and rain approaching record levels in June.  Consider the following:

-  As of today (June 28th) we are finishing up the 2nd wettest June on record, dating back to 1895.  The average rainfall throughout the state is at 7.92", 4.1" above normal.  Here at CCC we have recieved closer to 9" for the month, more than double the average.

-  The month of June has been a warm one with the average temperature of 74.9 degrees, 3.9 degrees above normal.  As of June 25th, this is the 10th warmest June on record.  While 74.9 degrees does not seem all that warm, consider that it is the average, not the high.  Our daytime high tempertures in the month of June were regularly in the upper 80's and lower 90's.

Anytime you combine near record heat and precipitation, you're bound to run into problems... and we did.  Over the past week we had excessive rain, creating multiple areas on the golf course that were saturated with water, and in some cases submerged for days.  With temperatures exceeding 90 degrees during the day and not dipping much below 75 degrees at night, the turf (specifically the Poa annua) in these wet areas was brought to the breaking point and we have been left with areas in our fairways and first cut of rough that will need some seeding and special attention.  Over the next week or two we will be addressing these areas to bring them back to health.  You will likely see some rope or stakes directing you away from the newly seeded areas.

Pictured below is #18 fairway where water sat for several days.  This area has a higher Poa annua population due to the persistant wetness and suffered damage.

Now have a look at #9 fairway where we recently patched some damage with bent sod.  This area stayed rather wet throughout the recent heat and the Poa suffered.  Notice the healthy bent.  This is a pretty good reason to press forward with our Velocity work to eliminate Poa and allow bent to flourish.

As I have said before, only bad things happen quickly on a golf course.  Most of this turf damage happened in a matter of days, yet it will take weeks to recover.  We will be treating the affected areas with extra special attention to ensure the fastest recovery possible.

Hot, Humid, and Wet...

Three words us superintendents don't like in combination.  Unfortunately we are in the middle of them and there doesn't seem to be much end in sight.  Although our course is covered with fungicides and the immediate threat of a disease outbreak is minimal, the conditions are wet.  We have roped off several areas (like the one shown on #17 fairway) to keep traffic out, hoping to minimize any golf cart damage during the wet period.  The forcast is not showing much for rain over the next few days, so it is likely the ropes will be coming down.  I would ask that all golfers use some common sense while negotiating our course and steer clear of noticeably we or roped areas!

In the meantime... go after those pins, the greens are holding!!