It's that time again! (Aeration)

The most important cultural practice that is performed at our facilities is core aeration, and I could literally wear out the keyboard discussing the benefits of this process!  The process of aeration and recovery is very stressful both physically and mentally for our staff, because we take such pride if maintaining great conditions for you!  But this temporary disruption to our playing surfaces is what helps the turf remain healthy throughout the year and is very important!  So what exactly is so great about removing all these plugs of soil from your beautiful golf course?

• Improved root growth
• Improved gas exchange (oxygen to the root zone and actual air movement underground!)
• Decreased thatch and organic matter that can hold excess water (bad for root development and increases disease pressure and insect problems)
• Incorporation of pure sand in greens to keep these important channels open (tremendous root growth in these holes!) as well as firm the playing surface
• Alleviates compaction caused by foot and vehicle traffic
• Improved water infiltration
• Improved microbial activity (healthy microbes help the soil environment function better)
• And the list goes on!

Superintendents LOVE this root development in aeration holes!

So when exactly will our courses be aerating? 
Find our aeration schedule HERE.  

On the date of aeration, the areas mentioned (front 9/back 9) will be closed for the day.  We have selected aeration dates that work best for the specific needs of each course based on types of grass, staffing levels, equipment sharing, and environmental conditions, as well as trying to work around major events and outings that are already scheduled.

Changing gears...

It's been some time since my last blog post here, and I wanted to give a quick review of where things are at on the turf side of our operations!

After another FUN Mid-Atlantic summer, our superintendents have changed gears from the hectic days of high-stress turfgrass management to the more predictable time of year when grass growth has slowed to a minimum, and our focus shifts to leaf removal and beginning to work on projects that will enable us to continue to improve our facilities.

August and September saw us begin in earnest cultural practices including aeration and seeding of greens, tees, fairways, and rough, and final rounds of weed control, topdressing, and vertical mowing. 

Best large-area aerator in the industry providing some turf relief!

Virtually every golf course in the area, public or private, was affected in late August and early September by significant turf decline in the rough caused by an aggressive disease called gray leaf spot.  (Most people, when asked, just assumed our rough was affected by drought)  This disease typically affects perennial ryegrass, and can take out large stands of turf in a matter of days.  The positive side about what happened in our roughs is that we have been able to introduce a LOT more tall fescue into the stand, which is more disease and drought tolerant year-round compared with Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrasses, and fine fescues.. 

100% tall fescue on the left (sod area); mixed stand on the right where gray leaf spot negatively impacted the rough.

Next year, we will be introducing some additional control strategies that will help us to maintain healthier, more playable turf around greens and fairways amidst the unbelievable summer disease pressure we face annually in this region.

Hurricane (or Superstorm) Sandy brought with her extreme devastation to so many areas locally and especially, of course, New Jersey and New York.  MCG's golf courses were VERY fortunately spared from much of this damage.  We had a few trees come down and some damage to things like roadside netting.  Bunkers were also flooded with about 8 inches of rainfall, but fortunately, the main impact from Sandy affecting playability of the courses was copious amounts of leaves that fell.  With the golf courses totally saturated, large equipment could not be used for a couple of days to remove leaves, so maintenance staffs did a lot of hand work getting the courses ready for play again.

Anyone have a leaf rake?

Now in mid-November, leaves are still falling, but I would estimate we are more than 75% through the leaf drop period.  Hardwood trees like oak, hickory, and some fruit trees such as pear, are still hanging on, and maintenance teams will continue to prepare the golf course for you each morning amidst other work.  While some areas of leaves are simply blown into the woods, we make a point to try to MULCH leaves back into the turf canopy of the rough surrounding greens, tees, and fairways, which has a long-term benefit of providing a food source to the grass as the leaves decompose over time.

Mowing grass has slowed to about once a week at this point, but our goal is still to keep great greens for you, so we continue to roll the greens to maintain surface smoothness and green speed.  We are also running into numerous frost delays, but be assured we are doing everything we can in order to get you on the course ASAP!  More info on frost here, or here (highly detailed article).

Stay tuned for additional posts this week about some of the projects we are starting to work on... greens drainage, tee construction, bunker rebuilds, irrigation upgrades, etc.  Mother nature has slowed down, but MCG teams will be hard at work all winter!!!

Let the greens breathe!

It's been very wet the past few days, and with more rain forecast this week, you'll see that many of our superintendents have implemented venting programs so our greens can continue to breathe and function as well as possible.

While most of our old pushup-style greens lack internal drainage, even modern sand-based greens benefit from this important practice.  As thatch builds up just under the surface of the green, the amount of air flow between the surface and soil is reduced, and by venting the greens once or twice a month, we are able to keep a good supply of oxygen to the root zone.  The tiny holes created by this operation also allow us to better incorporate very light amounts of topdressing sand into the green that have numerous benefits as well such as thatch dilution and reduced incidence of insect and disease problems.

