Produced a little video this morning as we have started to tap our maple trees here at Glen Echo. The sap is collected and boiled down to the highly concentrated natural maple syrup that Chef Terry uses in various dishes throughout the year for our members and guests at Glen Echo CC.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Tree Management Plan, 12 tee damaged tree removal
Today, we contracted with Gamma Tree to remove a damaged tree along the cemetery fence line near #12 tee. This tree had lost half of its canopy in a storm and was in need of removal. Since it was near a fence and was over 70' tall ,we hired our tree company to do the work.
Many trees develop poor crotch angles which is the angle between the main trunk and a side branch. The wider the angle, the more stable the growth and balance there can be between the trunk and branch. Less than a 30 degree angle between the trunk and side branch would be a general rule of thumb to use in determining if a tree would have a bad trunk to branch angle. These tight angles should be removed when the tree is young to allow the canopy to grow properly. Once the tree continues to grow and these side branches become massive, large cracks can occur in the angle area and in many cases are not visible. Water gets in these cracks and can expand the crack larger from freezing and thawing action. Insects such as carpenter ants invade and can damage or weaken the area. Disease can also enter through the wounded area. Once the area is weakened sufficiently, all it takes is strong wind blowing in the proper direction for the tree to lose part of its branches or snap off part of the trunk. These areas sometimes are not visible to the naked eye but other times they are visible and when we notice a potentially dangerous situation, we will remove the branch to save the tree. On many occasions, the damage is too severe or the tree is out of balance and can pose a risk if it is not removed.
The wood will be cut up by our staff and will be split to be sold next season and will also be available for us to use to heat our maintenance building in our wood burning stove.
Many trees develop poor crotch angles which is the angle between the main trunk and a side branch. The wider the angle, the more stable the growth and balance there can be between the trunk and branch. Less than a 30 degree angle between the trunk and side branch would be a general rule of thumb to use in determining if a tree would have a bad trunk to branch angle. These tight angles should be removed when the tree is young to allow the canopy to grow properly. Once the tree continues to grow and these side branches become massive, large cracks can occur in the angle area and in many cases are not visible. Water gets in these cracks and can expand the crack larger from freezing and thawing action. Insects such as carpenter ants invade and can damage or weaken the area. Disease can also enter through the wounded area. Once the area is weakened sufficiently, all it takes is strong wind blowing in the proper direction for the tree to lose part of its branches or snap off part of the trunk. These areas sometimes are not visible to the naked eye but other times they are visible and when we notice a potentially dangerous situation, we will remove the branch to save the tree. On many occasions, the damage is too severe or the tree is out of balance and can pose a risk if it is not removed.
The wood will be cut up by our staff and will be split to be sold next season and will also be available for us to use to heat our maintenance building in our wood burning stove.
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| Gamma tree beginning the removal of the tree from 12 tee. 1/2 of the tree was blown off in a storm. The 1/2 that hung over the cemetery was blown off. The wound is about 4' in area in the middle of the main trunk. |
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| Gamma tree removing the limbs from the large oak behind 12 tee. |
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| Down to the totem pole. A little noisy from the chipper but a video explaining how our contractor is removing the tree limb by limb. |
Monday, February 10, 2014
Potential Opening of Greens
As I type this blog post regarding the potential of opening greens, more snow is falling. I guess it is timely since the Winter Olympics are taking place in Russia. With warmer weather approaching this week and the potential for the snow to melt away from the golf course, I thought I should make a post regarding the opening and then possibly closing the course during some moderate weather over the next week or two. Our greens will begin the transition from frozen and hard as concrete to potentially mushy and partially frozen sponges that are living and breathing.
During the winter, it is my hope that our golf greens stay either completely frozen or completely thawed. Where I see the biggest potential for damage to our greens is when the surfaces are soft and the profile of the green is still frozen an inch or two below the surface. Foot traffic can cause roots to shear at the interface between the frozen and thawed area. Regeneration of these root systems take time throughout the spring and potentially into the summer to heal. Significant energy is used by the plant to heal itself. What we hope is that the root systems stay intact and begin to grow and branch as much as possible. As the roots branch and increase in mass, root hairs in the billions can form along a healthy root. Damaged roots produce less root hairs and reduce the plants ability to produce energy for the plant to use. The primary function of the root hair is to absorb moisture and nutrients into the main part of the root system. Plants that are producing more food than needed to keep the plant alive then place this material in storage within the plant stems and crown area. The plant uses this material during periods of poor production brought on by severe weather related stress during the summer. The greater the reserves the plant has, the more energy that it has available to use during these extreme weather conditions when production is very low.
