Shade study of Greens Part Deux

When I arrived at Glen Echo in August of 2008, my first impression was that shade from trees was creating serious issues to the health of the greens.

Over the years, I had read articles and seen presentations of superintendents doing shade studies of trees near greens.  I decided my second week here to do a study of our trees to determine if specific trees I had identified were a true problem.

After going through the process of taking pictures of each green on the course at  approximately 7:30, 9:30, 11:30, 1:30 and 5, some interesting information came to light.  Some trees were definite problem but others were not creating shade issues for greens.  

It's time to do another study since 5 years of growth has occurred and done trees have been removed which helps improve green and other turf health.

I will also do a study in the winter and spring next season so we get views from different angles of the sun's path across the sky.

What we are trying to determine from the study is the length of sunlight each green receives.  Early morning sunlight is the best sunlight for plant health.  It initiates the photosynthetic process which helps to produce energy for the plant and allows to reduce heat that can build up in the plant.  

Late afternoon shade is fine for greens as long as it has had a full day of sun.  A minimum of 8-10 hours of sun is ideal for greens.  Most active diseases like moisture so the longer the leaf blade is wet, the better opportunity it has to multiply and expand.

I will be reporting this information to the green committee to help us evaluate potential problem trees that should be removed.  The larger a tree gets, the more difficult and costly it could become to remove

PG view at 7:30 a.m as a part of the shade study that I am completing today.