Where Does the Time Go?

I looked at my last post this morning and realized that it has already been a month and a half since my last post. I should not be surprised as time always seems to fly by like this, but it still manages to surprise me every time. Since my last post we have been up to quite a bit so I will update you on what some of those things have been.

May started off extremely hot and really tested all of our turf in a hurry. Dry spots did develop but with the help of our hand watering and wetting agents we took care of the heat quite easily.

Hand watering dry spots

We saw our first really good signs of take-all patch the second week of May but since we were already well into our disease preventive fertilizer and chemical programs we made it through that stress quite easily and without taking any steps back.

Early signs of take-all patch

The second half of May saw rain so as a result we tried our best to take advantage of this by really getting into our fertility program throughout all areas of the course as there has been fertilizer applied everywhere now. This is quite obvious if you have been out on the course recently because as you may have seen the combination of rain and fertilizer has resulted in us falling behind on rough mowing as the areas are getting pretty long by the time we are getting back around again to cut the areas again.

Fertilizer applied to a fairway

We had an irrigation issue that occurred over the May long weekend which resulted in 5 greens being really dried out and browning off. The following week the problem was solved and the greens were sprayed with a wetting agent/drought management product which combined with all the rain helped us get those five greens back into shape in less than a week.

Top: what a green looked like after irrigation issue

Bottom: what that green looked like two days after drought product was applied

Irrigation breaks are continuing to occur quite frequently as they always do but we are staying on top of them and ensuring that water is getting out to all of the areas that need it. 

Irrigation break on 3 fairway

We are only a couple of weeks away from having our highschool students back to work full time which will be a big help to our team and really allow us to accomplish a lot. We will then be continuing with a few bunker renovations, general bunker maintenance, irrigation repairs and drainage improvements. 

We have a lot of work planned for the summer so if all goes well there should be a lot done by the time the fall is here.  

Sunrise over 8 green