Week Of August 29th - Greens aeration + water management
- matthewbehl
- Sep 2, 2022
- 2 min read
Greens were core aerated and topdressed this Monday and Tuesday. The weather cooperated and the process went smoothly. Greens have been rolled and were cut for the first time on Friday, September 2nd. They will be cut every other day until the sand is fully into the canopy. At which time daily mowing will resume. The goal of this aeration was to remove as much material (thatch) as possible and improve infiltration and porosity. Approximately 35 tons of sand was incorporated into the greens.
Water Management
My team and I are working non stop on drought recovery. We are doing this while still in extreme drought conditions. What little rain we have received has helped, but we are still a long way away from full recovery efforts. The rainfall total for August was .52 inches which is way below normal precipitation. We have had below normal rainfall in every month since February in Ipswich. Rough is still not being irrigated. Fairway moisture as measured by volumetric moisture content is 8 to 12 percent lower then where we like to be starting the day. While we have had some great fairway recovery we still have a long ways to go. There are so many areas on fairways that we would love to give extra water and speed up the recovery effort, but simply have to manage carefully with our current water supply.
Usually as we finish greens aeration we start in on tees and approaches. We will not be doing any further aerations at this time. We simply do not have the water supply to aerate and topdress any other play areas. We will be seeding some fairway spots, but keeping a close eye on our water supply in doing so. Regular aeration to tees and approaches and full fledge seeding efforts will resume as soon as the water supply allows.
All seeding on fairways will be done with bentgrass. There are varieties of grass that will provide a quicker turf coverage, but will lead to blotchy turf color, less cold tolerance, and lower tolerance of low cutting heights. Please be patient during the seeding process. I want to take the drought and use it as an opportunity to improve the fairways and the turf species on them. The new seeder should arrive around mid September and hopefully this coincides with a better water supply.
