Some of you have asked about our fairway turf looking "bronzed" lately. Would you be surprised if I told you that we sprayed a chemical to do that on purpose fully aware that this would happen? Because, we did. On the 2nd of April, we applied a plant growth regulator (PGR) called Embark. If you don't remember us doing this last year, it is because this is the first year that we have ever treated the fairways with this PGR. Some of you may think, well doesn't the bronzing effect contradict what many would call nice green turf? The answer is yes, but only temporarily. In our case, the application of this chemical serves three different purposes:
Seedhead Control: Our fairways are over 90% Poa annua. With that, comes the spring flush of white seedheads that suck the plants dry of valuable carbohydrates (energy) which weakens the turf. If we can prevent seedhead production, the plant is able to divert carbohydrate production to root and shoot health rather than ugly seedheads.
Turf Color and Density: While the fairways may look bronzed, this is only temporary and a slight side effect worth overlooking because the dividends are great. Basically, the cool thing is, after about 30 days from the initial spray, the color change reverses and the turf sprayed with Embark is greener and more beautiful all season long than the turf that was untreated. (I will post pictures of side by side plots of treated/untreated turf later). We are also able to partially mask the effects of the bronzing with a couple applications of Iron in the weeks following the initial treatment of Embark.
Wet-Season Growth Regulation: When the fairways are wet, it is extremely difficult to mow and maintain them with our heavy equipment. Therefore, for the 30 days that the grass is under the regulation of Embark, we can pick and choose our days to mow to fit weather conditions and not be forced to play our hand too soon and cause unnecessary damage with our mowers. (By the way, total rainfall on the golf course was 5.5 inches in March and as of today, the 23rd of April, we have recorded 9.10 inches of rain since the 1st of April!)
Spraying Embark. We added a green pigment to help mask initial bronzing.
It is funny, every year right around aerification time I usually get asked the question, "So, are you guys excited to aerify greens?" as if we eagerly count down the days until we are able to go and punch a billion holes in the greens and bury them in sand. The truth is, no, I do not get my jollies from this contrary to popular belief. It is kind of like going to the dentist every six months for your cleaning; you know it is good for you so you do it but you do not necessairly look forward to it.
In terms of grass, this translates to: we do it because it is a necessary cultural practice to maintain healthy grass and promote good playing surfaces. The process is a lot of work and stress on myself and the crew but let me tell you, when all is said and done it feels GREAT! This year's weather for greens aerification was fantastic (aside from Tuesday's constant fog/mist), we had the dry days that we needed to get the sand into the holes, pulled a great plug, nothing broke down and the crew worked hard and did a fantastic job!
Here is a great two minute video from the USGA that gives a little bit more detail on the aeration process along with a few pictures from our own aerification.
Aerification Plugs pulled from the putting green
Beautiful morning for punching! This was what the weather was like on Monday.
Blowing the sand into the holes in difficult foggy weather on Tuesday.
The sun came back on Wednesday and helped us (dry sand goes into holes better!) and helped us finish up!
