TURF TALK FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
Coharie CC Members,
In October, the agronomic plan is relatively the same as it was for September, it will consist of spraying weeds, primarily in the rough, along with a few Virginia Buttonweed and Sedge plants in the fairways.
Our plan is to continue with each Monday mowing, topdressing (lightly), dragging and rolling the greens to ensure a true roll. Tee times on Monday will begin at 10 am, which gives our crew an opportunity to prepare it for play. As the temperature continues to drop overnight, the ground temperature will gradually get low enough to push the grass into dormancy over the next six to eight weeks. As the grass goes dormant, we will pivot our maintenance plan into a cold weather protection mode. This entails raising the height of cut on the greens while maintaining a good roll. As a rule, the higher the grass the more insulated the grass becomes thus less cold weather stress. September 25th was the last monthly granular fertilizer application to the greens for the season, it was applied with a high amount of potassium to provide the necessary nutrients for their health and wintering of the greens. Although dormancy does not stop the greens from growing, it will slow them down dramatically, thus our mowing frequency will be reduced accordingly.
I will begin pre-emerge herbicide treatments on greens and green surrounds for our annual visit from Poa Annua and diligently spray it out after it appears so it will not have time to germinate and spread seed heads.
To give you a heads up of what to expect during dormancy. As the fairways and rough go dormant, we will pivot to tree lines and pinecone/straw removal/disposal. We will begin in the areas of highest probability of golf ball landing areas and move from there. The Pampas bushes on #10 will be removed permanently and the holes will be filled and landscape smoothed. The bushes behind #10 green complex will be removed and dormant Bermudagrass planted for the spring.
Until next month…
Fairways and Greens
Mike,
