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| . | Anthracnose - Agronomics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Symptoms & Signs During warm wet weather the tips of the leaves start to discolour and progresses to the sheath; however under high ambient temperatures the hole leaf can yellow simultaneously. Black fruiting bodies can be seen on dead leaves. Scattered irregular patches start yellow then go red, moving onto a dull brown. There are two types, leaf affected, and basal rot form. Causes Warm humid temperatures Extended periods of leaf wetness Extremes in soil fertility Anaerobic soil conditions Higher than desirable populations of root feeding nematodes Excess soil moisture, and compaction Cultural & Prescription Practices Reduce thatch and compaction Try to irrigate more and less often (field capacity) try to refrain from syringing Ensure there is enough soil oxygen, and water moves through the thatch profile quickly. Top of page |
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| . | Dollar Spot - GreenCast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Description
Solutions Fungicidal Control |
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| . | Double cutting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A "double cut" green is one that has been mowed twice in the same day,
usually back-to-back in the morning (but can be once in the morning and once in the late afternoon or evening). The second mowing is usually in a direction perpendicular to the first mowing. Double cutting is one way of increasing the speed of the putting greens. Regular double cutting can stress the plant material and destroy the green. Top of page |
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| . | Evapotranspiration - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | What happens to rain or irrigation water in turf? One fate of water is evaporation, the physical change of water from the liquid to the gaseous state. This requires energy. We usually think of the radiant energy from the sun as a cause of evaporation (which it is), but advective and conductive heat transfer also cause evaporation. Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from plants, mostly through the stomata (tiny pores on the leaf surface that plants can open and close). The total amount of water loss-through a combination of water that evaporates from the leaf and soil surfaces, plus the water that plants lose through transpiration-is evapotranspiration, or ET. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Fusarium Blight - Agronomics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Symptoms & Signs Leaf lesions first appear as irregularly shaped dark blotches, fading rapidly to a light reddish brown/straw colour. Individual lesions often involve the entire width of a leaf. They eventually produce near circular blighted patches. Causes Direct and prolonged sunlight can increase the severity High nitrogen Increased soil and thatch moisture Thick dense thatch Heavy morning dews Cultural & Prescription Practices Reduce thatch and compaction Remove clippings Try to irrigate more and less often (field capacity) try to refrain from syringing Avoid high granular nitrogen applications, which would produce weak cell walls Top of page |
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| . | Greens Speed (1) | . | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Because so many factors influence a playing surface, making it faster can be difficult. Nitrogen, watering, cutting height, uniformity, top dressing, grass species, rolling, verticutting, brushing, precise mower adjustment and sharpening are all essential to produce a clean, uniform cut on putting greens. Balancing these factors is no easy task. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Greens Speed (2) - USGA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Few golf course management topics attract greater attention or controversy than speed of greens. It is a constant source of debate, and Green Section agronomists are regularly bombarded with comments and questions about this volatile subject. Though some may feel the topic has been beaten to death, a good argument could be made that green speed is beating the game of golf to death. Too much emphasis is being placed on the importance of having ultra-fast greens, and many golfers fail to realize just how much green speed is related to subjectivity, perception, relativity, and reality. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Greens Speed (3) - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Speed and stimpmeter readings have no place in greens performance discussions. The stimpmeter was never meant to be, nor should it be used as, a speedometer to compare greens performance at different golf courses. Great greens are firm, smooth and consistent, and should be your primary objective. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Green Speed Chart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Groomers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | There are groomers (mini verticutters - pictured right) that go just in front of the reel that position the grass for a better cut and help control the grain by keeping the growth habit of the plant growing horizontally and closer to the ground. When grain grows without these measures the grass gets puffy and thick and slows down roll. Top of page |
