Dealing With Ice

Ice damage has unfortunately become a very common problem in our province in recent years as mild winters and large weather shifts are seeming to become more common for our Saskatchewan winters. Ice can be very difficult to prevent but there are a few practices that can be performed to help decrease/eliminate the damage it causes. Anoxia is what takes place when turfgrasses die from being encased in ice for too long. What happens at this point is that the plant can no longer effectively "breathe" and harmful gases become present causing the plant too die from low to non-existent oxygen levels. 

Ice broken up that had formed on a permeable tarp

So what practices can be performed to help you reduce the damage that ice causes? The first and most important thing is promoting as healthy of a stand of turf as you possibly can going into winter. This would mean that activities such as adequate fertilizer and irrigation amounts have been maintained throughout the growing season, regular cultural practices (aeration, topdressing, verti-cutting, grooming, etc) have been performed throughout the growing season, and proper cutting heights and quality of cut has been present to name just a few of the many important practices that take place on the golf course during the season. There are some nutritional tools and products available that have helped extend the duration in which a plant can handle ice encasement. Products designed to help mitigate stress on the plant have demonstrated success in university trials against ice encasement. These products generally contain elements such as the plant defense activators, phosphites, extremophiles, humic acids, etc that are all things that we have talked about in the past that all come together to either promote a stronger/healthier plant or a more desirable porous rootzone that will result in better air/gas exchange and water movement. In areas that commonly collect water and form ice, late fall aeration can help to create channels for water to move down below the surface. Simple practices such as taking a cup cutter to the low areas or cutting sod strips in low spots to move water that collects away from the surface can also help. It is worth noting that some of these practices can help to promote faster drying out of the rootzone though so if you are in areas prone to dessication you do have to weigh the risks of ice protection vs. dessication protection. The use of ice shield tarping systems to separate the ice from the plant along with reclamation/geo-textile products and bubble wrap have also proven to be effective in creating air pockets to help the plant breathe with the ice. 

When ice does occur a superintendent does have to assess how long is too long for the plant to be under the ice and then if ice removal is viewed to be best how will you remove the ice? Taking turf samples from ice covered areas using a drill with a hole saw bit can be a helpful tool to assess damage by bring the samples indoors to warmer temperatures with lighting to see how much of the plants begin to grow back in more suitable growing conditions. If ice removal is to take place then tools such as aerators, mechanically powered brushes, jackhammers, etc can all be used to remove ice, but there always is the risk of these tools causing further damage. 

Next month I will continue with ice damage with some recommendations that will help in the recovery phase when ice damage does occur coming out of winter to help get the playing surfaces back in playing condition as quickly as possible. 

Turf Fuel has a winter hardiness program that is a combination of Element 6, Base K26 and MZ-23 or Phos-sil Fuel that has been university proven to help with ice encasement. Element 6 features a full load of Nutrifense which is a combination of protein pre-cursors, defense activators, extremophile extracts and anti-oxidants that provided the best results in the study when it came to plant survival under ice conditions. Our Base K26 was also included in the study and the K source (potassium acetate) also displayed strong results against the untreated control when it came to the amount of plants that recovered after ice encasement. 

Some quick details on this product combination can be found below along with the details of the university trial.  

Turf Fuel is committed to developing products that are not like any other on the market and finding solutions to the problems that have been plaguing turf managers for years. They are committed to always improving the already great products they currently have. Turf Fuel has solutions available from the most simple aspects of nitrogen nutrition to the much more complicated solutions that you have been looking for such as stress management.

 

Localized Dry Spot

Localized dry spots are brown and purple spots that appear out of no where and then once visible begin to show signs of drought stress. Many things can contribute to localized dry spot formation but some of those most common reasons include thatch, compacted soil, steep slopes, poor irrigation water quality, improper irrigation coverage, disease and high salt concentrations in soils. 

Localized dry spot present in bentgrass

The soil particles in these localized dry spot areas become hydrophobic (incapable of accepting/absorbing water and re-hydrating) because of an organic coating that becomes present on the soil particles. Localized dry spot has become a larger problem over the last 20-30 years as golf maintenance practices have changed. Previously golf courses used more water (saturating the surface more consistently) and did not prepare the playing surfaces as aggressively as we do now. Once the push came to use less water and to dry down the surface to produce much firmer and faster conditions, along with sand based construction becoming the norm the industry, we then saw localized dry spot become a more common issue. Excessive thatch can become hydrophobic as well which can lead to the water never getting into the soil because of the water droplets never being allowed to absorb below the surface due to the thatch layer. 

Aeration has been proven to help lessen the effects of localized dry spots. Aeration can help to relieve compaction in the soil that reduces water/air infiltration and it will also help to remove thatch that can prevent the water from entering the soil. Aeration will create channels in the soil that will most importantly allow water to enter the soil and enter deeper into the rootzone by the act of cultivating the surface. This will make overhead irrigation and hand watering practices more effective.

