Winter May Finally Be Here

As I am sitting here writing this the wind is gusting up to 100 km/h and the temperatures are plummeting today. This is good and bad. The temperatures dropping is great as the ground will finally freeze and the turf plants will all finally go into winter sleep mode. The wind is not so good as I am preparing to have a lot of tarps and snowfence to fix after this before the ground is totally frozen.

Since my last post we have accomplished a lot. In the middle of October we completed our fairway aeration that we complete every October. We performed this to help to relieve compaction from golfers, mowing equipment, etc that takes place throughout the season. We also are removing thatch (dead and decaying plant matter), improving water, air and nutrient infiltration, and hoping to promote growth by performing this aeration.

7 fairway after aeration

Our final fungicide applications took place on the greens, tee boxes and a few select fairways. We apply fungicide before winter to prevent the development of winter turf diseases such as snow molds and Fusarium. Some of our fungicides are also formulated with a stress guard which we use to help to prevent winter desiccation.

Fungicide being applied on 5 green

Irrigation system blowout was performed during the second last week of October. During this process we hook up a very large sized air compressor to the system and blow compressed air through the all of the piping, connections and sprinklers heads to remove all water from these areas and prevent freezing of the system over the winter months. 

A sprinkler head being blown out

At the end of October every year we put tarps down on all the greens and then put snowfence up on all the greens and tee boxes on the golf course. The tarps act as a layer of insulation to help protect the plants from cold temperature and cold winter winds that dry the plant out and eventually lead to death (desiccation). The snowfence is used to trap snow and also provide a layer of insulation for those same reasons. 

11 green after being tarped and snowfenced

The process of grinding all of our reels and bedknives on our mowers will be completed this week. During this process the reels and bedknives are put on a grinding machine and a new cutting edge is established and any damage to the blades is ground out and the reels are brought back to square. 

A reel after it has been ground

Throughout the next few months I will then be continuing on with equipment repairs from the season, of which this winter there are quite a few compared to previous seasons. I will also be working through a lot of office work including budgeting, setting of 2016 rates, fertilizer and chemical programming and ordering, cultural and agronomic scheduling, safety programs, etc. 

That is all for now. I am looking forward to a successful winter and for this wind to disappear and leave my tarps alone so they can freeze down for winter. I will be back with another update next month. 

A look down hole 3 this fall