Zoysia fwy/tee Fert apps

The tees and fairways were fed a little today with a granular fertilizer application.  You should see a little color response in the be t few days and then some growth response as the soil temperatures continue to increase with the air temperatures.  This will be our main app of the season for the fairways with a smaller application occurring toward the end of July.

Zoysia/Fairway Fertilization

Yesterday evening was a perfect time to begin our fairway fertilization.  The course was closed and the wind settled.  We are a couple of weeks late with this application due to the cooler than normal weather conditions and rain that we experienced.  As a part of this application, we must water in the product to keep some of the quick release ammoniacal nitrogen from burning the turf.  Usually a couple of turns of the heads is enough to get it activated and off of the leaf.  The heat of the last few days has increased the soil temperatures which is important for zoysia grass to begin its normal growth cycle. 

We will use about 5,000 pounds of fertilizer material on about 25 acres for our initial fertilization.  The rest of the summers application will be applied when we spray our Plant Growth Regulator(PGR) to keep the zoysia compact in its growth habit.  Less growth means less clippings which provide for a better overall appearance after mowing.  Without regulation, we would have to blow the clippings off of the fairways after each mowing that is completed in the early morning dew.  We will throw some soluble fertilizer in with our regulator to give the additional fertilization that the zoysia will need to be healthy and strong.

Water flying on #11 fairway to water in fertilizer. 

Anonymous Donor, rough aeration beginning

We have been in need of an aerator for our rough since I arrived in 2008.  I was able to locate a pull behind rough aerator in the last couple of months that was very reasonably priced and in great condition.  A very generous member heard of our need and purchased the aerator for us a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks to our anonymous donor for their generosity. 

The staff is beginning to pull cores in the rough this week. The soil is not overly moist so the plugs that are being pulled are not very large but they will still do some good for our rough turf.  We will be dragging the cores to try to break them as much as possible but I am sure there will be some remnants still left in the rough that will ultimately break down during rains we receive over the next few weeks.  

I am out of the office this week but will be getting some pictures posted in the next few days of the aerator and the work that is being accomplished.  We are going to try to make at least a couple passes through the rough before winter and at least one in early spring which should help our rough become less compacted and have the ability for water to penetrate the surface of the turf. 

We are also beginning our late fall application of fertilizer to our rough which will allow the turf to grow slightly and strengthen its roots before winter.  The slow release part of our fertilizer will be available next spring for our rough to fill in and grow into early summer.  The thicker the rough is in the spring, the better its ability to slow down the bermuda grass that is laying and waiting for warm weather to arrive.    

Dormant Fertilzer on greens

For those of you who have played the last week or two, you might have noticed some white specks of product on our putting greens. Its a greens grade fertilizer with IBDU slow release fertilizer technology. It is one of the standard products used to put greens to bed in the winter. The release mechanism for this fertilizer is water which is abundant in the late fall and winter in our part of the country. As our greens freeze and thaw during the winter, this material will breakdown and will migrate into the thatch/mat layer of our greens. Some material could move into our soil layer which is 3-5" below the green surface and will be held by the soil. As the soil temperatures begin to increase in late winter and early spring, the material will become available to the plant. Our turf will green up quicker from this late season application and will assist the plants in recovery from our early season aeration program we utilize in March.

Practice green with fertilizer

Late fall rough fertilization

Its getting late in the season but still plenty of time for some fall fertilization. We are slightly later in our application this season than I would like but the rains over the last few weeks has forced us to change our plans somewhat. Its also difficult to place fertilizer on the ground when you are blowing leaves which could move the fertilizer away from the intended areas where it should stay. I would like to put some fertilizer down in September but I do not want to encourage and strengthen our bermuda grass that is in our rough. As you are aware, we are treating our bermuda in our close rough with our herbicide treatment. As we are able to remove the bermuda from some rough areas, we will then begin to fertilize a partial amount in late summer/early fall and then the rest in late fall. The early fall application does assist the cool season turf from summer damage. Its not the optimum time to apply but it does give the damaged areas a chance to recover before winter.

We put down about 75% of our rough turf requirements in the fall in which part of the material is quick release. The quick release portion is of the fertilizer will be used to provide just a very slight growth in the leaves of the plants but will mostly be used by the plant in storage and root growth before winter arrives. The remaining material is slow release which will be available to the turf next spring as it comes out of winter dormancy and begins to grow. The stored materials as well as the slow release material will provide energy throughout the spring. At the beginning of summer in June,
we will then apply a smaller amount of fertilizer for the summer months to help the turf to fight off and suppress disease and to strengthen the plants for the stress of summer.

Below you can see assistant Mike applying our fertilizer in our main rough with our Lely spreader. Some areas around greens, tees, and narrow fairway areas require walk spreading which we have completed over the last week or two.

Link to a nice article on late season fall fertilization from now retired Dr. Paul Rieke from Michigan State University.

http://www.grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_coolseason_turf_benefits/

Rough fertilizer application

Usually in mid-June, it is important to put a small quantity of fertilizer on our rough turf. We delayed this application a couple of weeks because of the severe heat we experienced in mid June to this past week. As many have already commented, our rough is already pretty tough, why fertilize more. Allow me to explain.

• The fertilizer which we applied last fall has been used by the plant and there is little if any fertilizer available in the soil for the turf.
• Summer fertilization helps to provide energy for the cool season turf so it is better able to fight off disease, heat and drought pressures. We apply about 25-30% of the yearly requirements with the summer application. About 1/2 of the amount will be released slowly to the turf over the next 8 weeks or so and the other half will be available as soon as it is irrigated into the turf.

Fertilizing the rough will also fertilize the bermuda that compromises some of our rough. Well, that is true but if we do not encourage our cool season turf to stay alive, it will be over run for sure by the bermuda. There are plenty of areas which are more shaded than others where bermuda grass is less inclined to grow. We applied this product to all first or possibly second rough passes and between tees and fairways. We also placed the product in high profile areas near the clubhouse and also under some of our heavily treed areas to encourage the turf to strengthen during the next 2-3 months of fight for available moisture from our tree population.

Russell using the Lely spreader to apply our material in the 3 shots below. The material is thrown about 17-18 feet on either side of the spreader for a total width of 35 feet.

That Smell

No, I'm not speaking of that famous Lynyrd Skynyrd song "That Smell"
Here's the link to that song if you enjoy some classic rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6q9nBusrq8

No, what I'm speaking of is some material we put around the greens today. A little organic chicken litter fertilizer with some Ammonium Sulfate to try to kick in the zoysia a bit. The organic is good for soil building and is a slow release fertilizer and the ammonium sulfate is good for warm season turfgrass. If you would like more information, check out the link below.
We plan to put a little application on the greens in the next few days when we can water it
in so that smell might be around again.

http://soilfirst.com/replenish_frame.html