Winter Play, Trees. and Sap, lots of Sap

We have not had many desirable golf days over the last few weeks. Warmer weather is predicted this weekend but we will remain closed through Saturday due to our greens being in various stages of thawing. Our greens should be thawed at least 3-4" before we allow play.

A couple things can happen with partially frozen greens. As you step on the surface of the green where the freeze/thaw line is very shallow, the green surface can shift or move as you take steps and the roots can tear at the demarcation line between thawed and frozen. This then forces the plants to use significant energy to grow back their to their full length into the late spring and early summer not allowing it to store energy reserves for the dreaded heat of summer. Also, the freeze line being too high will not allow moisture to drain deeper into the sand profile. The water trapped near the surface will make the surface act like a wet sponge. Foot imprinting will increase and plant tissue can be damaged from the extra soft conditions.

We understand the desire of members wanting to play but allowing a few golfers out when they should not be out could contribute to the loss of turf during the main golf season. I made a video below explaining our current situation. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ63T6vpHDg

Also in the video, I discussed our tree management plan that is taking place this winter. In the fall of 2018, I made a power point for the green committee regarding our plan for the next year or two. I put together a 3-4 minute power point showing the trees I was recommending for removal. We removed a number of the trees on approval from the committee but were not able to complete all of the removals due to time. I also felt like a few of the trees could go another year before removal so we delayed their removal to this winter. Through an arrangement that has worked well for us, we were able to get 2 more days of tree removal this winter than planned. The trees that were left from the year before declined significantly over the past year and needed to be removed. Many of our trees were planted in the 50's and 60's and are beginning to show some serious decline. Changes in climate over the last 10-15 years have not helped and has led to decline as they have aged. Record temperatures and high rainfall record years are the types of swings that don't help an aged tree population Pest issues including insects and disease along with lightning strikes and wind damage have been contributing factors as well.

I have also requested a number of tree removals over the last 11 years to improve tee and green turf. Our greens and tees have no infrastructure to assist in combating serious environmental issues. We have 1 green with modern drainage, the others only have a layer of topdressing sand that has helped us but is not adequate during severe wet conditions and heat.

Also, during the next couple of weeks you will see a few orange buckets hanging from our maple trees. Yes, yes, its time to start collecting maple sap to make some homemade Glen Echo Maple Syrup. Not sure what type of year we will have but if today's run is any indication, it might be pretty good. This next couple of warm days might slow down the production but next week with 30's and 20's should help us with our run. We need overnight temperatures below freezing and daytime temperatures to be above freezing to help the tree flow its sap properly for our collection. 43 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL8jQBIKqrI

As your fairways, tees and zoysia green surround areas dry over the next week our two, we will begin spraying non-selective weed control and pre-emergent to our fairways. You will notice a little blue tint to the fairways which assists us in seeing the area we have sprayed to reduce over spray.  It will take the poa 2-4 weeks to begin to turn yellow, orange and then die. The pre-emergent will reduce the germination of crabgrass and goose grass in our zoysia surfaces.

Same Story Different Week With Course Being Closed and Winter Dormant Zoysia Spray

Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but conditions remain  frozen and or thawing here at Glen Echo. Just beginning to thaw today and I only give it a 1/10 of 1% chance of playing on Valentine's Day so I guess some would say there's a chance. Looks like snow and some colder temperatures over the next few days so golf looks like a no go for a bit longer.

We were out spraying some fairways, tees and approaches with our dormant herbicide spray. The turf must be dormant because we are spraying a non-selective product that injures and or kills green weeds and or grass. We are trying to kill any poa annua that has germinated on these surfaces and it also will kill any knot weed that has germinated. It appears the knot weed is still sleeping from the cold weather. If allowed to grow in the fairways during the spring, poa annua seeds profusely adding the more plants and can get rather clumpy before the fairway units beginning mowing. It also can invade more shaded areas and slow the health and progress of the zoysia Poa becomes active pretty quickly during warmer, sunny weather in the winter to early spring. A few days in a row over 45-50 and it becomes active. The plants will absorb the spray from the warmer weather as it becomes more active. Even if the temperatures turn cold, the chemistry is designed to stick on the leave of the plant and when it becomes active a few days later it will begin to kill the plant. The spray will show up over the next 2-3 weeks by yellowing the plants and will turn orange, brown and then die. Poa annua has a long growing period and reproduces millions of seeds. It loves moisture and shaded areas for the most part but will live in full sun is well so it is very adaptive.

