Spring is just around the corner - or not!

This is what we all had to deal with last week. Spring is certainly taking its time this this year. It feels like the snow will never melt especially after last year's record breaking warm March. I remember working outside on the golf course, the kids wearing t-shirts and opening up the driving range. This is more like a traditional winter. Although the golf business really gets excited over early spring openings; it is only March 8th. There are some benefits with this traditional winter. The amount of snow we have and the fact that it is melting slowly is really good for the water table. Last year was quite dry and there was a huge concern that we could still be in a drought situation if we had below normal precipitation in the winter. Water quantity and quality will continue to be a huge concern especially in the Guelph area. As far as the condition of the turf, I have not been able to see if there is any damage. I do feel better this year compared to the spring of 2010. We experienced the worst winter injury ever. We had a thick ice layer on the greens around Christmas that year which lasted until March. The amount of ice and duration it lasted caused a lot of poa annua turf to die on the greens. This winter we had a major thaw in early February which melted all ice.  Therefore any ice build up will not be on the greens that long. I am anxiously waiting for the snow to melt at an even pace. I may even shovel some snow off some greens to help melt it faster. I will keep you posted.

Until next time - David

Tree Problems at Victoria Park East



3 white pine trees in different stages of death

I have noticed in the spring of this year a couple of white pines trees had died. At first I didn't think much of it because it is not uncommon for trees to occasionally die. Later in the summer I noticed some more White Pine trees looked off colour. The needles were no longer dark green. They has a slight chlorotic look (meaning yellow). This discolouration got worse throughout the fall and I realized we were going to loose some more trees. I became quite concerned because the Eastern White Pine is the only healthy pine species we have left on the golf course and it is a beautiful tree. I contacted Jennifer Llewellyn a nursery crop specialist with with OMAFRA to come and have a look. She came out and agreed there is a problem with many of our white pines and has seen similar problems throughout southern Ontario. She requested a follow up visit with some colleagues. In early December she came out again with a pathologist from the University of Guelph and two tree specialists from the MNR. They spent some time analysing an affected tree and took samples back to the lab for further analysis. They feel it is a combination of environmental stresses from drought, high temperatures etc and disease or insect pressure. My main concern is how bad is this problem, are we going to loose every white pine on the property. I am also concerned about our Valley golf course since most of the trees on the property are white pines.

Once the specialists figure out exactly what is killing the white pines then hopefully they can recommend some strategies for future protection. If there are any! I will keep you posted.

David

 

Shown here are from left to right: Jennifer Llewellyn from OMAFRA, Tom Hsiang form the University of Guelph, John Mclaughlin from the MNR inspecting the tree.

 

 

Shown above John and Thom are inspection the tree after it was cut down to determine if the tree died from the roots up or from the top down.

Closing Time!

It is that time of year to start preparing for the winter. This week both the Valley and East courses are blowing out their lines. The annual practice involves using compressed air to empty all the irrigation lines of water. As you all know water in the pipes will freeze and crack the pipes.
Other jobs to do at this time of year are apply a dormant fertilzer which was done last week and apply a fungicide to protect against a very serious disease called Snow Mould. This will be done sometime next week. All the golf course accessories will come off the golf course in the next week or two. We do not have an official closing date but it will probably be some time next week with the long range forecast. Once the course is closed will address any projects like rebulding sand traps, cart path work and tree trimming or removal.
Until next time...
David

Turf Renovation

Many turf areas on our golf course as well as many lawns in the area did not survive the severe summer drought or are being destroyed by Grubs. The picture to the left is an area that we recently renovated. We raked up as much of the loose dead grass as possible, topdressed with a screened topsoil and broadcast a good bluegrass seed mixture. The seed was lightly raked in. Seed must be in contact with the soil for good germination. Any seed dropped now will now be a dormant seed meaning it will probably not germinate until next spring. It is still a great time of year to lay sod if you choose to go that route.
I hope you did not suffer too much damage this year. I know it is frustrating trying to maintain a healthy lawn with water restrictions and now pesticide bans. Good luck and do not underestimate the benefits of healthy turfgrass!

This picture shows skunk or racoon damage in an area looking for grubs. The skunks and racoons usually cause more damage than the grubs themselves.








This picture shows many grubs feeding on the roots. If the grass is healthy and there is plenty of moisture the turf may survive without and symptoms.

Until next time... David

Aeration Time!

We started core aeration at the East course last week. It is a great time to aerate. Many golf courses aerate this time of year. The turf will heal quickly at this time of year. We aerated the greens, tees and fairways.
This was the first time we aerated the whole golf course in one week. In past years we would only get the greens done. We decided to aerate everything at once to minimize the disruption for the golfers. To achieve this we contracted out some of the fairway aeration.  The dry conditions are a concern and I hope we get some rain this week. The procedure for the greens is to core aerate, matt the cores off the greens, followed by a heavy topdressing of sand. Our goal is to fill all the holes in with sand. This allows them to heal quicker. Healing time will take about a week. The procedure for tees and fairways is to core aerate and matt the cores to break off the soil. The left over tufts of thatch is blown into the center of the fairway and picked up by a sweeper/vacuum. There are many reasons for aerating. We do it primary for thatch control. We plan to start aerating the Valley greens tomorrow. 
Until next time.... David

Cultrual Practices

The term cultural practices refers to any practice or task that will benefit the turf. Examples of this are aeration, dethatching, and sand topdressing. There are different reasons for each practice. The practice itself or frequency of the practice may also change depending on what you are trying to achieve. For example we recently aerated the greens at both the Valley and East course with solid spikes. The intent was to "open up" the turf canopy to improve water penetration and improve air exchange. Remember oxygen is as important as water for optimum growing conditions. This spiking or venting of the greens can be done with minimal disruption to the greens. Most golfers would not even realize the practice was done.

Another very important cultural practice for golf course greens is dethatching or verticutting. Healthy greens tend to get "heavy" meaning there is a lot of grass which needs to be thinned out. A thatch layer could build up causing the greens to become spongy. Too much thatch is will cause many problems and will definitely result in slow greens. We use a mower with vertical blades which cut into the turf canopy removing excess grass. The need and frequency of verticutting will depend on how much grass you want to remove. This practice is also good for your  home lawn. Be careful! Too aggressive verticutting at the wrong time of year will definitely damage your turf.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Until next time...
David

Drought Conditions

Hello everybody, I am back. I apologize for not posting more regularly. What has been happening?- lately it has been very dry.  It has actually been dry all year, yet we have not really seen the extent of the drought until the last few weeks. We are doing our best to keep up with the lack of water but as you can see there are numerous "dry areas" on the course and the ponds are getting low.
Water restrictions have started in areas very close to us and it is just a matter of time before there is a Level 2 condition declared for this area. This means stopping all non-essential watering and a 20% voluntary reduction for water users with a Permit to Take Water. Golf courses fall into the latter. We will start conserving  more water as a result. This will mean taking less water from the deep underground aquifer and more from the storage ponds. We only have so much water to irrigate with and we will prioritize the greens followed by tees and fairways. Fairways and tees will continue to be irrigated but certain "hot spots" will go dormant. This will not affect the long term health of the grass and or playability. In fact firm fast conditions will be much more common in the future as we realize lush green conditions all the time are not sustainable or necessary. If you notice some PGA events on television (especially the British Open) you will notice similar conditions at times and everyone is quite happy with this.
Thanks for reading and wish for some good rains - at least at night!
Until next time...
David  
well