Springs Coming!

Temperatures are starting to climb and the grounds crew is busy preparing the course for opening day.  By the end of this week we should have a better idea on when the greens will be opening.  Four of our crew members from last year returned to work today: Balta, LoLo, Huver, and Pablo.  Our top priority is to complete the daunting task of raking up the entire golf course.  Willows are especially problematic.  As depicted below, they are messy and clean up is labor intensive.  It will take about a week to clean the entire course with 6-8 men.

 All greens must be  “cleaned up” before any spraying.  We’ll then apply our first spray of the season - a preventative application for snow mold.  With a cool, wet spring forecast, snow mold can still be a problem despite no “snow” coverage. 

Where's Spring?

I promise - spring will be here ONE of these days.  March 20^th officially marks the first day of spring, but the 10 day forecast doesn't promise any substantial warmth in the near future.  Think WARM!   Given the amount of snow cover this winter, concern has risen among superintendents regarding the health of their greens.  Ice can be a problem, especially if it’s a solid sheet of ice, as this may cause the grass to go anaerobic, i.e. suffocate.  At Kemper we currently have about ½” sheet of ice which appears to be porous.  This allows oxygen to reach the plant.  This is a favorable condition. 

A good test to see if greens are viable is to take plugs and bring them inside. This forces the grass to break dormancy and allows superintendents to assess the health of their greens with the snow cover.  On March 6^th, we took two plugs from the 5^th hole- one in the front and one in the back.  Currently everything appears to be healthy.  The images below show the increasing viability of the samples from March 6^th through today.