Fusariummy

So here are some more numbers and graphs.  This week I have been analysing all of the data that I have collected this past year to try and make some meaningful sense out of it.  There are many ways to compare one course to another but by simply using a $ figure doesn't always work.  Some courses are simply more expensive to maintain, even with cost-cutting, sustainable practices.  Labour is usually the biggest part of any golf course maintenance budget so it makes sense to see how efficient you are for particular tasks. I have put together some data that shows how efficient our course is to mow.  To measure how efficient a particular mower is you need to know how long it takes to mow a specific area and also how big that area is.  You could also add in the costs of maintaining the mower to get a real good set of statistics.  Sadly my records just aren't complete enough for that to happen this year. It is a real challenge keeping track of everything when the crew consists of 3 f

At the end of each season I like to tally the expenditures of the golf course operations and compare them against one another.  I break down costs of labour, fertilizer, pesticides, aggregates, as well as number of hours spent on each area of the course.  In this analysis I did not include unscheduled or equipment maintenance. The following Chart illustrates where the budget at our course was divided amongst the different areas of the course. We can clearly see that we are right on track with our spending when it comes to our priorities.  The putting greens get the most attention at Pender Harbour followed by the tees and fairways.  The fairway percentage is higher than tees only because they are about 15x the area of the tees.  This is also true for the rough.  Some courses spend a great deal on their traps trying to maintain them in as perfect a state as possible. In reality they are hazards and for the most part there is nothing wrong with the traps on our course.  They could be bet

Today the golf course experienced the first day of sub-zero temperatures without frost.  Usually with the high humidity on the West Coast we get a lot of frost if isn't raining this time of year.  Sometimes we get low humidity combined with low temperatures and will not see any frost form on the turf.  Even though the turf looks ok to golf on it might not necessarily be ok. No golf on days like this. Frost damage comes from the physical shattering of the turfgrass leaves as well as the crown tissues (growing point).  When the frost melts the turf is usually safe to golf on. When we experience frost-less mornings with freezing temperatures the turf is usually ok to walk on as the leaf blades are flexible and won't shatter.  The greens, however, can be damaged from walking on if the ground is frozen.  Frozen soil does not provide the same cushioning effect that unfrozen soil or thatch does.  The fairways and rough have sufficient thatch that they are usually ok to walk on when th

Hole 9 Wow, what a spectacular fall we have had on the course. If you were lucky enough to stay in the Harbour this fall instead of going down south to the Palm Desert you would have experienced some of the best playing conditions on the course all year! Hole 3 This fall has been exceptionally nice with below average rainfall and temperatures. This has left the course in excellent shape and course is dryer today than it was in October. The colder than normal temperatures have slowed the growth of the turf which has only required 2 cuts on the fairways since October 31. Some years we have had to cut 3 times a week just to keep up. View from top of 4 Aside from the occasional frost delay the golfers have had more opportunity to golf this fall than any fall in recent memory.  I have elected to keep the course closed until the frost has lifted in order to reduce the damage cause from walking on frozen turf.  Hole 2 In early December I undertook the now annual irrigation system blow out. I

Ok so moss has been on my mind lately.  It all started with a trip to a nearby golf course to look at their chemical moss control results over a few beers (pilsner).  We noticed that it seemed like the Kocide (copper hydroxide) was working pretty good.  The moss was turning black which signified that it was dead. The following picture started me thinking.  There was no moss where the tires of the triplex mower travelled on the clean up cut.  Why was this?  I posted in an earlier blog entry about possible reasons but I think I have figured it out.  Before we get into what I think I feel that it is important to go over some characteristics of moss and also what other are recommending for moss control. Moss does not have roots.  It has rhizoids which serve solely as anchors.  They do not absorb nutrients or water.  Moss requires any moisture to be absorbed through their above ground surfaces. Most papers that I have read on cultural moss control strategies say that to control moss you sho

Improperly edged traps allow the turf to creep into the sand. You might have noticed that the crew (me) has started work on fixing up the sand traps.  Over the course of the season the edges get beat up and each year we re-edge the traps. As can be seen from the picture to the right the sand has been improperly raked up to the edges of the trap.  This allows the golfer to putt out of the trap as well as allows the turf to creep into the sand.  When the traps have been properly edged they are easier to maintain and provide a greater hazard to the golfers.   The turf is cut back to solid healthy turf. The picture below shows how much the turf can creep into the trap in a season.  We (I) will cut back the turf to expose a clean edge.  As the turf doesn't grow this time of year the clean edge should  remain intact until next summer. Training will be required for all returning staff to ensure that they maintain the existing edge. The following pictures show the process of re-edging the

On a recent trip to a neighbouring golf course we were checking out their progress on moss eradication.  In Canada, Kocide 2000 has recently been registered for use to control silvery thread moss.  As can be seen from the picture, we like to drink pilsner AND the moss control is working. Kocide 2000's active ingredient is copper hydroxide.  When sprayed in high volumes of water over numerous applications it has been very successful in controlling moss on putting greens.  Some people suggest that adding wetting agents and acidifying agents also help the efficacy of the Kocide.  Others add iron as well to reduce the effects that copper has on inducing an iron deficiency in the plants.  It is not uncommon for the turf to turn a bright orange colour after a Kocide application unless iron is also applied. The real neat thing about the above picture is not how great the Kocide is working but the two linear tracks of turf that don't have any moss on them.  These tracks are where the t