Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

February 24, 2016

Medalist delivered equipment, we walked through the planning/concepts with Billy Fuller (Architect) and then Mother Nature red lighted our project by dropping over 3” of rain this week. The saturated turf conditions have shut down the project for the remainder of the week. However, work is scheduled to start February 29 (Monday) on the 17^th hole, move to 16^th, the 8^th and finish on the 6^th.  See the attached PDF design for the new look to the 17^th.

The Horticulture team had to remove the winter annual flowers from a few of the flower beds this week. The deer on property have feasted on the blooms/bulbs which have devastated the plants. Typically, the deer repellent we use keeps the blooms safe; however, with the excessive amount of rain this winter it had washed the repellent off the flowers and therefore not successful in repelling the deer. Summer annual planting is right around the corner, so the plan is to leave the beds bare until the new plant material arrives in April. Definitely a bummer! Considering we typically produce a fantastic tulip display around Easter.  

We will keep it conservative in regards to the greens this upcoming weekend/week. This mild/wet/overcast weather is perfect for disease development and turf damage. We have already applied a wetting agent/fungicide and we will be out needle tining the greens this week. This culturally practice opens channels for air/gas exchange and water infiltration. It feels like it is shaping up for an early spring and hopefully that will bring on warmer temperatures and lots of sunshine!

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

See you on the course,

Kyle Macdonald, GCS, Class A