Wednesday, March 26, 2014

DON'T START LAWN SERVICES YET!


I have seen a number of people mowing, power raking, fertilizing, and applying pre-emergent products to home lawns. Performing any of these practices at this time is not only a waste of time and money, but could also be detrimental to your lawn.

I don't suggest inflicting any mechanical damage to the plant until it has regained some recuperative ability. Wait until you see significant green up or vertical growth. In fact, this might be the year to skip power raking and aerification altogether. The turf will need to rely more heavily on carbohydrate reserves this year to recover from the harsh winter. These mechanical/cultivation practices will only drain this energy reserve even further. The less stress you can put on your turf this spring the better it will hold up through summer.

As for fertilizer applications, WAIT! Nutrients contained in fertilizer products are not directly available to the plant and most need multiple factors to initiate the conversion of these nutrients to plant available forms. These factors are warmth, moisture, and/or microbial activity and we have none of those in our favor right now. A good rule of thumb is to let the soil temperatures to get to 55 degrees. At the course we are finding soil temperatures in the 40's.

Wait on pre-emerge product applications as well. We don't know what the health of the turf is going to be coming out of winter and you may have to over-seed some areas. A pre-emergent application could really hamper your abilities to reseed.

If you want to do something, fire up your irrigation and lightly water. This will help warm your soil and break turf dormancy. There is some rain and warmth in the forecast so be patient. Good decisions now will pay dividends in the future.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

News Segment on Winter Weather & Golf Courses

KETV recently aired a story about the effects this year's winter weather is having on local golf courses. Check it out here:

http://www.ketv.com/news/Subpar-Moisture/25132474 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Turf Status Conclusion?

It has been three weeks since we pulled our test plugs and the results are mixed. The good news is our bentgrass plug continues to fill in and look pretty good. The bad news is both of our ryegrass plugs have shown little-to-no signs of life. Although I am disappointed by our results, I am not all that surprised.


Bentgrass on top and ryegrass plugs on the bottom
 
 
A common thought is that the turf has succumbed to desiccation, but in the case of our ryegrass, I am unsure if that is our main culprit. Without a doubt, the dry, open, and windy winter has caused a great deal of stress on the plant, but I am quite certain that the majority of any turf loss will be attributed to direct cold temperature injury.
 
FAQ's about cold temperature injury
 
What is direct cold temperature injury?
Direct cold temperature injury occurs when the crown of the plant takes up water through a process know as crown hydration. Crown hydration occurs naturally when the plant experiences periods of warm weather during dormancy. If a dramatic drop in temperature follows this hydration process the water within the plant rapidly freezes and punctures the cells of the plant. This most often results in plant death.
 
Why does the ryegrass show signs injury and the bentgrass does not?
All species of turf grass have different LT50 temperature thresholds. An LT50 is a temperature threshold at which you can expect 50% of the turf to die when exposed for a period of time. The LT50 levels for the dominant turf grasses on our course are listed below:
  • Ryegrass: 5°F
  • Bluegrass: -23°F
  • Bentgrass: -31°F
You can see that ryegrass has a very high LT50 temperature when compared to the other cool season turf grasses. This is due in part to its genetic predisposition to rehydrate much quicker than other turf species.
 
What made this winter worse than other?
We have had 31 days with a low of 5°F degrees or less at the course since December 1st. Remember from above that the LT50 level for ryegrass is 5°F. We also had three instances where we had a 60+ degree swing in 48 hours or less and one instance where we had a 50+ degree swing in that same time frame. Again, remember from above, that ryegrass quickly initiates crown rehydration in the presence of warm weather. All of this is on top of the fact that we had no snow cover for insulation. We were also extremely dry and there is thought throughout academia that there may be a synergism between drought stress and cold injury.
 
Why did the turf cut at higher heights survive better than the turf cut at lower height? OR Why did my lawn survive but the fairways struggled?
The answer to this question is a bit dynamic. There are a lot of factors that effect how our golf course overwinters versus how a home lawn overwinters. The simplest and most common reason for this is that most home lawns will consist of bluegrass and fescues, not ryegrass. Due to a number of reasons, ryegrass is not a great choice for home lawns, thus, is not used in this setting very often. Fescues and blues have a better cold tolerance than rye. Another reason the longer turf survives better is the insulating property of the longer leaf blades. It doesn't take a lot to change the micro climate at the crown level. A few inches of leaf blade can trap heat, keep out the cold and block out wind. A few degrees difference or a little protection from the biting wind can really make a difference. 
 
What are our levels of damage on the course?
This is very difficult to predict. Its is hard to make a blanket statement about the condition of 60 acres of ryegrass based on 1/2 of a square foot of turf grown in a bucket. What I can tell you, regardless of the extent of the damage, is that a comprehensive recovery plan is already set up and we are prepared to tackle any level of injury.
 
The next few weeks will be very telling. What we need now is warmth, sun light and moisture.
 
 


Monday, March 3, 2014

Turf Status Test: Day 5



I propped the turf plugs up in front of the sliding glass door on the south side of my house over the weekend. Gus wasn't too thrilled to share his spot in the sun, but he understands it is all in the name of research.


I counted about five green shoots on the plug from #2 Black Bird fairway this morning.  


 The plug from #1 Gray Hawk green continues to improve.


There isn't any sign of emerging shoots on the plug from #1 Gray Hawk fairway. I am able to find a small amount of green tissue at the base of some of the plants however.