Experimenting with Tenacity



You may have noticed a few of our bunker faces have suddenly developed spots of white, bleached out looking grass.  Once again, this is something that has occurred intentionally through our own doing.  We have been experimenting with a  new product called Tenacity, a selective herbicide on a handful of bunker faces  in an attempt to eliminate a weedy grass called velvet grass (Holcus genus).  This weedy grass is coarse, ugly and does not blend well with our finer textured turf.  It has been difficult to control over the years due to the limited number of selective weed control product options for this particular type without harming the desirable turf around it.   As a result, the population has multiplied quite a bit over the years and can be found on many of our bunker faces and certain areas of our roughs.   

We obtained a small sample of Tenacity from our chemical rep to play with and applied it about two weeks ago with a backpack sprayer on some of our worst bunker faces (behind #6 green and #12 green) to see what it would do.  It is kind of cool the way the product works as you can see in the pictures.  My product literature from Sygenta explains how it works as follows:

"Tenacity is a new turf herbicide with a novel mode of action based on a naturally produced compound from the bottlebrush plant which prevents formation of carotenoids in susceptible plant species.  Without carotenoids, light energy and by-products of photosynthesis destroy cholorophyll and cell membranes resulting in bleaching of leaves, followed by necrosis and death of the plant."

Our plan is to continue to monitor the results, learn from what we see, figure out what type of over seeding we need to do if any and make an educated decision on if and how we may formulate a plan using this product for the golf course moving forward.  This type of work will likely need to be done in the spring or fall to get the response/recovery that we need to be successful.  Either way,  so far this product looks like it is pretty cool and I am looking forward to figuring out the best way to possibly incorporate this into our agronomy plan for next season.

Staff Training & Embark, 29 Days Later...

So far, this season's agronomic plan is coming together nicely which is reflected in current course conditions.  A big part of that is, we have been working hard to get our crew trained/retrained for the season.  Some of the things we have been emphasizing include cause/effect of our decision making skills, attention to details and promoting pride in one's work on the golf course.  Like the old saying goes, there is always room for improvement.  Here is a photo of Assistant Superintendent, Danny Vandecoevering going over the details of today's tasks with our team. 

You will notice in the background, that we have a flat screen TV with a picture of #2 tee complex displayed.  Both Assistants, Danny and Jose have been utilizing our Apple TV on a regular basis (new this year) to show the crew photos of specific things on the golf course that we need to work on doing better. 

There is never a day that we go home at the end of the day and think, "Boy, what a great day, everything is just perfect and completely done!"  There is always something to do, a project to work on, something to improve or polish up.  Regardless, we are getting closer and closer to our goals and look forward to checking more things off the list while building the BEST agronomy team that we have ever had here at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.

On a different subject, in the photos below, you can see that the results of the Embark treatment that was applied on April 2nd is looking amazing.  Check out the following pictures, this is what the fairways look like 29 days after treatment- greener, denser and seedheads are not a major player anymore.  If you do not know what I am talking about, check out my previous post! 



#9 & #10 Complex




#14 Fairway.  Compare this photo to the one in the previous post that showed this fairway 14 days after treatment.  I think you will notice a difference!




#12 Fairway.