A few topics…
In May we had little rain – less than an inch – yet June
brought close to 9 inches and was the wettest June since 1920, missing the
record by less than a 10th of an inch. The radar shows a line of
heavy rain storms bearing down on us this morning, today, June 2nd. I
am concerned that this will continue to be the summer’s pattern.
Is the rain helpful? Like with anything else, excess creates
problems. With the rain, roots have shortened
up due to the lack of oxygen in the soil – more or less they were suffocated
back towards the surface where there is typically more air. We are seeing this
on greens, tees, and fairways, and where drainage is less than adequate, decreases
in rooting is more pronounced.
On the 11th green at the bottom right front corner where the
soil becomes saturated and cannot drain due to its poor construction, and the clay layer
underneath, anaerobic conditions have taken over. Sulfur dioxide, a product of
anaerobic respiration, has damaged the turf roots, weakening the plants to the
point where anthracnose, downy mildew, and differing species of pythium have easily
able to attacked and thinned patches of
poa. We have been solid tining the area and we also ran the verti-quake through
this section. Pesticides do help reduce the populations of attacking fungi, but
cannot overcome the wet conditions. We are continuing to do our best to remedy
this situation.
***
As you can see, the rain causes other problems for the turf
and the staff. It took five of us to lift and pull this cart, buried to the
axle, out of a wet area behind the 9th green. The person was taking
a shortcut off the cart path that at best might have saved him 10 seconds. It
ended up costing the staff 7 labor hours.
***
I don’t want to rant, but we are finding and plugging out
divots on greens…1 last week, 2 this week…
***
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