We put a second product in the tank that helps to prevent crab grass and goose grass which germinate into the spring and summer. The product we utilize binds itself to the soil which allows it to be sprayed now and is on the soil surface when needed during April,  throughout the summer. Microbial activity begins to break down the product by the end of the summer but the zoysia is rather tight and keeps the soil surface shaded. Thinner areas of zoysia can develop some weed infestations because the soil is exposed to light and more moisture which can germinate weeds. We try to place enough product on the surfaces that will prevent weeds from germinating through August into September.

We were able to spray holes 1-7 today and the tees associated with those holes.

Below is a video with discussion regarding this spray application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyMgXCVZPKo

In the Beginning, From This to That

In the beginning, which starts on or around February for our fairway/tee Dormant Zoysia grass, we start the process of cultural practices to bring our fairways from

                                                                                This

To That

The last few days with unseasonably warm temperatures and drier conditions, we began spraying our fairways with our pre-emergent product Ronstar which is the best product on the market for our 27 acres of fairways. This has to be done during dormancy or when the warm season turf is at rest so the herbicides have little to no negative effects on the turf. There are less expensive products than Ronstar on the market but these products disrupt root growth and or could further damage areas that have been weakened by shade, traffic and excessive moisture issues. Our fairways are the largest area of tightly mowed turf on the property and are a significant feature of our course. This is why we are using this products as well as making a concentrated effort in reducing the impact of bermuda contamination we have in the fairways. Our Bermuda Eradication Program as you know involves spraying other selective herbicides that negatively effect the bermuda throughout the growing season and replacing larger patches with new Zoysia sod. 

We also use a non-selective herbicide Prosecutor(Round Up Generic) in the mix in winter which will kill the poa annua which has germinated in the fairways since last fall. If we did not kill these spots of poa on the fairways, they could become pretty large before we begin mowing and disrupt your lie on the fairway and will also contribute many more seeds to the weed bank in the fairways that we continually fight. 

It will take about 2-3 weeks for the chemical during cooler temperatures to begin to show the effect of the Prosecutor. The pre-emergent is for crabgrass/goose grass weed control to prevent them from establishing in our fairways. The weeds actually germinate and then when the root of the weed comes in contact with the chemical it kills it. We will also be spraying our tees and range tees as well.   

Dormant Fairway Pre-emergent/Poa Annua Spray

Our winter pre-emergent/winter weed application is taking place this week.  You will notice a little dye on fairways marking these areas. We will be spraying the warm season tees next week and doing some touch up around greens.

Normally the app is done in February but no snowfall and moderating temperatures pushed our decision a little early. You never know when a big snowfall might come and push the application late into winter. We are using a generic glyphosate product called Prosecutor Pro.  The glyphosate kills poa annua that has emerged since last fall.  Poa has become active when temperatures for a few days in a row go into the upper 40's-50's. The effects on the poa will become more visible in about 2-3 weeks if temperatures stay moderate. The plant begins to yellow and then bronze and dies.

The pre-emergent is called Ronstar(Oxidiazon) which is the best product to use on warm season fairways. It protects our turf from crabgrass/goose grass outbreaks. It is pricier than other products that we use on our rough but it does the least harm to rooting and is the best goose grass control product. Our fairways are probably the next most important area of the course besides greens so the extra expense.

We have sprayed and used granular product in our rough from year to year depending upon our work schedule. Prodiamine is the chemical name of the product that we use and probably most of the lawns are treated with in St. Louis.  We use this around our tees, greens, a lap or two around the rough and in our club lawn/highly visible areas of the club. There are areas that are more out of play that we do not treat because they are out of sight/mind and not necessary to be completely clean. Wall to wall applications are not environmentally nor are they fiscally responsible to be applied.

Our total acreage sprayed is a little over 25 acres plus a couple of acres of tees and warm season surround areas.

Yours truly spraying 2 fairway on Wednesday.

Preparing Sprayer for Dormant Zoysia Pre-emergent/Poa Control

Since I had to come in this morning to open the course, I decided to check spray rig before the next round of below zero temperatures settles in.  Within the next couple of weeks, we will be making our yearly Dormant Zoysia Pre-emergent/Poa control application to our fairways, tees and green surrounds that are covered in zoysia/bermuda.

This application includes a pre-emergent product Ronstar Flowable and non-selective herbicide Glysophate product for post-emergent on our fairways to control crabgrass/goosegrass/poa/other weeds and will kill already germinated poa annua that has popped up in the warm season grass since last fall.  We still need to do some off season work on the sprayer but the main thrust for checking it out was to insure that it is pumping properly before this very important winter spray application.  We try to spray on a sunny day when temperatures are above freezing and the ground can handle the sprayer driving on it.

Poa annua will become active in above freezing temperatures over a few days and will pull the material into its system and the herbicide will kill it over a few weeks.   It is only safe to spray this non-selective material during dormant periods in the dead of winter or it could hurt the warm season grass or delay it breaking dormancy.  The pre-emergent is sprayed onto the turf surface and prevents the shoots of the undesirable weeds from growing which kills the plant.  It is different chemistry than  other pre-emergents that inhibits roots from growing, including your turf grass roots.  If you ever hear someone saying that a pre-emergent is root pruning, that does not occur with the product we use.  It is not as price competitive as other products but when we are spraying over 30 acres like we do our tight zoysia areas, why would we not want the best product for the health of this large area of turf!  

The Glysophate spray will prevent little clumps of poa annua from interfering with play during the early part of the golf season.  It will also help to reduce the seed population of the poa annua which is a prolific seeding plant and will reduce competition in some of the less than ideal growing spots that we have on the course for the warm season grass.  Mainly shaded and or high compaction or traffic areas.  As the warm season grass is weakened, the poa annua or other weeds have a tendency to move in and attempt to reduce the warm season grasses ability to grow properly through competition for sun and water.

Still a few weeks away but the season will be upon us before we know it!

Sprayer mishap

Sometimes there is human error in our jobs and sometimes there are mechanical errors.  The situation I am describing below was mechanical.

I was spraying the zoysia with RoundUp and Pre-emergent in February, the middle spray boom stuck on after I had left 16 tee area and drove around 15 green surround and in the area of 13 tee.  I noticed it was stuck on when I made a pass along 13 tee and saw the turf area that was not to be sprayed had moisture on it and was blue in color from the dye we use.  The boom switch was off but the sprayer was stuck on so I had to shut the pump off to get the spray to stop.  You will see from the pictures below some of the damage that occurred from this spray.  Most of the damaged turf that will dye is poa annua because it is susceptible to kill from lower rates of spray than the other cool season turf that is mixed in our rough areas which includes bluegrass, rye and fescue.  The last three turf species turn off color but will usually come out of the damage.  We use the lower end of the scale to kill the poa annua in our fairways.  Once we get some warmer days over the next few weeks, the area should heal without much issue.

I was going to mention this issue in a post at the time it happened but I thought I would wait until the actual damage showed up so if  you came out to play you would know what you were seeing.  One of the things we make sure to do is to stay completely off of our bentgrass approaches and of course greens when we are moving around the course with this tank mix so as to prevent a major catastrophe from occurring.  Next to collars, we will do light dobbing applications or brushing of material on plants that we want to remove.

This view is from behind 15 green looking toward 16 tee area.  This area in the deep shade and might have to be replaced  because the amount of shade helps to create a high population of poa annua.   If it does not come out of it in a couple of weeks, we will strip it up and replace it with fescue.

You can see the line off the edge of the tee.  I turned around at the path and came around the back of the green surround.  As you can see, there is a mixture of bermuda and cool season grasses in the mix.  The more orangish spots are poa annua which will probably not come back.  The remaining turf should improve over the next couple of weeks and you will not know anything happened. 

Dormant zoysia spraying

Every winter season, we spray our dormant zoysia with an application of Roundup and preemergent(Ronstar) to the fairways, tees and warm season green surround areas.  The Roundup targets the poa annua and knotweed that is beginning to grow in the fairways.  The preemergent targets goosegrass and crabgrass that will begin to germinate in May/June.

You can see the spray rig tracks in the background and the turf dye that we use to prevent overlap issues.

Follow up to Roundup spray for poa on Fairways, tees and green surrounds

The Roundup that we sprayed on our dormant fairways/intermediate rough, warm season green surrounds and tees is working.  Yellow plants all over the property.   There a few plants of bluegrass, rye and fescue that will probably not die from our application due to the rate being too high for safe application on dormant zoysia.  In those cases, we can carefully spot spray with another product over the next few weeks. 

Poa annua right after application about 3 weeks ago.  Green and healthy.

Poa annua 3 weeks later is yellow, chlorotic and dying.