The most effective tool for dealing with localized dry spot is the use of wetting agents. Wetting agents help alter the soil to allow it to accept water and then allow for continual re-wetting of the rootzone. Wetting agents allow water to spread across the surface and penetrate into the soil by lowering the surface tension of the liquid. There are many different types of wetting agents available though so be sure to understand and choose the technology that fits your specific golf course and location needs. Are you simply just looking to rewet the soil that will not accept water where dry spots have occurred, are you looking to improve the efficiency of the water you apply to allow you to use less water, are you looking for a penetrant to move water through the profile, are you wanting a wetting agent to soften the surface or to firm up the surface, etc. All of these questions should be asked before choosing your wetting agent to allow the right product to be purchased from your supplier, so be sure to ask yourself and your supplier these questions to ensure you are using the best product for your needs!

Turf Fuel has many different wetting agent/surfactant options available for the consumer to choose from. Vanquish Plus contains three different polymers that aid in soil penetration, hydration and rehydration. Vanquish is the perfect treatment and recovery aid for dealing with localized dry spot and drought conditions. Vanquish will provide uniform hydration across the rootzone. 

Kraken Plus is a 30 day dry spot/drought preventative wetting agent. It contains capped polymers and is completed by a unique solvent technology. This product will provide unmatched tournament like, firm and fast, playing conditions. 

Distance Plus is a multiple branching polymer that is designed to provide long term (up to 120 day) protection against dry spot and drought conditions. This product is perfect for tee box, fairway, approaches, driving range and slope/traffic locations. 

Cleanse Plus is a solvent surfactant product that will improve water penetration and reduce hydrophobic organic materials that coat soil particles. By removing and reducing these organic materials this is the perfect clean-up product to reduce hydrophobic and localized dry spot conditions. 

Turf Fuel is committed to developing products that are not like any other on the market and finding solutions to the problems that have been plaguing turf managers for years. They are committed to always improving the already great products they currently have. Turf Fuel has solutions available from the most simple aspects of nitrogen nutrition to the much more complicated solutions that you have been looking for such as stress management. 

Calcium for Turf

Calcium is without a doubt one of the most important nutrients for maintaining healthy turf but quite often is overlooked. Calcium is important for cell strength as it will help the plant in strengthening cell walls. It also maintains osmotic balance (balance between electrolytes and non-electrolytes through the movement of solution through cell walls) with cells which helps keep cell membranes stable. 

Because calcium is important for cell wall strength we can then make the connection that it is important in managing plant stresses as the thicker/stronger the cell wall is, the less likely it is to be compromised from the attack of a pathogen or external stress. Foliar calcium can be helpful in managing heat stress as it allows the plant to go through respiration without using up its carbohydrate supplies. Because of this the plant still has the energy to carry out its normal processes as it is not having to turn around and reproduce all of its new energy.

As many people do know calcium is very important for improving soil structure. We typically use it as a soil amendment in Saskatchewan for dealing with high levels of sodium which we see as a large problem throughout the entire province. Calcium works by entering the soil and replacing sodium from soil particles. Once the sodium is no longer linked to the soil particles we have the opportunity to attempt to leach the sodium through the soil profile. The removal of the sodium from the soil is very important as we end up with a soil profile that is no longer so tightly bound where there is now pore/air space the allow air, water, nutrients, etc to move through the soil more freely. This is why when we have sodium effected soils that you see and feel that the soil becomes hard like cement and that water struggles to enter these soils (puddling) because the soil is so tight that the water can not enter the soil. Calcium can displace other cations so easily within the soil because it is a much larger cation in size so it can “out-weigh” other cations and it’s two positive charges can then easily  attach between different soil particles.

Turf Fuel has a few different calcium products available to help turf managers with the problems/solutions that we have discussed. Respo Fuel is a calcium-rich product that we use to mitigate heat stress. This product allows respiration to take place without the plant using up all of its energy. Respo Fuel also contains biostimulants, salicylic acid, Nutrifense, copper and silica resulting in the ultimate summer heat stress product. 

Lessen 11 is an acidified calcium product that physically removes sodium from soil particles. This then allows the sodium to be flushed through the rootzone by precipitation or irrigation. The acidic calcium in this product will also help to free up calcium that had previously been tied up in the soil as well.

D-Solve is a blend of acids and a soil penetrant that helps to dissolve bicarbonate layering. It does not contain calcium but because of this acidifying removal of sodium it frees up calcium and magnesium that had previously been tied up in the soil so you then can receive many of the benefits that calcium provides to the plant from what was already in your soil.

Turf Fuel is committed to developing products that are not like any other on the market and finding solutions to the problems that have been plaguing turf managers for years. They are committed to always improving the already great products they currently have. Turf Fuel has solutions available from the most simple aspects of nitrogen nutrition to the much more complicated solutions that you have been looking for such as stress management.