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.

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.

 

 



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.

Turf Status Test: Day 2

After 40 hours indoors, there still isn't much activity to report in the ryegrass plugs. When I sift through the canopy, I can almost convince myself there are a few new shoots emerging. It's hard to tell if this is really happening or simply a case of wishful thinking. There are some white roots in the profile but not many. The bentgrass plugs continue to see a slow green up. Again, nothing overwhelming but definitely a difference from yesterday.

It looks like my kids are going to have to compete with the turfgrass plugs for my attention this weekend. The test plugs will be accompanying me home over the weekend so I can continue to monitor their progress and keep you all updated.



Turf Status Test

This photo was taken 24 hours after we began our "super scientific" test to determine the effects the winter weather has had on our turf. Yesterday we removed a plug from #1 Gray Hawk green, #1 Gray Hawk fairway, and #2 Black Bird fairway, placed the plugs on a growing medium (sand), provided water and heat and waited for any signs of life.

#1 Gray Hawk was chosen as a location for plug removal based on the fact that it is one of the course's most exposed areas. #2 Black Bird was selected as a location for plug removal based solely on the eye test. The fairway seems to have a different look in regards to turf color and turf stand integrity.

After 24 hours, we didn't seen any green up in the ryegrass plugs and just a little bit in the bentgrass plugs. I wasn't surprised by the lack of green up in the ryegrass plugs. Twenty-four hours is a short window of time and the turf was very dormant. The visible green up overnight in the bentgrass plug, however, was surprising and unexpected.

These plugs are only a very small snapshot of the golf course and most likely will not represent the facility as a whole. We will need more time before we can determine the overall health of these plugs and will keep you posted.

Ball Marks

                                    
The course had nearly 800 rounds of golf played over a two-day span last weekend. The picture quality isn't the best, but we counted almost 100 ball marks in a 15'x15' area on #3 Red Feather green. Please don't misunderstand me, we absolutely love the patronage (without it we don't exist), but it definitely takes a toll on the greens.

As badly as we want to keep the greens lean and fast, we also need to keep the turf growing to promote recovery, which is a tricky balance. You can help out in a couple ways. Next time you are on a green, fix your ball mark and another one that someone left behind. If you are playing with someone who doesn't understand the importance of ball mark repair, take a couple of moments to educate them.



Why Can't We Play?

It is that time of year where we are put in the unenviable postition of deciding when to open the course for play. Unlike recent years, Mother Nature has not been very cooperative. Our average high for this week in 2012 was 79.7 degrees, compared to 42.1 degrees this year. Temperatures are forecasted to stay low and there is a chance for snow later this week. We will take all the moisture we can get, but like you, I am eager to get the season started. 

I have posted an excerpt from a USGA article below regarding the effects of winter play. I think it will help explain the position this year's weather has put us in. It should also explain what goes into the decision-making process in regards to allowing play. As always, thanks for your interest in what we do as well as your patience. 

Excerpted from "Politics, Religion, and Winter Play on Greens," James T. Snow
http://www.usga.org/course_care/articles/other/winter_play/Politics-Religion-and-Winter-Play-on-Greens/
Courtesy of the USGA

Repercussions of Winter Play
It is not hard to understand why many golfers are sometimes skeptical about claims concerning the negative effects of winter play, because to them the turf on greens that have been played throughout the winter usually appears the same as the turf on greens that have been closed. The effects of winter traffic, however, need not be obvious and dramatic to have significant and long-lasting repercussions.

Direct wear injury
Thinning of the turf due to direct wear injury is an obvious and important result of winter traffic. Unlike during the growing season, when turf is able to regenerate new leaves and stems to replace injured tissue daily, winter weather completely halts turf growth; the grass is continually thinned throughout the winter in direct proportion to the amount of traffic. This thinning of the turf canopy can, and often does, encourage the establishment of such weeds as Poa annua, crabgrass, goosegrass, moss, algae, pearlwort, spurge, and other weed pests during the spring and summer. True enough, weeds can indeed be a problem on greens that aren't subjected to winter play, but winter traffic causes them to be just that much more abundant and difficult to control.

Soil compaction
Soil compaction is a more subtle and perhaps more important consequence of winter traffic. Because of the cold winter temperatures and lack of active turf growth, the loss of excess soil moisture through evaporation and transpiration is greatly reduced. In addition, frozen sub-surface soils may completely block the movement of excess moisture through the soil profile. During the summer, a very heavy rainfall often creates soil conditions that warrant closing the course for a day or two until the excess moisture is eliminated by the way of evaporation, transpiration, and downward percolation through the soil profile. Because these moisture losses are often non-functional during the winter, saturated soil conditions can persist for weeks or longer. Yet the golfers who can appreciate the need to close the course during the summer are sometimes completely unsympathetic to the same conditions and concerns during the winter.

The effects of soil compaction on the health and playability of the turf are insidious at any time, but because wet soils are especially prone to compaction, the likelihood of traffic causing the collapse of good soil structure is of constant concern during the winter. As soil particles are compacted and pushed closer and closer together, the pore space that facilitates drainage and root growth during summer is gradually lost. As the season finally commences, golfers often complain the these compacted greens are hard. From an agronomic standpoint, turf begins the season in a weakened state, predisposed to a host of summer problems. In addition to the potential for weed encroachment, the turf on greens played during winter tends to wilt more readily during hot weather, and often is more susceptible to a wide array of primary and secondary disease organisms. 

Effects on playability 
With the loss of turf density from direct wear injury and the loss of turf vigor caused by soil compaction, greens played during winter tend to be hard, slow, and bumpy, and they are slower to develop during the spring, compared to greens that are not subjected to winter traffic. Footprinting is often a problem, and golfers tend to complain about the lack of trueness even after several topdressings in the spring. Finally, the effects of compaction on the health of the turf can last to a certain extent for much of the season, making it difficult or impossible to keep the greens as closely cut and intensively groomed as some golfers might desire.

Many winter golfers have heard these arguments before and have dismissed them as being ravings of overprotective golf course superintendents and turfgrass scientists. A favorite response is, "I pay plenty to play golf at this club, and I'm going to use the regular greens during the winter. That's why we pay the superintendent - to fix up the greens in time for spring. Besides, the Let-'Em-Play-Anytime Golf Course down the street lets them play through the winter, and they don't lose any grass during the summer. Anyway, we only have a few groups that play much during the winter. How much damage can we do?"

Winter play can do an inordinate amount of damage to the health and playability of the greens in relation to the number of rounds. Every golf course considering winter play should question whether or not it is worth the risk of damaging the greens and affecting their playability for a significant period of the regular seasonably allowing a relatively small percentage of the club's golfers to use them at that time. In the view of most golf course superintendents, turfgrass scientists, and agronomists, it is not. Unfortunately, even the considered opinion of the experts is unlikely to separate winter play from politics and religion as a topic of controversy among golfers.