Fusariummy

A few years ago I noticed that what little bentgrass was still around on my greens was seeming to be taking back over . This got me thinking. Uh oh. At this time there was very little bentgrass left on my greens. They were almost 100% poa annua. I was in the process of making big changes to my management techniques. The use of a moisture meter allowed me to keep moisture levels controlled during the optimum growing season. I changed over to the MLSN fertility guidelines and my fertilizer rates were changed to be based on the temperature based Growth Potential. I changed the way I mow, cultivate and almost every other aspect of the putting green maintenance. I started using a moisture meter in 2008. All of a sudden I wasn't guessing on soil moisture levels. Although I wasn't precisely controlling moisture similar to how they do on Tour I was able to keep the greens significantly drier. Some people say that in my climate (West Coast of Canada) it is impossible to keep the greens...

While out fertilizing the tees this morning I noticed something crazy. All the clover on the tees had disappeared. There has always been a good population of clover on the tees at Pender Harbour ever since I have worked here starting in 2001. Up until 2005 we would spot spray these areas with Killex but haven't applied any type of herbicide to them since then. Today I could only find one small patch less than 1 m2 on my tee boxes. Crazy! So what the heck happened to the clover? It's not like the clover really bothered me . I was not trying to rid the tees of clover in any way. This was an indirect  consequence  of something that I did. Two years ago I radically changed the way I fertilize and manage inputs on the golf course. I switched to the MLSN and stopped doing things "just because that's the way we have always done it." One of the main points of the MLSN is to only apply a nutrient when it is needed by the plant. With the MLSN I stopped applying calcium to ...

Lately I have begun to change the way I approach weeds in the landscape. In my experience over the past decade I have seen a lot of weed management failures, not just on the golf course but also on people's home lawns. I have noticed a few things and here is what I have got. The principle is this: Instead of focusing on the pest, focus on the desirable species. It might sound easy but it is really a hard thing to do.  Take dandelions in your home lawn for example. When dandelions sprout on most people's lawns their first reaction is "what do I apply to kill these dandelions?" While this is a fantastic short term solution it really solves nothing over time and not after long the lawn is usually plagued with more dandelions. Instead of focusing your energy on the dandelion focus on the needs of the turf. The dandelions aren't the issues. The turf that is weak and unable to out-compete the dandelions is the real issue. I am often approached by members telling me I be...