Besides root shearing from greens partially thawed but frozen underneath, greens can be full of water like a sponge. The greens will begin to thaw on the surface and remain frozen below the surface. Water can build up on the surface because it cannot penetrate through the frozen profile. Earlier in the winter season, we were forced to keep the course closed during a relatively mild temperature outbreak because of the sponge like affect we had on the surfaces of our greens. During this time, foot printing can be become very prevalent as well. The greens are soft and a foot prints can stay on the surface of the green for many days. Too many foot prints from multiple players could lead to the green being very bumpy and virtually unplayable plus the potential for unseen damage in the profile of the green.
As temperatures moderate and the snow leaves the golf course this week, we will be monitoring conditions for potential problems. We might open the course for a day or two but then be forced to close it again if conditions warrant to allow the greens to thaw properly.
I will keep you informed regularly through blog and twitter postings as conditions warrant. We appreciate your understanding during this most difficult weather situation. Our focus is to have the course come out of winter unscathed with its greatest potential for growth and healthy conditions occurring during the green growing season from March through difficult conditions this summer and into November of this year.
During the winter, it is my hope that our golf greens stay either completely frozen or completely thawed. Where I see the biggest potential for damage to our greens is when the surfaces are soft and the profile of the green is still frozen an inch or two below the surface. Foot traffic can cause roots to shear at the interface between the frozen and thawed area. Regeneration of these root systems take time throughout the spring and potentially into the summer to heal. Significant energy is used by the plant to heal itself. What we hope is that the root systems stay intact and begin to grow and branch as much as possible. As the roots branch and increase in mass, root hairs in the billions can form along a healthy root. Damaged roots produce less root hairs and reduce the plants ability to produce energy for the plant to use. The primary function of the root hair is to absorb moisture and nutrients into the main part of the root system. Plants that are producing more food than needed to keep the plant alive then place this material in storage within the plant stems and crown area. The plant uses this material during periods of poor production brought on by severe weather related stress during the summer. The greater the reserves the plant has, the more energy that it has available to use during these extreme weather conditions when production is very low.
Besides root shearing from greens partially thawed but frozen underneath, greens can be full of water like a sponge. The greens will begin to thaw on the surface and remain frozen below the surface. Water can build up on the surface because it cannot penetrate through the frozen profile. Earlier in the winter season, we were forced to keep the course closed during a relatively mild temperature outbreak because of the sponge like affect we had on the surfaces of our greens. During this time, foot printing can be become very prevalent as well. The greens are soft and a foot prints can stay on the surface of the green for many days. Too many foot prints from multiple players could lead to the green being very bumpy and virtually unplayable plus the potential for unseen damage in the profile of the green.
As temperatures moderate and the snow leaves the golf course this week, we will be monitoring conditions for potential problems. We might open the course for a day or two but then be forced to close it again if conditions warrant to allow the greens to thaw properly.
I will keep you informed regularly through blog and twitter postings as conditions warrant. We appreciate your understanding during this most difficult weather situation. Our focus is to have the course come out of winter unscathed with its greatest potential for growth and healthy conditions occurring during the green growing season from March through difficult conditions this summer and into November of this year.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Can't Play Golf, Enjoy the beauty of a Snow Covered Course
Well, we can't play much golf in this type of weather so I thought I would take a few course shots of the snow covered features. Airport only recorded 3.3" so as the weather begins to warm, snow should melt in quick order.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Email post of weather stats out of alignment
Those of you that receive email's of the blog might notice an alignment problem for the the weather stats post I made yesterday. Cutting and pasting does not seem to line up properly when blog posts are sent out through emails. Sign in to the blog on the web if you would like to see the post in its proper format. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Weather stats for January
The weather stats for January are not pretty so lets look at them very quickly and move on. Average temperatures well below normal, rain fall totals lower but snowfall well above average. We needed the moisture but I'm not sure how much moisture made it through the soil profile.
Temperature
Current Avg Diff Last Yr
from
Avg
Temperature
Current Avg Diff Last Yr
from
Avg
AVG. MAXIMUM 37.8 39.9 -2.1 45.0
AVG. MINIMUM 17.3 23.7 -6.4 26.3
MEAN 27.5 31.8 -4.3 35.7
Rainfall
TOTALS 1.67 2.40 -0.73 3.12
Snowfall
TOTALS 15.8 5.6 10.2 0.9
Maple Syrup Article in Golf Course Management
Golf course management did a quick hitting article regarding our Maple Syrup production here it Glen Echo. Check out the link below. Pages 20-22.
http://gcmdigital.gcsaa.org/issue/249970/22
http://gcmdigital.gcsaa.org/issue/249970/22
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