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| . | Grooming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Grooming is vertical mowing at a very light rate where as to tickle the surface of the turf. The benefits of grooming are improved upright growth, slight thinning of the canopy and the possibility (although, not likely) of severing stolons in order to increase density. Grooming practices deliver green material to the grass catchers and do not produce a mess. In a nut shell grooming is easy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Hand-watering - Greens - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | One supplementary irrigation practice is hand-watering. The difference between syringing and hand-watering is the volume of water applied - hand-watering supplies considerably more water. As golf-course superintendents became more skilful at growing creeping bent grass under hot and sometimes extremely humid conditions, they became aware that the small volumes of water applied through syringing did not meet the plants' needs. Thus, hand-watering has become more prevalent. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Plant growth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | The limiting factors in plant growth, in descending order of importance, are light, temperature, moisture and nutrients. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Players' Criticism - USGA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Golfers who are playing well tend to be happy and are generally complimentary of course conditioning. On the other hand, golfers who are playing poorly tend to be unhappy and are often critical of course conditioning. Tired or nervous golfers leave putts short or blast them by the hole, and green speed is often blamed for their poor performance. In general, golfers who negotiate the course with fewer than 25 putts love the greens, while those with putt totals over 34 feel the greens are inferior. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Rolling - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Rolling will improve putting surface smoothness and firmness. Some turf is much healthier when mowed higher and rolled compared to being mowed lower. Rolling is a great way to get fast, smooth greens and still maintain healthy turfgrass. Rolling, however, does compact the soil and must not be overdone. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Stimpmeter - USGA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | A stimpmeter is an inclined plane or ramp that is 36 inches long, with a notch for the golf ball 30 inches from the bottom end, such that raising the back end of the ramp to a height of 12.6 inches and an angle of 20.5 degrees causes the ball to tip out of the notch and start rolling down the ramp. The golf ball notch is 10.5 inches above the ground at release.
Course condition and green speed are very subjective in the mind's eye, and the stimpmeter was introduced to eliminate this subjectivity. The speed charts which were produced gave an accurate picture of relative green speeds at that time, but they did not (nor were they intended to) account for the many subtleties that should be considered when determining a green speed for a particular course. Top of page |
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| . | Syringing - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Syringing is the practice of applying small amounts of water, usually 0.10 inch or less, to correct plant-water deficits, reduce plant-tissue temperatures and wash the leaves. Syringing applies water to the canopy, but is not intended to restore soil moisture, as is a typical irrigation. Typically, superintendents syringe in the early morning to remove dew or at midday to moderate temperatures. This often has a very short term (15 minutes) effect. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Thatch - Greens - Agronomics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Thatch is often misunderstood. Not enough, and the turf will be unstable, with low wear tolerance; too much, and you create an environment for pests, diseases, and water infiltration issues. Thatch is mainly turf grass stems and roots which build up and accumulate faster than they break down. The problems arise from a combination of environmental, biological, and cultural factors. Excess Nitrogen and watering practices can contribute to increased thatch. Top of page |
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| . | Topdressing (1) - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Applying light dressings regularly forces turfgrass to grow more upright. This allows mowing units to more cleanly cut the turfgrass blades, reducing leafiness. This also reduces grain. An added benefit from topdressing applications is the use of dragmats. By pulling the dragmats across the green, stolons are lifted. Other expected agronomic benefits from topdressing are thatch control and surface uniformity. