Sprigging with MiniVerde

 Greens in a box

 The sprigs were delivered early Monday morning and staged next to the greens. Pike Creek employees loaded the sprigs into a wheel barrel and staged piles of sprigs all over the putting surface. 

 The other Pike Creek employees hand shake sprigs onto the putting surface. 

 A tractor with a planter and roller "cut" the sprigs into the putting surface. This ensures "sprig to soil" contact.

After the sprigs are "cut in" and our starter fertilizer is applied the irrigation heads turn on. Lets hope for some great (hot) weather over the next 6 weeks. 

Some Temperature Information

From Kirk Mellish's Blog: (http://www.wsbradio.com/weblogs/kirk-mellishs-weather-commentary/2013/jun/28/its-been-so-cool-atlanta-not-really/)

Summer starts June 1st for weather and climate scientists. Some are thinking its a cool summer already, but we've just reverted to normal after a string of scorchers-- so it just seems cool, its really running normal so far, as did the spring-- for the most part. The details:

Rainfall for the year is over 13 inches above normal. JUNE rainfall is around 200% higher than average at about 6 inches above normal. Lake Allatoona and Lanier are at their highest levels in 5 years for summer.

JUNE temperatures so far average +0.2 F barely above-normal. The Spring was just slightly cooler than normal but much wetter than normal. THE FIRST 90 was 13 days later than normal (June 1st) but we missed it being two weeks earlier than normal by just one degree. 

This month we've had 3 days of 90, last JUNE we had 7 days in the low 90s by now. And last year June ended with highs around 105. And last MAY we had 4 days in the 90s... this MAY we had none!

However, the summers of 2010, 11, and 2012 were all the top 3 hottest summers on record surpassed only by 1980 and 1993. 2007 was very hot, in fact most summers in this decade have been warmer than the 30 year normal. The year 2011 had the most days of 90 or above at 89 for spring and summer combined. (the year 1980 had 90 days of 90 or higher for the calendar year and 1980 recorded the earliest 90 reading)

A TYPICAL SUMMER IN ATLANTA will produce 37 days with a high of 90 or above, and NINE days of 95 or higher. Most summers in Atlanta do not produce triple digit readings, those temps are historically rare for us. (records go back to 1879)

The most recent summer to fail to produce a reading of 95 or higher was 2005. The FEWEST number of 90 degree days belongs to 1967, when we hit 90 just twice. 

MARCH was 5 degrees cooler than normal with average rain.

APRIL temps were a tad above average and rainfall was 3 inches on the plus side.

MAY was 2 degrees cooler than average and rain was an inch above normal. 

Prepping for Sprigs

The greens were covered for 5 days after the fumigant was applied. A 5 man crew pulled covers off greens on Tuesday and Wednesday, which took approximatley 7 hours.

Once covers were removed a 4 man crew began backfilling the trenches and plate tamping the soil. This will reduce settling of the trenches after we sod with Tif Grand Bermuda Grass mid-July. The next step will be to apply our pre-plant fertilizer ahead of the sprigs Sunday morning.

Fumigation

In a "no till" conversion from Bentgrass to UltraDwarf Bermuda grass you only get one chance to ensure a clean canvas prior to sprigging. St Ives contracted TriEst Ag to apply a fumigant (Methyl Bromide). This will ensure a complete kill of all pests in the profile of the putting green. 

 The fumigant will be applied under a protective plastic barrier and must be secured. To do this we cut a 4 x 6 inch trench around the perimeter of the green. This allowed us to "bury" the edges of the tarp and contain all the fumigant underneath the plastic.

The 6 man crew pulling, gluing, cutting and burying the tarps. 

 The Putting Green once covered and ready for fumigant. 

 The applicator pulling up and attaching his hoses to apply the fumigant. The rate was 1 lb/ 100 ft2. The tarps will remain in place for 5 days and then removed and disposed by TriEst Ag. Once the plastic  tarps are removed the soil will be completely sterile free of all weeds and pests (poa and nematodes!!). The maintenance staff will then pre load the soil with nutrients (fertilizer) prior to the sprigs hitting the soil next week. 

Conversion Begins

 Step 1: Verticut greens 2 directions

 Step 2: Aerify 2 directions

 Step 3: Drag in cores/sand

 Step 4: More dragging and blowing

Final product

Greens Conversion

            I can’t believe the wait is actually over. The greens conversion from Crenshaw Bent grass to MiniVerde Ultra Dwarf Bermuda grass starts on Monday 6/10/2013. The greens will be sprayed with RoundUp, so expect extremely firm and fast greens conditions during the week of June 10-16th. There will be a “Superintendents Revenge Day” on Saturday June 15th. On Monday (June 17^th) we will begin the “No-Till” process with an aggressive aerification, verticut and top-dress. This will ensure ideal “sprig to soil” contact, which is of upmost importance. After the cultivation practices are complete, TriEst Ag, has been contracted to apply a Methyl Bromide application. This application will be applied under tarps and will ensure kill of all noxious pests/weeds. Due to the fumigation, the course will be closed from June 17^th - 25^th. The course will reopen with temporary greens, Wednesday June 26th, and the sprigs will be installed Thursday and Friday (June 27^th and 28^th). Once the sprigs are installed the maintenance staff will begin the “grow in” process. This will include lots of watering and fertilization with our first mowing sometime near the 7^th of July. The maintenance staff will post pictures and videos, so please check our Twitter feed (@stivescc_vcsup) and follow the blog (http://vcgmstivescountryclub.blogspot.com/) for the latest pictures and info on the renovation.

A change in plans....

 I have awoken from the winter slumber and decided it would be a perfect time for a Blog entry, so off we go. Since the decision was made to convert our greens to MiniVerde this summer, the maintenance staff changed its direction on bent grass greens maintenance. Below are a couple of tweaks to the Agronomic Plan:

1. No March Aerification: Once the course is closed and before the No-Till Renovation we will do an aggressive aerification. Therefore, we eliminated the spring aerification to promote play and create a better member experience.

2. Limited inputs of fertilizer: The spring fertilizer application was eliminated; normally this would strengthen the greens for the summer heat and stress. Since, we are killing the greens for the No-Till Renovation this was not a necessary application. Also, limiting the amount of fertilizer will greatly increase ball roll and speed.

3. Limited/No inputs of fungicide: We will treat for insects and disease on a curative basis only. The fumigation process will eliminate any/all pests; we have eliminated our preventative spring fungicide/insecticide applications.

4. Reduced PGR applications: Our spring fertilizer application coupled with the cool weather the greens are usually growing and glowing this time of year. We use Plant Growth Regulators, to reduce the vertical growth of the grass and increase the lateral growth. These PGR’s help us maintain speed and drive the energy of the plant to the roots. Since we have limited our fertilizer inputs to the greens they are not growing as aggressively and therefore we eliminated our PGR applications. However, we have seen a downside, the PGR we use (Cutless) also helps control Poa. We have seen an increase in the Poa populations since removing Cutless from our plans. The Poa is an awful eyesore and we made the decision to reintroduce the PGR program until the conversion. This will help us control the Poa until we spray the greens out with Roundup on June 10^th.

Let me know if you have any questions and please follow us on Twitter @stivescc_vcsup