We are committed to continuing to provide excellent playing conditions for our wonderful golfers, and we have been having a fantastic year thus far.  By venting greens and performing other important cultural practices throughout the year (core aeration, topdressing, vertical mowing, rolling, etc), you'll be sure to have a more consistent, positive experience every time you come out to play!

Home Lawn Tips for 2012

A common question for many of our superintendents from golfers is “How can I make my home lawn look more like the golf course?” Here are a few tips that will help you in your quest to achieve that perfect lawn!

1. Mow it high! Mow your lawn as tall as you can tolerate. I set my mower at home to the highest setting, about 3.5 inches. The benefits of doing this will be realized all year. 
• Tall grass naturally grows deeper roots, just like you would imagine that larger trees have more roots than smaller trees.  Trees must have an extensive root system to support themselves with vital nutrients and water from the soil. Your grass behaves in the same manner. A deep root system will help your grass withstand the extreme summer heat that is all too common in this area. When things get dry, having deep roots will allow your home lawn to access the moisture 6, 8, or 10 inches below! Roots also tend to die back in the summer, so if you start the spring with 8 inch roots, and they slough off to 3-4 inches in the summer, you will still in better shape than your neighbor who mowed his yard like a fairway this spring!
• Tall grass helps shade out weeds. Weeds need sunlight to grow, too. When they begin to emerge in a tall canopy, your grass has a better chance of out-competing them.
• Do not bag your clippings, but rather, GRASS-CYCLE!  Returning clippings to your lawn will equate to about 1 lb. of nitrogen over the course of the year and will help feed the lawn over the long term.
2. Get a soil test! If you are going to have the best lawn in the neighborhood, you need to ascertain exactly what the soil needs to grow good grass!
• Here’s a great resource for finding a lab where you can send a sample:. Page 4 has a list of recommended soil testing labs.
• It is important to NOT over-fertilize! The last thing you need is an overly lush lawn that is a perfect site for development of turf diseases! A soil test will help you determine the nutrients that are deficient in your soil.  More is not necessarily better!
• Do not just put any random fertilizer on your yard, just because the bag says it will give you the perfect lawn. Knowing what the soil needs will allow you to keep the right balance!
• Remember that if you apply fertilizer, do not apply to impervious surfaces. If you get some on your sidewalk or driveway, sweep it or blow it back onto the grass to prevent nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay! 
• Generally, apply fertilizer in the fall, not in the spring or summer.  If you do need to fertilize in the spring in order to correct soil deficiencies or grow new grass from seed, avoid high nitrogen fertilizer sources and do not apply phosphorous at all unless your soil test shows an unusual deficiency of this element.
3. Don’t over-water! If you have an irrigation system at your house, only use it after you see your grass just get dry enough to begin slightly wilting. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen irrigation running on a home lawn in the rain. Sure, it’s easy to “set it and forget it,” but it is irresponsible use of water, a waste of money, and it’s bad for the grass! If the soil stays wet, the grass has no reason to grow roots. With shorter roots, you’ll have to water more to keep it alive, so turn that irrigation system off this spring unless it is extremely dry! Furthermore, grass that stays wet will invite more disease and end up costing you more money to re-establish what dies. 
• If you do water, do so in the early morning or late afternoon. Watering in the middle of the day is wasteful since much of it will evaporate, and night watering encourages extended periods of leaf wetness and promotes disease.
• For home lawns without irrigation, follow the same recommendations on this page and make sure any fertilizer is applied just prior to a light to moderate rain event (NOT a thunderstorm!)  Mow your non-irrigated lawn when it is NOT under drought stress.  During an extended dry spell in the summer when your lawn has gone almost completely dormant, let it go until as long as you can tolerate between mowing and let nature be.  Every time you cut grass, it expends energy trying to heal itself and grow back.  Your lawn needs that same energy to survive and recover from the drought stress!
4. Aeration! Grass roots need oxygen! What better way to get vital oxygen into the soil than to aerate your lawn. If you own or rent a walk-behind drum aerator, run over your lawn 2-3 times to get tighter spacing on holes and provide a deeper benefit to this process.  Aeration holes also provide  protected areas for seed to germinate and grow prior to being subjected to foot and mower traffic.  Aeration removes thatch, improves drainage, and a whole host of other benefits.  Here is a great video about home lawn aeration.
   
