Record keeping, IPM

Golf Course Superintendents have always been very diligent about record keeping. We keep records on pesticide applications, fertilizer applications, cultural practices as well as budgetary items, health and safety issues and HR related issues.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has been a component of turf grass management for as long as I have been in this business. In recent times pesticides have come under rigorous scrutiny both on the municipal and provincial government levels. Currently golf courses are exempt from the pesticide ban.

All golf courses are now required to obtain full accreditation through the IPM Council of Ontario. This is a rather lengthy process that we here at HCC have been working on for the past two seasons. Before you can start the process I was required to write an exam to become the agent for the club. Secondly, we apply for the first annual desk review, this accreditation step requires submission of fertilizer and pesticide application records as well as application equipment calibration forms and course condition monitoring sheets, that are filled our daily throughout the golf season. Finally, we are also required to have an on site audit (scheduled for 2010). As I eluded to earlier in this post, this is really just a formalization of what most of us have been doing for years. In early 2009 we completed the second step and are now awaiting the on site audit. Although, it doesn't end there, we are required to submit all of our application records annually.

This week we are getting our "ducks in a row" and preparing our annual desk review package for submission.

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The Practice Range Tee

Last fall we utilized a “new to us” method of revitilization for our practice tee. Our contractor TDS, fraize mowed the surface of the tee to remove organic matter as well at to aid in leveling. The tee was then aerified and seeded to a new variety of creeping rye grass. We chose this type of turf grass as research shows rapid recovery and a low growth habit. We were able to get some great growth in the fall, but the tee is still not ready for traffic and full use. The plan is to utilize the mats until growth has filled in some of the voids etc. We will then begin to slowly set up hitting areas on the grass tee. For a while we will alternate between grass and the mats with a 50/50 ratio of use. Once the grass tee is established and is in adequate recovery mode, the practice areas will be back to normal. As always our membership’s patience is appreciated as we try to improve these areas for use.

Venting Greens...

This week we will be venting our greens with needle tines. These tines make a hole that is less than an 1/8th of inch. With our greens being completely saturated from the incredible amount of rain that we have recieved this season, there is no room for air movement in the soil. We need to create very small channels for air movement to the root zone. When roots don't have air, they die. This has not been evident yet, but with the warmer temperatures of July upon us soon, trouble could be lurking. This will be a very non-disruptive process to our members and play. We are going to vent all of our greens over then next few days early in the morning as to not disrupt play. The process is simple, we vent the green using the aerifier and needle tines, roll them smooth and then mow the green. The holes virtually dissapear and are of no effect to roll. I realize that the word aerifier starts to scare people, but this is necessary and again is very clean and non-disruptive. Check out the pic...

Spring Greens Aeration...a week later!

A week has passed since our annual spring greens aeration. We have had a mixed bag of weather, hot, dry, cold, wet and even frost! These conditions make it challenging to aid in healing, but with the more recent consistent warm temperatures we are seeing solid recovery. We were fortunate to have decent weather to complete the process on time, allowing us to fill all the holes created by the 1/2” hollow tines. As there are some minor depressions within some of the holes we will be beginning our bi-weekly topdressing program early next week. Our team is mowing and rolling our greens daily, while slowly lowering our height of cut to our summer norm. We all know that spring cultural practices are not popular among golfers, but these all important tasks are the building blocks for high performance greens conditions throughout the heart of the golf season. Check out this video produced by the USGA on Aerations effect on putting...

HIGHLAND CC GROUNDS

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