Dye around Greens

Anyone who came out and played over the last couple of days has seen some marker dye being used around our greens, fairways and tees.   I was completing the preemergent/roundup application in our warm season turf areas which controls in season goosegrass and crabgrass germination and will kill the poa annua that pops up in places.  The staff used a 4x8 sheet of wood to drag around the edge of the collars to protect our green/collar turf from any over spray as we drove around the collars.  We might have some small hand applications to spot treat over the next few days due to bunkers being too close to the green surface or the sprayer moved a little further out then planned.  We will be applying preemergent and weed killer to our cool season first cut rough toward the end of March/early April.

Green #16 complex and the marker dye which indicates to the operator where the plant protectant materials have been applied.  

Preemergent/Poa annua applications to Dormant Zoysia

During the month of February or very early March, we apply our preemergent(Ronstar) and non selective weed killer(Round Up Pro) to our Zoysia areas of the golf course; fairways, tees and green surrounds that are solid warm season grass.  We make the application this time of year because the Zoysia grass we are trying to protect is dormant and will not be injured from the spray.  Round Up is safe to use only when warm season turf is dormant.  We wait for temperatures to rise above freezing and sunny days.  The chemical will move more readily through the plant if the conditions are warmer and sunny.

Our first target we are trying to control is any cool season grass, mainly poa annua which has germinated in the fairway/intermediate cut/ tees and green surrounds.  This application will also kill knotweed and will restrict the growth of rye, fescue and blue grass.  If this material is not sprayed out, there will be large clumps of weed grass that seeds profusely and will leave our fairways very clumpy until we begin to mow in late April/early May.


Our second target is to prevent crabgrass and goose grass from germinating in the spring and summer.  We make this combination tank mix to to reduce wasting time and energy of a second application.  This material will lay dormant on the surface of the soil until it is needed in the spring.  This year, we are using Ronstar because it has the least negative activity on the root systems of our warm season grass.  We had great warm season turf last year and I want to continue that push into this year as well.  This material does cost more but it is wise to change chemistry's every few years to reduce the potential for resistance.  We will be using Barricade on our rough areas in late March to early April along with a broad spectrum selective weed killer.

Here's the spray rig after the tank was emptied this morning.  We utilize a soap marking system and some green dye to help outline the areas that we spray.

This picture is along the right side of #18 fairway.  You can see how excessive shade encourages poa annua.  Without the leaves on the trees,  you can still see the affects of the shade.  If the poa was not sprayed, it would begin to choke out the zoysia.  Our trees provide character for the course but also do encourage our poa annua population to explode.

Follow up of RoundUp application on zoysia fairways

Here is an update on our RoundUp dormant fairway application that was made in February.  Poa plants are turning yellow and beginning to die in areas of the fairways where they emerged.  As mentioned in previous posts, poa is a prollific seeder and can be very competitive in shady and or wet areas of fairways.  The plants can weaken the desired species which is the zoysia that we want to protect and encourage to grow. 

Right side of #17 along the intermediate/fairway cut.

Non-selective/Preemergent application on Zoysia

The soil surface of our zoysia fairways was frozen this morning when Assistant Mike started our dormant application of the non-selective herbicide Roundup and premergent herbicide Stonewall combination spray.  Since we are using a non-selective material Roundup, we have to spray it when the turf is dormant and not actively growing.  The preemergent application in thrown in with the Roundup to reduce the number of applications we have to make during a season.  The preemergent will lay on the surface of the turf until rain or snow will release it to the soil.  The non-selective product is targeting poa annua which germinates in the fall and begins to grow rapidly as the days warm in March.  I chose to apply this product at a lower rate but it can be effective on broadleaf weeds such as knotweed as well.

We attempt to make this application anytime in February on a sunny day when the turf is firm enough for the sprayer to drive on without damaging the fairways and when the temperature is near or above freezing. 
Poa annua can become actively growing very quickly with sunny days and temperatures above freezing.  As it becomes active and starts to grow, the Roundup will do its work and kill the plant.  The preemergent will create a barrier for crabgrass and goosegrass.  Most home owners will apply this material toward the end of March through mid-April through a fertilizer spreader or sprayed by a lawn care company.  We will begin applications on our rough in this time frame as well.  We will also spray our zoysia tees and some of our green surrounds that are solid zoysia/bermuda.  Our cool season green surrounds will be sprayed with just the preemergent only because the non-selective will selectively kill our fescue/bluegrass/poa surrounds if we had it mixed in the tank.    

A close up of poa annua that we are trying to control.  There is some additional cool season grass mixed in with this stand.

Assistant Mike on 18 fairway spraying.  You can see the drops of foam that are appliced at the end of each side of the spray boom to help him with his next pass.

A view from the back of the application being made.  This application can only be made on dormant zoysia/bermuda.