Green drainage cleanout

This week we conducted our semi-annual check/cleaning of the drainage pipes beneath the greens.  Below is a brief video detailing the process.  This is a crucial step in keeping the infrastructure of our greens working properly.

 

Needle tining Thursday morning...

Early Thursday morning your maintenance staff began aerifying the Bear course greens.  During our summer course closings we use hollow tines that remove plugs of grass/soil.  This time of year we use solid (AKA needle) tines with a diameter of 8 millimeters.  We poke these small holes and mow/roll the greens behind to smooth the surface.  This process provides HUGE plant health benefits and is a key part of our agronomic strategy during our busy winter season.  The small holes are approximately 5 1/2" deep and allow oxygen to easily get to our roots.  Many factors inhibit the root's ability to get oxygen this time of year, including compaction, excess moisture and salt buildup.   

 

 

New Greens Agronomy 101

New-Green-Agronomy 101

Since most of us have had some time to look at, touch and play the new Bobcat course greens for a few weeks now, let’s take a look at what lies beneath and examine the lifeblood of any plant: its root system. Roots are critical to plants because most nutrients are absorbed through the roots and all water is taken into the plant through the roots. So obviously, the more extensive the root system, the better chance for success. A general rule of thumb is that the shoot growth (above the earth’s surface) is equal to the root growth (below the earth’s surface). By this rationale a 50 foot tall pine tree has roots stretching 50 feet from the trunk, grass in the rough mowed at 2" has a 2" deep root system and greens mowed at .135" would have roots .135" deep. So you can imagine our delight with the photo below. This is a soil profile of the green on #18 Bobcat. At the very bottom, nearly 8" deep below the surface of the green, you will notice a small root poking out of the probe.

One question you may ask after looking at this soil profile is "how does this compare to the Bear greens?" The differences between a brand new green and a mature 5-year old green are remarkable.

As we know, the surface of a new green is firm, making shots more difficult to hold on the green. Here’s why:

Over time, greens develop an organic layer made up of decomposing stem, leaf and root material, not all that different from compost. The organic layer is softer/spongier than the new greens which lack this layer. The negative of organic matter is that it holds excess moisture, creating percolation and disease issues. This is why we aerify every summer and fill the holes with sand to dilute the organic matter and give water channels to vertically drain through the soil profile into the underlying green mix and drainage. The positive of organic matter is that it holds nutrients in the root zone longer than straight sand (or green mix). The presence of organic matter is obvious in the photo on the left below.

Typically after the first full growing season an organic layer will begin to accumulate on our new greens improving the playability of the surface.

We hope you have found this informative and we will be sending out your agronomy certificates shortly!
 

Throwback Saturday!

Hopefully you have had a chance to enjoy the newly improved Bobcat course in the past 10 days since it reopened.  It's hard to believe that 19 short weeks ago this video was taken!  

 

 

Foliar fertilzer...the facts

You may see this fine piece of machinery operating on the golf courses from time to time.  This state of the art Toro 5800 sprayer allows us to make precise applications of fertilizer, particularly the ultra-efficient foliar applied fertilizer.  True foliar fertilizers are applied to the plant as liquids and actually absorbed into the plant through the leaf, as opposed to older technology fertilizers which employ far more wasteful methods of root uptake.  The plant needs the same nutrients we humans utilize and ingest on a daily basis...magnesium, potassium and calcium.  Because this process is far more efficient, we can reduce the amounts of fertilizer that are used.

 

New arrivals at Golf Course Maintenance

Monday afternoon we experienced a little "Christmas in August" as we took delivery of our shiny new Toro equipment.

Below is a new Toro 2040 bunker groomer.  We demoed this machine in March and were extremely happy with its speed and surface finish in our traps. 

Below is another bunker grooming machine.  This model, the Toro 3040 is equipped with several attachments that will help us be more efficient in our operation.  In front your will notice the push blade that is used to move, level and grade materials such as sand or waste area screenings.  On the side of the machine you will see a reciprocating edger attachment.  This will help us keep nice crisp edges on the waste areas.  We also demoed this piece of equipment in the spring and were very pleased with its ability to help us save labor and provide a better product.

 

 

 

Below are our two new Toro turbine blowers.  These powerful machines will be crucial in helping us keep your fairways and tees clean this season.  We demoed these blowers earlier in the year and their power is remarkable.

 

 

 

 Below is the Toro Versa-Vac.  It is a PTO tractor implement that vacuums debris.  This will be especially helpful during summer cultural practices such as verticutting and aerification, but will also help us during season to vacuum debris throughout the courses and driving range.

Roots on new greens

We are very pleased with the root growth on our newly sprigged greens.  The photo below is a sample from #8 green which was sprigged with TifEagle Bermudagrass six and a half weeks ago.  The rule of thumb for plants in general is that the root depth is equal to the height of above ground growth (so rough mowed at 2" would have a 2" deep root system).  Our challenge with greens is that they are mowed at .135" so you can imagine how excited we are to see these nice roots 4+" deep.

