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