Disease Information from NCST

http://www.ncstateturfpathology.blogspot.com/

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

October 23^th, 2013

McAlister Tree Company has completed the tree removal for the greens renovation. However, we still have a few dead trees around the course that will be removed sometime in November.

Despite being treated with a preventative fungicide on October 9^th, the greens were infected with a disease called “Leaf Spot” last week.  A breakthough of this kind is common.  We noticed the 1st signs of the breakthrough on Oct 16^th and due to the full day of rain were unable to treat as planned on the 17^th.  Because this is a rapidly spreading disease, this delay in treatment of only one day resulted in an explosion of the disease.  We were however able to apply the necessary fungicide on the 18^th and growth of the pathogen is now under control.   I have attached a link with information on this disease if you are interested in reading more about it. (http://www.usga.org/course_care/regional_updates/regional_reports/florida/Leaf-Spot-Disease-On-Greens---December-2012/)

The greens will be retreated on the 23^rd of this month and we will add a little fertilizer to promote moderate growth.  This will allow the grass to grow out of the “purple damaged” look.  We also applied a calcium fertilizer to the greens on the 22^nd, which will help balance our soil ph.  

All seasonal flowers have been planted and we have a shipment of mulch on back order, which, when it arrives, we will use to finish the beds.  Also, the pressure-reducing valve was installed on the 21^st and will be primed and ready on the 23^rd.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A

Agronomy Department and Course Update

October 16^th, 2013

Wow… What great weather we have had over the last 10 days!  I don’t know about y’all but this is one of the reasons I love Atlanta.  The maintenance staff has accomplished a lot over the past week.  The seasonal color (flower) change is underway and should be completed by the weekend.

We have also started the grading and landscaping behind the tree contractors, who will be finishing up the 16^th hole this week.  Since we are doing all grading and landscaping “in house” it will take a little longer to complete the project.  I appreciate your patience with our progress and I am sure you will enjoy the new looks and views of the golf course.

After an excruciatingly long back order, the new pressure reducing valve for the pump station arrived on the 15th.  Aquarius II will be out on property today to take measurements and begin installation.  This will give us the option of withdrawing water from either the pond on #15 or from the main line along the river.

The greens were sprayed with a foliar fertilizer tank on the 15th and will be treated with a granular calcium/lime application on the 17th.  The calcium and lime will increase our PH, increase water infiltration, leach off salts and loosen the soils.  We usually make this application twice per year.  The driving range tee was also treated with a foliar fertilizer application and it appears the overseed has germinated and we will be open for play this coming weekend.

The staff also dredged the creek on #12 in front of the green and we continue to make progress around the course in edging, spraying and installing pine straw in the landscape beds.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at kmacdonald@valleycrest.com and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A

Agronomy Department and Course Update

October 9^th2013

            What a way to start the week, 2+ inches of rain Sunday night into Monday morning. This obviously put a hamper on a few of our plans, the tree contractor will be delayed a few days and the grading work on 7 and 8 was pushed back. Since the turf was too wet to mow on Monday we took the opportunity to start detailing bunkers for the winter. This will consist of Fly mowing, edging and scuffle hoeing the bunkers. Hopefully, you will notice the difference in the increased detailing.

We continue to have warmer days and the greens are responding with great growth, therefore, we are continuing our topdressing program. We will go heavier than last week, but we will brush the sand into the canopy. This will have no impact on playability and actually make the greens firmer, faster and smoother. The greens will also be treated with Fungicide to prevent Spring Dead Spot (SDS), to treat this disease we use soil temperatures to target the fungi’s activity.

 The overseed (rye grass) has been dropped on the Driving Range Tee, Targets, Teaching Tee and Chipping Green area. We are already seeing some of the seed germinate and we will spray the newly germinated grass with a foliar fertilizer tank to promote growth. We look to open some of the upper tees first to middle of next week (Oct 14-16^th).

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me (kmacdonald@valleycrest.com) and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

Agronomy Department and Course Update

October 1^st, 2013

           

            In order to continue great communication with the membership, we decided a weekly email to the membership might be beneficial. I know everyone has inboxes full of emails, so I will keep these short, sweet and hopefully packed with information. The Men’s Club Championship is scheduled for Friday-Sunday; we expect to have the greens rolling between 10.5 and 11 on the Stimpmeter. In order to continue to provide great playing surfaces all of the bunkers will be raked each morning ahead of play.

The greens will be topdressed (sanded) (extremely light) on Tuesday Oct 1 and followed up with an irrigation cycle of ½ inch that night. The irrigation cycle will push the sand down into the canopy and will virtually disappear. A fertilizer application will be applied during the maintenance block on Thursday afternoon. I am sure you have noticed some of the greens have weak spots; we will be solid tining those areas before the fertilizer is applied the holes created will be non disruptive to play (see attached picture), but extremely beneficial to the plant. 

The tee boxes were treated with the 2^nd fall fungicide application, this application prevents Zoysia Patch (also know as Large Patch). The height of cut on the tees has been raised from .250 to .325; this will gives the tees density and cushion to handle the winter stresses. The Driving Range tee tops are currently being overseeded along with the Chipping Green area and Targets. It will take approximately 12-15 days for the seed to germinate and be ready for mowing. 

McAlister Tree Company is still working on holes 15 – 16 and we will begin work on the landscaping on holes 7-8 next week. We have grading work, sod installation, plant material and trees going back into these areas.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me (kmacdonald@valleycrest.com) and for more information follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup and the Blog: http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/

See y’all on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A