Tapping of Maple trees

Over the next few days, we will be tapping a number of our Maple trees to accumulate some sap which will then be boiled down to provide Chef Rob with some Glen Echo natural Maple syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Trees will produce thousands of gallon of sap in a season and we will be collecting only about 6-10 gallons through the taps from each tree. We will be tapping Hard Maples and some Silver Maples which are in abundance on the course. I'm not sure how much syrup we will make here in our first season but hopefully it will be enough for you to enjoy in a dish that Rob prepares or over some waffles for breakfast this spring. My brother has provided me with some spouts he used a few years ago.

The picture below is a metal spout(spile) and the hook that holds the container which catches the sap as it drips from the spout. A hole is drilled into the tree and the spout is hammered into the tree about 1-2". We will be using a combination of milk jugs, two liter bottles and some buckets to gather our sap. They recommend that the sap be collected regularly. We will be preparing the sap by the batch method which means we will boil it down 20-30 gallons of material at a time until it has reached its proper density.

Hard Maple tree on #8 with a couple of bottles already collecting sap.

Same tree from a different view. This tree is large enough and healthy enough two taps.

I've attached a link below for those of you who would like to read more about the production of maple syrup.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html

Quick view of our existing snow cover

The last snow fall is beginning to melt some with the nice sunshine we are having today. Overall, a fair amount still left out on the course. Looks like we are not going to be given any favors over the weekend with more snow predicted to be on its way. Another week without golf. Maybe we will have to plow the cart paths which will allow you the chance to get a nice walk in over the next week or two. We will be plowing the parking lots and entrance road this weekend if we get any accumulating snow so don't hesitate to come out for a nice dinner.

I was in the pro shop yesterday where I saw that Nash and Kevin have the sign up sheets posted for the first few club events of the season. Hard to believe that St Pats is less than 30 days away. I'm sure our snow birds are wishing they were here!

2nd water line repair completed

The staff had a cold, nasty and tough job to do this week. We noticed a large ice field over near the cart gate on the 18 rough side of the tennis courts a few weeks ago. Initially, we thought it was water draining off of the tennis courts but in the end, figured out it was the old water line which feeds the pro shop/maintenance building that was leaking. The staff worked on the 1" line next to the pro shop last week which we found as well. The pipe leading from the shutoff toward the pro shop is a 3" line. Somewhere between the tennis courts and the pro shop the line reduces down to a 1" line.



Initially, the guys dug by hand in an area about 3-4' from the hole below. In probing through the soil profile, they found a pipe that they thought could be the problem but it appears to have been an old irrigation metal line. Turning the water back on gave them a better idea where the water was coming from and the digging began a couple of feet away from the original hole. Water came back on and they found the actual section that was leaking. They then brought the backhoe in to do the heavy digging which exposed the hole below.



Assistant Mike in the hole cleaning off the deteriorated outer band of the pipe to find the actual section that was leaking.

Skip as Russ checking out the situation.

Another view down into the hole.

The completed repair below. The leak was coming from where the pipe was threaded together.
I've wondered why the water comes from so far away to feed the maintenance building and pro shop. I had forgotten that the original clubhouse was located where the tennis courts are today. This is the original water line that fed our club potable water back in the beginning. One of these days, this old line is probably going to have to be abandoned. It would make more sense to bring our water in from the clubhouse main which is a great deal closer than the existing feed area that we have right now but that will be for another time.

Water leak

The pro shop and golf maintenance department share a city water line that comes from Lucas & Hunt Road via the Halfway house. A long way to bring water but that is the way the system is set up. Each winter, the old line will spring a leak or two. Skip and Russ got the honors in repairing the first leak just below the pro shop this past week. The repair required us to cut through part of the asphalt/concrete to get to the pipe. The repair required a couple of threaded couplers and a piece of pvc pipe.

The failures in the line seem to occur from the shutoff next to the 17 green side of the tennis courts to the two buildings. You might remember the repair behind 18 green late last winter. There will probably be a time in the future when the line will need to be replaced.

Hole with completed repair.

A second leak has sprung up between the tennis courts and the first line of trees along #18 which they started to dig up late last week. We plan to complete the second repair in the next day or two.

Equipment Maintenance

Our mechanic, Harry White working on one of our riding greens mower units. Harry is rebuilding one of the three reels for the unit. These units are used in the early and late season and during our sanding operations during the season. The reel is sharpened on a regular basis which wears down the reel to the point where it will not make contact with the grass. He will rebuild one unit now and have it ready for the beginning of the season. Harry plans to rebuild the second unit after our deep core aeration is completed in March. The mowing operation after aeration will trash the 2nd set of old reels which will then be replaced.

Harry does a fine job in maintaining our equipment and also operates equipment during some of the busier times of the year like aerating greens, fairways and during the extra mowing required during "The Invitational".

Harry putting reel back together.

Tree Maintenance Program(Limb removal)

Our TMP,(Tree Maintenance Program) not only includes the removal of dead and or damaged trees but also requires that trees be pruned to remove lower branches. The removal of the branches is needed for a number of reasons.

• As a tree becomes mature, shade from the upper branches reduces the ability of the lower branches to survive because the lack of sunlight.
• Lower limbs are removed to improve the overall health of our turf in the rough under and adjacent to the trees as well as along the fairways by allowing more sunlight to reach the grass.
• Smaller trees have limbs raised to allow carts and mowing equipment to navigate around safely.
• Dead limbs are removed to reduce the opportunity for disease and insect damage.

Assistant Skip and Russell doing the honors along # 2 cart path. Limbs which have been removed and are then cut up and hauled back to our chipper in the maintenance area. Tom and Jason have been working the last few days doing the clean up work.
We've got one more week rental of our lift so the guys will be working feverishly over the next 6 days to complete as much work as possible.

Spot spray Poa annua around collars, approaches

Over the past couple of seasons, poa annua, bentgrass, and other cool season grasses have been popping up along perimeter of our bentgrass/poa annua approaches and are attempting to choke out the zoysia. Poa annua has loved the last two seasons of record rainfall and somewhat cooler temperatures. We apply preemergents in the late summer to reduce the level of infestation. Usually, the zoysia will out grow the poa annua and the heat of summer will help to eliminate the rest of the material. We just recently applied a very light application of Roundup on these areas. The picture below shows the backpack sprayer with a flat fan nozzle and a Weed Pro sponge applicator.

Weed Pro sponge applicator on the left and backpack sprayer on the right.
The picture below is on the front of #16 green between the bentgrass/poa annua approach on the right side of the camera case and to the left is the zoysia approach with the cool season grass contamination.

Over the next few weeks, the cool season grass along the collars should begin to turn yellow and will then die. We will probably have to do some additional spot applications where some poa annua might have been missed in the initial spraying. A majority of the zoysia grass should come back but we might have a couple of the more heavily infested spots which might have to be replaced with some new zoysia sod. We will evaluate each approach once they come out of dormancy in April for potential replacement.