5. Pick the right seed! For most home lawns, tall fescue is the seed of choice that will better tolerate drought and some shade. Fine fescues (hard and sheep fescues are best) are great for shady areas, but don’t tolerate traffic well, so if you have a busy yard it may not be the best choice, but would work pretty well in a blend with tall fescue. Kentucky bluegrass is a very nice turf, but is more prone to disease and thatch development. Perennial ryegrass is quick to establish, but also prone to summer diseases. For most lawns, the best bet is a blend of about 10% ryegrass and 90% tall fescue, so you get quick establishment of ryegrass to stabilize the soil and help hold moisture for the tall fescue to germinate, and you get the added benefits of tall fescue’s resilience to drought, heat, and disease. Late summer or early fall is the best time for seeding, usually between mid-August and late September.
• Ultra Water Conservative? Then pick a zoysia or bermudagrass for your lawn. These grasses are dormant from November through early May, so if you can tolerate having a brown yard during the cooler months, these two grasses need virtually no water at all!
6. Control weeds! Obviously the most environmentally friendly way to control weeds is to hand-pick them.  For most homeowners these days, however, there simply isn't enough time in the day to do this, and chemical control methods can be safely utilized when you carefully follow label directions. Control grassy weeds like crabgrass and goosegrass by applying a pre-emergent herbicide in the spring. It’s best to apply before soil temperatures reach 55 degrees. However, if your yard is extremely thin and you need to do some renovations, the pre-emergent herbicide will also keep your newly seeded grass from germinating. The fall is the best time for a home lawn renovation. Most pre-emergents will also prevent broadleaf weeds from germinating; however some weeds like clover and dandelion come up in the spring, and can be pulled by hand for small infestations, or spot-treated with a hand sprayer. Make sure to follow label instructions precisely! If you are using a granular post-emergent herbicide, it should be applied in a heavy dew or right after a rain for the best effect. Here are some other resources you will find helpful:
   

How to Choose the Lawn Care Service that’s best for you… and the Chesapeake Bay

University of Maryland Home and Garden Information Center links to hundreds of documents to help manage your lawn and garden responsibly.

Aeration time and an early spring?

Well, to say the weather has been a little unusual is an understatement.  But how wonderful that this time we’re not talking about 30” of snow, but some great above-average temperatures that have provided a LOT of winter golf opportunities!  With spring aeration time right around the corner (link to aeration schedule below), I thought it would be a good time to talk about what’s going on with the turf during a mild winter like this.

This is the latest 1-month outlook from NOAA.  The trend continues!

Holy traffic, Batman! 

One of the biggest challenges to a busy winter golf season is the amount of traffic we see on the courses.  While the unseasonable temperatures have provided some much needed golf weather after a very wet September and October last year, our golf courses are seeing the toll that traffic takes on the grass when there is no ability for it to grow and heal itself.  This comes most notably in the form of hundreds of ball marks on every green, and very heavy wear on areas at the entry and exit points to cart paths around greens and tees.  Tee boxes themselves are beat up, but most of our courses have purposely left the tee markers place for the winter without moving them, so there we minimize the amount of area that is bare and needs to be seeded in the spring.  Ultimately this allows us to provide improved teeing areas when the spring does arrive and the grass starts growing again.

Root growth bonus!

6 inch roots in February makes a superintendent happy!

Turf all around the golf courses typically sees roughly zero root development in the winter, but this year, again, is a little different!  These temperatures have allowed the soil to warm up a little more ahead of schedule and we are ahead of the game with root growth.  This is great news if you’re a turf junkie, because spring root growth is INCREDIBLY important to the turf’s ability to withstand the incredible summer stress we see in this area.  Our superintendents, just like all you golfers out there itching to hit the links, are hoping for some nice, dry weather so we can be as productive as possible getting the courses cleaned up and back in shape for the spring.  Dry weather in the spring and fall is crucial for root growth because it makes the plants search for water.  If it stays wet, roots have no reason to grow and with short roots, it is a very long, labor-intensive summer for turf management.

Aeration time!

The most important cultural practice that is performed at our facilities is core aeration, and I could literally wear out the keyboard discussing the benefits of this process!  The process of aeration and recovery is very stressful both physically and mentally for our staff, because we take such pride if maintaining great conditions for you!  But this temporary disruption to our playing surfaces is what helps the turf remain healthy throughout the year and is very important!  So what exactly is so great about removing all these plugs of soil from your beautiful golf course?

• Improved root growth
•  Improved gas exchange (oxygen to the root zone and actual air movement underground!)
• Decreased thatch and organic matter that can hold excess water (bad for root development and increases disease pressure and insect problems)
• Incorporation of pure sand in greens to keep these important channels open (tremendous root growth in these holes!) as well as firm the playing surface
• Alleviates compaction caused by foot and vehicle traffic
•  Improved water infiltration
• Improved microbial activity (healthy microbes help the soil environment function better)
• And the list goes on!

Superintendents LOVE this!

So when exactly will our courses be aerating?  Find our aeration schedule HERE.  On the date of aeration, the areas mentioned (front 9/back 9) will be closed for the day.  Course-specific announcements (such as opening aeration day at 1:00 for example) will be made via our Facebook page and Twitter feed.  We have selected aeration dates that work best for the specific needs of the course based on types of grass and environmental conditions, as well as trying to work around major events and outings that are already scheduled.