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

Hydroseeding

Here are a few pictures of the Hydroseeding process. In continuing to minimize our pine straw footprint, the incorporation of native beds is a must. The seed chosen was mixture of Little Bluestem, Love Grass, Switch grass and Indian Grass. These combinations of grasses are warm season, drought tolerant and require little maintenance. The stand of grass will be between 2 and 3 feet tall, which will provide definition between the Bermuda grass rough. The benefit of Hydroseeding to Dry Seeding is in the quality of germination. We expect a germination rate greater than 90%, we previously saw a percentage of around 40-50% through Dry Seeding. As the native areas germinate, please provide feed back.

Photos of "No Till" Greens Renovation

Many thanks to Trey Cutshall at The Farm for sharing photos of their renovation last summer.

The Farm "No Till" Greens Renovation

A few pics from AAC pulling covers

Here are a few action photos courtesy of The Atlanta Atheltic Club pulling covers on their UltraDwarf Bermudagrass Greens.

Pre-Post Emergent Weed Control

The maintenance staff is out spraying for weeds. This application will cover all Bermuda or Zoysia on property. It will add a block any new weeds from germinating and kill any existing weeds that broke through our earlier Pre emergence application. If the weather cooperates we should finish by Jan 21.