June 29, 2010

How hot do our greens get?

One of things we do to manage turf stress is to measure temperatures at the greens surface and know how hot the turf gets. Like any other living organism, turf reacts to temperature, and if it gets too hot for too long, it can die, even if there is enough water in the soil. Our greens turf which mostly poa annua, is especially sensitive to extreme heat, and has to be closely monitored throughout the summer to keep it from overheating.

So we take temperatures so that we know when and how much to syringe our greens. Syringing is not watering. Syringing is misting the green with a fine spray. The water droplets land on the leaf blades and as they begin to evaporate, heat is pulled from the plant and released into the air. This process decreases the temperature of the turf, minimizing effects of heat stress.


Yesterday, at 11:30 am, the temperatures on the7th and 10th greens were 114 degrees f and climbing. Knowing that it was still early in the day and the afternoon forecast was for increasing temperatures, we sent three persons to syringe. As is our procedure, they moved backward through the course, and this day, made three complete circuits. Syringing held down the temperatures of the plants to about 100 degrees, which is very tolerable. Had we not syringed, the surface temperatures would probably have reached 120 degrees or more, causing considerable stress and turf decline.

Syringing is very important to the health of our greens. When you see our staff syringing greens, please know that they are working very hard to get the greens through the day so that they will be in the same great shape tomorrow!