March 19, 2010

I am beginning to realize that to write about all we do in a day, let alone a week, could take hours for me to write and hours for you to read…so I will do my best to pick and choose what I think is most important to you and try not to go on too long.

Wednesday we mowed the greens for the first time this year! We mowed again Thursday and then again on Friday. We also mowed the approaches and tees for the first time on Thursday. We are not mowing so much now to remove growth as we are to stimulate growth! These first mowings take off the dead leaves and leaf tips, letting sunlight penetrate down to the new leaf buds, which stimulates the plant to begin growing. It isn’t rocket science. It’s as simple as a plant needs sunlight for photosynthesis to produce the energy to grow. We are just helping the light get to the plant.

We also sprayed a growth regulator on the greens Friday morning. I will probably write a lot about growth regulators throughout the season, as we use different types for different purposes; different growth regulators cause different effects on the turfgrass plant, and so using them is a science all its own, and this part of growing grass is rocket science.

The growth regulator combination that we sprayed Friday is for suppressing seed head formation of the poa annua grass that is a major component of our greens. Left unchecked the seed heads grow fast, and above the leaves, causing the greens to get “bumpy”. By suppressing this growth, the amount of seed heads are reduced, and the greens are smoother. Also, if we have less seed heads, then less poa seed drops to the green where it germinates the following fall. Those new poa plants then compete with the bentgrass which is the turf we are trying to favor. And then there are more poa plants with seedheads and on and on…

Although the growth regulators never give 100% control – it’s more like 70% control at best – less control is achieved if the spray is not timed well. Spraying a day early or a day late can be the difference between success and disappointment. To time the spray, we use degree day modeling, look at the plant itself, gather info from other courses, weigh in our historical experience, and use a lot of “gut” feeling. Even if we’ve got all the science right and it rains the day we need to spray, or something else prevents us from spraying that day, we will miss the window of opportunity, and not get good suppression. Timing is everything for everything, and many times that is out of our control.

Over the past years we have had some pretty good success with seed head suppression and in a few more weeks we should know how successful our spray was!

(p.s. Are you beginning to understand why I have grey hair?)