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Topdressing (2) - Golfdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Topdressing, or the regular application of thin layers of sand to golf course putting greens, has been used as an important cultural practice since the early days of Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews Golf Links (Labbance and Witteveen, 2002). The benefits of sand topdressing for thatch management and surface firmness, smoothness and grain control are well recognized. Insufficient sand topdressing may result in excessive organic matter accumulation in the upper-soil profile. Excessive organic matter, or thatch, results in greater pest damage, shallow rooting, poor soil air exchange and may cause the turf to be more prone to scalping. The most-effective surface organic matter management programs for putting greens normally combine hollow tine aerification with regular sand topdressing. In addition to a seasonal heavy application to back-fill aerification holes, sand should be applied frequently enough to match seasonal shoot growth and to prevent an organic layer from forming. In recent years, this has been conducted biweekly using light applications of sand during the growing season to dilute organic matter and smooth out wear areas. If applications are spaced too far apart using too much sand, then layering occurs and little thatch management actually takes place. Topdressing application frequency In the past three decades, the frequency of topdressing applications has changed significantly. The introduction of new application equipment turned a former time-consuming, labour-intensive process into a relatively quick and easy management practice. This has enabled golf course managers the ability to apply very small, precise amounts of sand more regularly. Add to this the prevalence of improved high shoot density creeping bent grass cultivars that produce higher amounts of organic matter and elevated golfer expectations for firm, smooth and fast-playing surfaces, and you have a recipe that demands more frequent topdressing. Although topdressing application frequency has increased, the overall annual amount seems to be declining. Ultra light topdressing on a weekly basis is not always enough to keep up with organic matter accumulation. It is important to remember that for effective thatch management, it is necessary to match the rate of organic matter production with appropriate amounts of topdressing material. Some greens may require more topdressing than others due to differences in growing environments, fertility programs, traffic and compaction. Cool-season turfgrass organic matter production is highest during periods of cool temperatures, and in areas with poor air circulation and high moisture. Sand particle sizes A long-term successful topdressing program normally includes the use of a material with a particle-size distribution that matches the underlying root zone. For properly constructed sand-based root zones this is relatively easy since you simply purchase a sand that matches the construction sand. Sands meeting USGA specifications normally contain ≥ 60 percent in the medium-coarse size fraction. On many closely mowed newer putting greens, coarse topdressing sand particles may be easily picked up by greens mowers. Finer sand is easier to work into the turf canopy, especially at lower mowing heights, and with new high shoot density bent grass cultivars, and a desire to have less impact on play, are all persuading turf managers to switch to finer sands. The long-term implications of this practice are not well understood. Top of page |
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| . | Tournament Maintenance - Grounds Maintenance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Tournament golf-playing conditions are for exceptional circumstances only and should not occur more than two to three times per year. Putting your golf course into severe tournament stress makes it much more susceptible to turf death from any additional stresses that the turfgrass would otherwise easily tolerate. Golf course members who expect tournament-like conditions year round are dooming their golf course to massive and repeated turf death. Top of page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| . | Verticutting - Golfdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . | Verticutting, or the process of removing some of the vertical growth that occurs around a grass plant, provides several potential benefits for the
turf, including:-
Normally, greens are mowed, the blades cut the turf horizontally, taking off the top of the crown to reduce its height. Verticutting blades rotate in the opposite direction. The goal is to reduce the number of stolons on leaf blades that grow laterally. Verticutting entails pulling up of brown material - thatch and sand. Every time a plant grows new shoots, it takes energy. If you cut off some of the lateral plant growth, it forces the plant to use that energy elsewhere. The plant will use the excess energy to grow upward, creating a more upright and dense stand of
turf. Tighter turf increases green speed without lowering mowing heights,
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| . | White Grubs - GreenCast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| . |  White Grubs Description Grubs live in the root systems of plants and cause severe damage over a short period. Unfortunately they are not easy to spot because they live beneath the grass blades, they often destroy large patches of lawn before one notices them. By digging up patches of lawn one will find them.  Symptoms General browning of grass is one of the signs to look for. Grub feeding destroys the roots of your lawn, leaving the tops to wither and die. Where infestation is severe, even the roots are eaten away. Integrated Turf Management Tips: * Meridian is mainly positioned in the "below surface" insect problems, providing both contact and ingestion activity. * If treated preventatively, the insects stop feeding within hours leading to minimal turf damage. Death occurs quickly, usually within 24 - 48 hours. * The product is most active in early development stages of the grubs and mole crickets. Alternative chemistry should be used for the adult stages. Top of page |
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