Spring Pre-emergent Application

Well it's that time of year again. You may have seen some blue dye around the golf course this week which means that we have started our pre-emergent application on the golf course.  This year we will be putting down 2 different products of pre-emerge.  On our greens surrounds, tees and fairways we will be applying Ronstar. It was important to put Ronstar down around our greens because it won't translocate through the soil.  It is the safest pre-emerge to put around your greens and also one of the best.   In our roughs we will be going with a new product called Specticle. Specticle on the other hand will travel through the soil so that is why we chose to apply it to our roughs. Specticle can also be a "root pruner".   We are trying it out this year on our roughs and if it goes well we will look into doing it on our tees and fairways next year. One great selling point about Specticle is that you only have to apply it once a year. It will stay in the soil for up to 12 months so we should get some superior weed control out of  this product.  Both are very good products for weeds like goosegrass, crabgrass, poa annua, etc.  In our tank mix we are also adding Roundup, 2-4 D, and some spreader sticker.  The Roundup will kill all the poa annua and grassy weeds that we have had come up over the last couple of weeks and the 2,4-D will take care of any broadleafs we have around the course.  The spreader sticker does just what it says, helps the chemical stick to the leaf so it is absorbed quicker.  We started on Monday and we have finished the Driving Range, Tees, Fairways, Clubhouse Area and some greens surrounds before the wind forced us to stop.  We are looking to finish up next week but that will just depend on what the weather does.    

Here are a few pictures of myself and Craig getting some spraying done this week.



Controlled Burn

I had mentioned in one of my earlier post that when we got the opportunity to do some controlled burning we would.  Well, we finally have gotten that chance.   The wind has been light, giving us perfect conditions to work.  We have around 3 years of brush and debris so it is no small task. With the rain we are getting tonight, we should be able to continue burning safely for the next few days.

Burning brush in the pit that we dug out

Water cart for safety and control

Roundup Application On Collars

About 3 weeks ago I mentioned in one of my blogs that we would be doing an application of Roundup in our collars. Roundup is a great tool in the winter because it is safe to spray on our dormant bermudagrass. It also doesn't translocate in the soil, which means we can safely apply it right up next to our greens and not worry about injury to our bentgrass. We still use a drift board to cover ourselves against any drift we might get from the wind. Last Thursday the wind was light which made it a perfect day to do our application. The Roundup will take care of any weeds that we have like poa annua, clover, etc. With the help of one of my staff members, we completed this job in just under 3 hours. The sprayer we used was my personal sprayer that has covered nozzles which also helps us against any wind and drift we might get.  We made 2 passes around every green which will give us a 5 to 6 foot buffer for our Roundup and pre-emerge application next month.

One of our target weeds Poa Annua

Applicaton process with drift board in use

Finished application around #9 Green

Winter Project

On the golf course when we aren't working on equipment in the winter we are always trying to find ways to improve things around the shop.  Last year we mainly worked on cleaning the shop. It was my first winter here at SCC and we had alot of organizing to do.  This year we decided to renovate our storage area for our irrigation parts.  We were having problems with the bins not being big enough to hold everything we had, they also didn't have a back on them so we were constantly having parts fall from one level to another, making it hard to stay organized. Our new storage area has bigger bins, backs on all of them, a work bench for valve and sprinkler head repair, and 2 areas to store bigger parts, pumps, etc.  I wish I could take the credit for the design, but it was my assistant Craig that came up with that. 

Old storage area for irrigation

My assistant Craig taking a measurement

New storage for irrigation

Storage area with tool bench

Week of Jan 16-20

We have a busy week coming up here at SCC.  This coming week we will be working on an irrigation leak on #6, we are in the process of clearing some brush and cedars on #15 and if the weather allows us to we will start burning our brush pile over on #17. Last Thursday we met with the fire cheif and made sure that our process to burn was approved with him. We dug a pit so our debris would be contained and burn quicker. We are ready to go with a burn permit, we just need the wind to be below 20 mph.  If you see any smoke this week on the east side of the property, don't be alarmed. It will be my staff and I trying to get some things cleaned up.

This is the pit that we made for our burn.

Pile of brush and debris

Winter Equipment Maintenance

On a golf course the winter is a good time to do some needed repair on some of our equipment. Two weeks ago we discovered that we had a couple of hydraulic leaks on our backhoe when we were using it on the golf course.  The leaks were coming from 2 hydraulic cylinders on the back arm on the machine.  One of the cylinders runs the bucket and the other runs the left side of the arm to move it back and forth.  My assistant and I took the cylinders off the machine and took them to get them repaired.  It took OCT equipment 4 days to get them fixed and we got the backhoe going again on Monday.  Below are some before and after pictures of the leaking cylinders.

Before look of cylinder leaking

Look at cylinder after repair

Second cylinder leak before repair

Second cylinder leak after repair

My assistant Craig putting the final touches on one of our repairs









Poa Annua Control

Over the last 3-4 weeks you may have seen myself or my assistant Craig on a sprayer around the golf course.  What were we doing?  Trying to get some control over poa annua, also known as annual bluegrass.  Poa is a winter annual that will germinate in the fall, grow all winter long, flowers profusley in the spring and then later dies when temperatures soar over the summer.  Due to the moisture we have recieved this fall and the warmer than normal temperatures, we have had an abundance of poa start to come up on the course.  We made two applications over the last 3-4 weeks and really have gotten some great control out of a product called Reward.  Reward is a perfect herbicide for this time of year because you get quick control and it can only be sprayed on dormant bermudagrass.  Reward cannot be sprayed close to our greens because it will translocate through the soil and be harmful to our bentgrass greens.  We will make a roundup application later this month and in Feburary that will take care of that.  Below are some before and after pictures showing some of the control that we have recieved.

Before picture of #16 Tee, green poa on dormant bermudagrass

Application of Reward being made on Friday 12-30-11

Picture of #16 Tee after application on Tuesday 1-3-12