Fusariummy

OK. I know what you're thinking. Enough with the rolling already. This guy is nuts. You might be right but..... I think I am seeing a difference in the amount of seed head relative to rolling frequency. Here's a few pictures so you can decide for yourself. The plots that are rolled 2x daily have in my view significantly less seed head than the control. Plots rolled more than 2x daily have practically zero seed head present. Keep in mind the quality of the turf here is so low as the putting green only receives 2 hrs of sunlight/day when it's not raining. I am trying to grow moss here after all! Poa annua NOT rolled Poa annua rolled 2x daily  Poa annua rolled 4x daily Poa annua/dirt rolled 8x daily This spring my greens have never been so good during the Poa annua seed head cycle. I knew a big part of it had to do with the rolling but I just thought that it was the physical act of smoothing the surfaces that was making them roll so much truer and faster. Last week a visitin...

The results are in for my accidental discovery last week. I collected the data and Larry from PACE Turf analyzed it for me. Golf Tees show the Fusarium Patches on the Control Plot (never rolled ever) Now it would be easy to jump to conclusion that rolling more is better but hold on just a second. This study is far from scientific and was designed for a completely different purpose . Any superintendent will tell you that no two sites are the same and what I am seeing might not be repeatable on other sites....maybe. This study was not set up to study turfgrass disease and therefore some of the results could be augmented due to disease spread from mowers . Further study is definitely needed to really get to the bottom of this discovery.  I hypothesize that the reason rolling is having an effect on fusarium is the same reason that rolling has an effect on Dollar Spot . Researches are working to see if it is the increased microbial populations in soils that are rolled that a...

This morning while checking on my moss study plots I was treated to a pleasant surprise. The study putting green was caked in fusarium patch just the same as the rest of my putting surfaces. I always gravitate towards the plot that is rolled 8x a day just to see how it is managing. The turf was slightly thinning but there was absolutely no fusarium present! At first I was a bit surprised but then again it's no big deal to not see any disease on a small 4'x4' section of the putting green turf even with severe disease pressure. I kept on looking at all the plots to rate them on fusarium severity. I made a hasty observation that plots that were rolled at least 4x/day had no disease where plots with 2-3x/day had some disease and the control plots were severely infected. Wow! We know rolling has an effect on Dollar Spo t but Fusarium? Really? These observations are very early and clearly demand further investigation. This moss study is a long term pet project of mine so it shou...

Most of you now know that I have been monitoring my growth rates on the course for the past 6 months now. This has been a really enlightening experience and has really opened my eyes to what is really going on with my putting greens. It helps me plan for fertility, keep the greens consistent and also see when the turf is stressed. The following chart illustrates the growth rate on my putting greens and the effects of plant growth regulators. Prior to the spring growth surge my growth rate was at about 0.4 (This number really doesn't mean anything to anyone but myself. It is based on the clippings we collect on our greens mower each time we cut. It gives us a constant to compare data). In late April the growth rate surged to 2.5 or almost 6x the growth I was seeing in the early spring. After my first application of Primo Maxx at the label rate of 2ml/100m2 the growth rates dropped down to about 1 (our ideal clipping yield based on observed stress and consistency). This growth rate w...

Most people that know me probably think that I hate trees. I do hate trees when they are shading the turfgrass but trees do have their place on a golf course. Today we planted a white oak tree on the right side of hole 9. Richy Smith and Simone admiring the new tree The infamous blind tee shot on hole nine requires a periscope to see if the fairway ahead is clear. The large gap in the forest lures people to aim right down the middle. Unfortunately any shots right of centre will find the hidden pond. I have nothing against blind tee shots (that's just good fun) but hiding penal water on the other side of the hill is just cruel. Overhead view showing location of tree and teeboxes on hole 9  To show golfers where the water is and where not to aim we planted the tree right in front of the pond. In a few years when the tree matures it will make it obvious to the golfers that they should not aim in that direction. It should not have any affect on the way the hole plays other than a visua...

Last week I had a number of people come up to me complaining about the inconsistency of the greens. Overall they were consistent with each other but from day to day the speed was changing drastically. This was due to the fact that the growth rate of the turf quadrupled on April 23. This was due to the warmer temperatures we have been experiencing especially the warmer overnight temperatures. On the 23rd we applied a growth regulator (primo) to slow the vertical growth of the turf on the greens so that they will become more consistent day to day. Something that we started last fall was to monitor the growth rate of the turf with each mowing of the greens. I have a blog post here that explains the process. This is a really cool tool for us because we can see how quickly the turf is growing and how it responds to our cultural practices. The above graph shows the growth rate over time. You can see on the 20th the growth rate takes a surge. Prior to this date we were only cutting our green...

Here is one point of view regarding irrigation and minimalism. I don't necessarily agree with it 100% but it's an interesting concept either way. When in-ground irrigation systems were first used on golf courses a single irrigation line running down the center of the fairways was the norm. This was due to the fact that the heads usually had to be manually connected and there just wasn't enough time or money to water everything. As technology progressed and budgets increased multi-row systems became the norm. Along with these multi-row or wall-to-wall systems came the ability to keep all of the fairways and rough green year-round. So naturally the design of courses changed to include thick dense rough all through the course. If we had the ability to do it then why not? Single row systems keep it green down the middle where it should be! Courses that were originally designed with single row irrigation systems were often upgraded to multi-row systems so that lush green conditi...