FINALLY TIME FOR SPRING WORK

BY KURTIS WOLFORD GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENT

Spring is finally here. With it comes wildlife activities, allergies, and lots of work for the crew. The mowers are out every day this week trying to keep the spring flush of growth mowed down. With the amount of growth we get, we mow as much as we can and are increasing our frequencies. We even get out our turbine blowers to break up clippings when we have the labor available. We will be increasing our rolling to keep greens speeds above 10.0. It’s a fine balance between the correct amount of growth so greens recover from ball barks and normal usage and keeping greens speeds up.

With increasing spring temperatures, we start using growth regulators to keep growth in check and to help with greens speed. We also use growth regulators to help minimize poa seed heads. As we get into May, we start using growth regulators based on what’s called Growing Degree Days (GDD). GDD’s are used to estimate the growth and development of plants and insects during the growing season. The concept we use is that the chemistries in the plant will be processed when the cumulative temperature exceeds threshold, or base temperature. We count our GDD to time our applications of many plant growth regulators and insecticides. This way we have a constant regulation of growth while we are in season. As we get into summer this is especially important for us.

Our mowing frequencies

• Greens 7x at .100HOC

• Rolling greens 4-5x Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sundays

• Tees and Collars 2x at .50in HOC

• Fairways 2-3x at .50in HOC

• Rough 1-2x at 1.5in HOC

The crew is continuing with the irrigation head replacement. We are currently on #2 Lake. We will come back at another time to replace some of the heads that have root intrusion or are under water from the flood. We are trying to maximize productivity and get all the easy ones done first and come back to do the more difficult ones.

River flows are holding around 3684 CFS. We are pumping out a few areas on #1 and #7 River. Our hope is to get some of the stagnate water out and get fresher water into the areas. The crew is making a few plywood ramps so carts can drive over the hose without damaging it. Please utilize the ramps and drive carefully. River flows will continue to be high for the foreseeable future.