Update on protocol for covers....

It is as follows: 25 degrees or cooler for two consecutive nights with soil temps less than 40 degrees and expected highs the next day less than 50 degrees. 

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 23, 2014

 Burr…. This is really shaping up as a cold winter! We have already exceeded the number of hours below 32 degrees from last year by a whopping 251%.

The covers were pulled Tuesday morning ahead of the high winds.   Prior to pulling covers, the Agronomy Team ran 10 minutes of water on the greens.  One of the biggest concerns is desiccation (drying out) of the plant during the winter, which can lead to winterkill.  Since the greens will be covered for at least 5-7 days, we needed to make sure the plant was sufficiently hydrated.

With the greens covered the majority of the week the focus will be on winter projects.  Some of the items on our list include: under brushing, irrigation repairs, landscape planting, trimming miscanthis, pruning crape myrtles, mowing fairways, leaf removal, drainage repair, painting ball washers and removing fans. We obviously won’t finish all of these projects this week but we should make a big dent. 

I can’t wait until the weather turns and we see y’all back on the course!

  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, Class A, GCS

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 16, 2014

 2014 picked up where 2013 left off… WET!! Last year the golf course received 69 inches of rain, the average for our area is 52. The course has already had 2.5 inches of rain since the January 1^st. According to Channel 2 Weather Team, this upcoming weekend (Jan 18^th and 19^th) will be the first weekend since November without any rain. I don’t like to complain about rain but it sure would be nice to catch a dry stretch for a few weeks.

The maintenance staff will be pulling covers on Wednesday afternoon, off Thursday morning, on Friday afternoon and off on Saturday morning. So far, it has bee an wild winter with the MiniVerde greens. After the cold snap last week, I put a few plugs underneath a heat lamp in our shop window. We are already seeing new growth, which is a great thing! We still have a lot of cold weather to endure but so far so good.

  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,

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

January 8, 2014

 A few bullet points this week:

The landscaping on 7 Green and 8 Tee has been completed and we are moving to Holes 15 and 16 this week. Due to the cold snap, we were unable to install any plant material earlier in the week. We will be marking install locations on Wednesday and begin installation on Thursday.

The covers will be removed from the greens tomorrow morning in front of play. Kevin Dunn, Asst Superintendent, will take 6 inch plug samples from the 4 greens and bring them into the shop. By collecting a few samples we can keep them in a greenhouse environment and give us a head start on determining if we had any damage from the record low temperatures.

Once the ground thaws in the fairways and roughs we will continue our weed control program. In these extreme temperatures even the weeds shut down and do not absorb any herbicide.

 

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,

Landscape 8 tee and 7 green area complete

The staff finished installing the plant material this morning. A much better look in my humble opinion, I can't wait until the Azalea's and Rhododendron's bloom in the spring. Then the Red Maples will have awesome red foliage next fall. The surrounding area has been seeded with Tall Fescue and will require some patience as it grows in. We also have some Miscanthis Grass and European Viburnum's planted along the creek to add some definition. Oh I almost forgot, the most important part, the MiniVerde is loving the sunshine!!

Agronomy Department and Course Weekly Update

December 19, 2013

I have just a few quick bullet points this week:

The plant material (trees and shrubs) which will be used to finish the landscape renovations has finally arrived, so you will see our staff installing plants over the next couple of weeks on holes 7, 8, 15 and 16.  I am excited to see the finished product.

This week finally provided a break in the rain and we were able to finish spraying our Pre/Post Emergent Herbicide. This application has taken almost 4 weeks to complete due to the rain, it should have only taken 5 days, very frustrating.

We will also be repainting the gray tee markers as the color we used this summer looks white when it is in the sun and we prefer a gray tone. 

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

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