Echofest, Member/Member Tournament are you ALL IN!

 At a very reasonable cost and two days of great golf, food, beverages and fun for the gentlemen,

THE ECHOFEST 

is about to begin without you if you have not signed up.  September 13-14 are the two action packed days of golf.  The staff is always geeked up and ready for this event.  We want the course to shine and will do everything we can to provide you with a great event. Get a partner and get signed up soon.  If you don't have a partner, contact Barrett and pro shop staff and they can try to find you a partner.

Its less than 16 days away, sign up now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greens Update from current heat wave

Right now our turf is holding up well under the current heat wave we are experiencing.  It is getting rather humid overnight but the dew pts and humidity are lower during the afternoon.  This allows the turf to stay a little more more firm.  ET rates which basically measure the amount water that is lost through evaporation through the soil and the plant are high right now.  These number range from .12" to nearly .16" over the last couple of weeks.  These type of loses do require us to place moisture on the greens at night with our irrigation system and we do supplement the greens during the day with additional hand watering as needed.

In late July and early August, we were able to topdress our greens and brush them on at least 3 occasions but have to since stop this because of the high temperatures.  Once the heat subsides, we will definitely continue this program.  We will also do some light grooming/verticutting to help stand up the turf but will not do this until we are confident the most severe stress has passed.  We have not been overly aggressive with our greens in an effort to allow them to get through the stressful period.  Being too aggresive during this heat could push our green systems over the edge and give us a miserable fall golfing season and no one wants to see this happen, especially me!!  We did lower our height back to our normal position but I'm confident we will not experience any issues.  The solid roller program gives our turf a little more added protection until we can begin to groom the surfaces again.  If we begin to see an issue, we can always skip a day mowing and roll a particular problem green if that occurs.  We are out inspecting greens in the morning, mid-day and end of the day monitoring conditions.  As the weather improves, so will the programs that will help improve ball roll.  Later summer, fall golf is my favorite time of the year.  Drier conditions and lower humidity have a tendency to provide for the potential to some pretty special ball roll out!

We are breaking out all of the tools to help us through this period.

We are using our polarized glasses which help to identify weakened or dry spot areas early before they actually show up to the naked eye.  Healthy green plants look fine but stressed plants show up brighter red with these glasses.  I usually have to take them off once I leave the green because it enhances every dry ring under trees and or stressed areas on the course.  For a moment you might think you are on Mars!

We are taking moisture readings using our Spectrum Soil Moisture Meter to assist us in determining the % of moisture to a 3" depth that our greens are holding.  I've not had to use the monitor much this season because of the frequent rains but the last few weeks have required the use of this tool.  One of the things I have noticed recently is that our moisture levels are averaging 6-8% lower in general than they were last year before the green shows serious stress.  Last year, a green was becoming stressed at right under 30%.  This season, I'm seeing greens averaging 23-25% and the overall green is looking great with some spots being slightly stressed from levels in the teens and below.  I know our root systems are pretty good for this time of year but I'm trying to come up with some additional answers of why the lower stress %.  I did recalibrate my meter to make sure everything was correct.  I believe some of the answers are from the new products we have placed in the rotation this season but we also cannot completely rule out mother nature.  

This is a reading from #2 green from the Field Scout Moisture Meter.  The top row on the far right is the moisture % for that spot.  13.5% The bottom row on the right is the average for the green after taking 16 readings, 22.4%.  Last season, if I would have had an average reading at 22%, I would have had a five alarm fire occurring on the green and I would have had a panic attack.

I did get one additional needle tine/venting completed to the greens this summer.  Don't necessarily believe that could be it but it is still helpful.  I have started to use a fertilization/poa reduction program on 10 greens this spring after using it on 4 last season.  Just before the Member/Guest in June I started using the program on all greens and the results have been pretty impressive. This is the product from GenNext Complete which incorporates an A&B product that provides almost a 1/4# of Nitrogen to our green system each month as well as other macro nutrients, enzymes and other proprietary products.
  
I've also started using a compost tea called Bio Nectar on a regular basis which should be improving my microbial populations providing a better soil environment for turf to grow.

I'm using a wetting agent along with a penetrent combo monthly which assists with water management.

Lastly, I'm using Turf Screen which has been identified to reduce UV ray damage to turf and has been shown to reduce wilt and overall turf stress.  I am seeing some of the turf going under stress but it seems to be happening at a slower and lesser degree than I've experienced in the past.

 I don't necessarily think there is a silver bullet in our program.  The GenNext product could be that but I want to see some reduction in poa annua this fall and next spring before I give it my complete and undying love and support!  Each product as well as the other products we utilize help to provide the current conditions we experience.  Also have to keep in mind that every greens unit is inspected for sharpness and height of cut before it goes out each day.  This is another factor in our plant health care program that we should not forget.

In the end, five years of thankfully mostly good, sometimes average and I don't like to think about it but it has happened not so good managing of these old greens does count for something as well.
 

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.
 

Root pruning of trees

A perfect example of a trench made last fall from the bunker project actually created a much improved turf situation by root pruning the trees.  When managing a property that is full of trees, one of the options to improve turf is to prune or shear the roots down to a depth of 12" or so depending up on the piece of equipment you might have.  Trees require at least 4 times much water as turf and when the turf is under large canopied trees, the trees will win.  We do not own anything that can accomplish this work but will begin to investigate potential equipment that we should consider buying and or renting for future use.  I will discuss this with green committee in the future and will post additional blogs regarding this subject.  This is not a one time process. Once you start the work, it should be done every 5 years or so or when the turf begins to thin.  It is not normally detrimental to the trees.  You usually have to stay out a few feet from the base to insure that the equipment can get through the root system and of course you want to in most cases protect the tree.

Drought stressed turf to the left of the picture and healthy, vibrant turf to the right side of the picture.  The out fall pipe which was trenched last fall during the bunker project assisted in creating this battle between thin and thick turf.  This is to the left of 6 tee water station. 

The completed right side of #3 red tee with its new sod.  Much improved for the horrible turf/weeds that we were once their.

Tennis Ct Canopy replacement

Sorry for the delay but we did just put up the new canvas awning cover at the tennis couts the other day.

 

Bermuda eradication update

I've got a video update of the bermuda eradication spray that was completed 9 days ago.  As explained in the past, this is a slow process.  The bermuda gets knocked back, in most cases it will begin to regrow.  The 2nd application in late September is the one that sets up for a potential kill over the winter.  We then have to follow up with a spray right at green up in April.  In some cases, it takes out the bermuda and we have to sod.  In other cases, there is enough zoysia there that will begin to fill in.  Below is a video I made this morning regarding this program.  For newer members who've not seen the program when we started it in 2010/11, the links below will take you to previous postings.

http://geccgcm.blogspot.com/search/label/Fairway%2Frough%20bermuda%20eradication%20program

#3 Red tee sodding

The right side of the 3rd red tee was a hodge podge of cool season grass and weeds.  It was stripped off yesterday and new zoysia sod was laid today.  Should match up much better with the rest of the tee.

Jeff and Randy sodding the right side of 3 red tee.