Soils

I'm a data person. I like research and analysis and base much of my decision making on what picture the data paints. Soil and water analysis are great decision making tools when building a fertility plan. Fortunately, there is about 10 years of data for me to analyze and pull from. Unfortunately, the data shows that we have very challenging soils and water. We have heavy soils that are high in salts, magnesium and most especially soluble sulfur. In some locations the sulfur level is four times that required for healthy turfgrass. Infiltration rates are 1/3 of what is considered minimal.

Now add in the fact that we have a large percentage of poa annua on our fairways and you have a recipe for disaster. Poa is a fickle, shallow rooted plant, with very little tolerance to stress. Perhaps this year more than others, the poa has really struggled. Our goal moving forward is to convert all the fairways to Bermudagrass, which can tolerate our challenging growing conditions. Looking at the Bermuda that is out there right now gives me a lot of confidence in our future..........

Greens Update

The greens are looking nice following last months aerification. There are a few isolated areas of salt induced disease, however the majority of the putting surfaces are healthy and playing great. To aid in the recovery process, we were able to borrow a roller which was helpful in smoothing the surface and increasing ball roll. Although I am tempted to lower our cutting height for a little more speed, I don't think it would be wise, as the cooler weather will slow growth and speed will return naturally.

We were able to complete tee and approach aerification on Monday. As I have said before and I'm sure I will say again, aerification is one of those processes that I believe to be the foundation of any good agronomic plan. Aerification is not only for removing excessive thatch and organic matter, it is also beneficial in helping to move air, water and nutrients into the rootzone.

Now that all the short grass areas have been completed, we turn our attention to the roughs. We will start by reducing our irrigation inputs, as well as slowly lowering the height of cut in preparation for seed. This will take place over the next several weeks, as we hope to seed by mid October.

Greens Update

Greens aerification was 10 days ago and our putting surfaces are recovering well. We started mowing on Monday (9/15) at a little above 1/8 inch (.135"). We make it a point to mow without baskets, as we don't want to pickup any of the remaining sand. We also made a calcium and potassium application on Monday that should slowly feed the greens over the next six months. Tuesday, bentgrass seed was put down to continue to encourage a more sustainable plant type. Yesterday the height of cut was reduced to .125" (no baskets) and today through the weekend we will be mowing at .125" (with baskets). This coming Monday (9/22) we will again drop our height of cut to .115", which is our desired cutting height for the next few months. At that point, its fine tuning, as we will continue to lightly groom and topdress until the greens are completely healed. 

Thanks for you patience...........

Today is the beginning of our Fall aerification. This week we will be working on the greens, moving on to tees and approaches next week. The greens haven't been aggressively aerified in several years, which may be the cause of the excessive puffiness and scalping we have been fighting over the last few months. We are using 5/8" side-eject tines at a depth of 2.5 inches, followed by a heavy topdressing. We will then make an application of potassium, calcium, and lastly bentgrass seed. Expect at least two weeks for the greens to recover.

The video explaining aerification is for those of you with an interest in agronomy......Enjoy!

I snapped this picture the other morning, as it is very representative of challenges that we are facing on the fairways. You can see a sprinkler head on a slope and a distinct pattern below it, where the water tends to bleed out during operation. That area is almost 100% poa annua and by no coincidence, on the verge of death. The poa is suffering from salt stress and disease from the high salt content of our irrigation water. The surrounding healthy turf is bermudagrass, which is much more tolerant of high salts.

Fairway Disease

Summers at Saticoy are always a struggle and this one is shaping up to be particularly so. I recently submitted fairway and water samples for analysis and the results have me very concerned. After several years of drought, our water is showing even higher amounts of salt than it was just a few years ago. As salts accumulate in the soil, they inhibit rooting and dehydrate the plant. In their weakened condition the stressed plants are very susceptible to disease. This is exactly what we are seeing right now with the poa in our fairways. The fairway samples show both salt stress and disease. Spraying a fungicide will not help until we alleviate the salt stress. Seeding another grass like rye is an option, but the high salts hinder rooting and lower germination substantially. We continue to experiment with different products on the market that are designed to reduce salts, but have seen little benefit. The true cure is rain. If we have a wet Winter, we will be able to flush the salts from the rootzone, replenish the aquifer with clean water, and germinate some grass that has a fighting chance during the summer. Until then, this summer looks to be a tough one........