 

Roll those beautiful sprigs!

Now that our newly sprigged fairways have begun to mature we have begun the process that will eventually result in smooth, tight fairway turf.  The first step in this process is rolling.  We rented a 9-ton roller to help smooth the fairways, minimize washouts and improve soil to sprig contact.  

 

 

The roller is a single drum style roller, so the rear tires leave ruts...here's how we get them out:

 

 



First mow on Bobcat greens

With a beautiful sunrise this morning, we began the first mow on our newly sprigged TifEagle bermudagrass greens.  The greens were sprigged 2 weeks ago and have begun to grow in very nicely.  The height of cut on our first mow is .170" with an eventual goal of lowering the mowing height to around .120".  Also notice the newly laid sprigs on the collar/approach (2 days old).

 

 

Sod going down and lake interconnect install

The Bobcat project includes the installation of 6 lake interconnect pipes.  Below is a photo of work in progress replacing the compromised pipe between the 2 lakes on #5 (tee and green).  The old metal pipe is removed, a gravel bedding placed in the trench and new HDPE pipe installed in its place.

 

 

Excitement was brimming as sod began to go down on Monday morning.  #7 green surround was the first one to receive sod.  We will be sodding loops around greens and bunkers, as well as all slopes, an sprigging all areas in between.

 



 

 

Bobcat bridge lumber arrives, canal pipe replaced

The marine-grade lumber for our 4 new bridges and 2 retaining walls began arriving on site today.  Our contractor began working on the wall in front of #8 green this week.

 

 

 

Below is a photo of the 36+ year old corrugated metal pipe being removed under the cart path from #17 to #18.  This 48" diameter pipe will be replaced with a new HDPE pipe (see the after picture below)

 

 

TifEagle in Bobcat greens

Below is a photograph of #16 green on the Bobcat course 3-weeks after we stopped all maintenance in preparation for the Bobcat course improvement project.  You may be able to spot some geometric shapes of living grass surrounded by dead turf.  Well....in August 2014 as season was approaching we had some weak areas on the 16th green and decided to plug the areas of struggling Floradwarf with TifEagle from our Bear course nursery.  The living areas you see below are the exact areas we plugged with TifEagle, the grass we are using on the new Bobcat greens.  This is just another example of the inferiority of Floradwarf and further justification for improving the sustainability of our courses with the Bobcat improvement project.

 

 

Bird box success

Last fall The Forest installed 11 bird boxes throughout the Bear course.  Species-specific boxes were put in strategic locations to attract native birds.  We have found some success in the first nesting season and some photos are below:

 

The first photo is a nest of the Great crested fly catcher.  They are known for using snake skin in their nests for safety as a deterrent. 

 

 

 

The next photo is of the 4 baby bluebird chicks living in the nest between #1 and #3.  Great success for year 1 of the bird boxes!

 

Contractor Accountability

Over the past 2 weeks our irrigation contractor for the Bobcat Project, Mike Roach Irrigation (MRI), has begun installing main line piping.  All 4 directional bores are now complete and MRI has begun trenching in the utility easement behind #10 tee/#13 green (below).  When construction officially begins on April 6, 2015 we will have over 2500' of main line already installed.

A great feature of MRI's team is that each individual is factory trained and certified in High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) fusion welding.  For an additional level of accountability, company protocol is to record the time, date and the name of the fusion operator at each weld, recorded physically on the pipe (below).

Transplanting sabal palm trees

Adjacent to Bear #7 green we are in the process of planting 11 sabal palm trees to buffer the green from the passing traffic on Bobcat Dr.  Below are some videos detailing the process.

First, we used our Power Shovel to dig around the tree and cut the roots.  Next we used our Bobcat to remove the tree and place it on our dump truck for transport from #10 to #7.

Then the tree is lifted off the truck with the Bobcat and placed in the hole and watered in to ensure there is no air around the root ball.

Directional bores for Bobcat Project

You may have noticed some work being done on the Bobcat course in recent days along the periphery of the golf course.  Our irrigation contractor for the Bobcat Project is completing some early work ahead of the project to give us some buffer room in our schedule for the summer.  Of particular interest was the process of how the directional road crossing bores are done.  In case you missed it, I videoed the work between #17/#18 this week.

 

 

 

Ti plant propagation

The past few days we have been trimming beds throughout both courses.  Instead of dumping the clippings from the colorful ti plants in the organic waste bin we propagated nearly 500 plants.  This plant lends itself to successful propagation due to its "palm like" growth habit.  We simply cut the stem just below the bottom leaves at a 45 degree angle and stick it into potting soil behind our maintenance facility.  FYI:  500 ti plants would cost around $2,500!

Rock wall cleaning

We are well under way with our winter projects on the golf courses, one of which is cleaning the rock wall in front of Bear #14 green.  After a couple failed experiments with chlorine we fired up the pressure washer.

 

 

Due to the low water level in the lake we were able to walk along the lakebed and complete the project ahead of golf. 

 

BEFORE:

 

AFTER: