Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

December 12, 2013

Nine days in a row of rain to start off December!  The course was soaked with 3.85 inches of rain over that nine day window.  Between washed out bunkers, wet fairways and weeds germinating, I am ready for some dry days to attack course maintenance.

The maintenance staff was able to spray the Clubhouse, Tennis facility and parking lots turf for weeds on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We are starting to bulk spray the course on Thursday on the holes that are dry enough to ride.  The staff was also back pack spraying in areas that are too wet and good deal of weed break through.  Once the weeds are sprayed it will still take time for the herbicide to completely kill off the weeds, since these cold temperatures affect speed with which the plant metabolizes the herbicide.

With the high amount of rainfall, the greens were starting to hold water and puddle, despite applying a wetting agent and using the SubAir.  So, on Tuesday and Wednesday we used needle tines to open up small holes to allow water to infiltrate into the canopy. We rolled the greens immediately afterwards and saw no disruption to ball roll.

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