The Color of the Greens

You may have noticed some "mood swings" in the color of the greens this winter.  They have lost a lot of their color and all of a sudden they will be back to the nice green color that we all like to see.

During these colder weather patterns and low daylight periods the bentgrass can actually get close to a dormancy period if nothing is done to keep it active.  Over the last few weeks we have had horrible weather for our area.  It has been exceptionally cold and wet.  If it is wet than that means that there was probably overcast conditions.  Which means that the greens can't get the proper amount of sunlight that they need on days with limited windows of sunlight.  when these conditions occur we will start to lose color. 

We get the bounce back by applying a fertilizer combination.  Typically I will apply a nitrogen based fertilizer with iron.  The nitrogen gets the plant up and moving a bit.  The iron is responsible for giving the nice green color back to the plant. 

So, if you notice the greens starting to dull in appearance, just wait a bit I'm sure they will be green again before you know it.

What do you do in the winter?

My kid's pediatrician asked me the other day, "What do you do in the winter at the golf course?"  Kind of caught me off guard with the question, just because I wasn't expecting to talk turf while taking my kid to the doctor.  The answer slid out after a moment of brief hesitation.  But then I started thinking how much I get asked this question come Fall, in different forms.  "Y'all staying busy out there?", "Too cold to be working today right?"' "What are y'all doing today?", "There can't be much to do over there in the Winter?" and many other forms of the same question.
Well, it's the week of Thanksgiving and I'm currently on vacation with my family at the beach and I still can't stop working.  I am taking a break from creating my budget for 2015 right now.  That is one of my big tasks for the month of November.  This also involves the process of early ordering chemicals for 2015, which means that I have to have an agronomic plan in place for 2015 by this point.  I'm not going to go too deep into what I, personally, have to get done. 
I will come up with ideas of things that I would like to change all year long.  Hopefully when I have that idea I have my trusty voice recorder with me so I can make a "note to self" and remind myself later.  Some of the things that we work on are carry over jobs that are just too big for our staff to complete in one season.  We also have repeat jobs that we have to do the same at a certain time every winter. 
I will try to outline the jobs that we will be doing this season excluding keeping up the golf course, which does not stop getting done,

Single Season Jobs
tree work
debris removal
opening up the traffic areas on #6
building new tees on #11 and #17
converting the monument Tee signs into flush in ground tee signs
fixing the maintenance shop ceiling
cut back the bradford pears in the parking lots
relocate and identify the correct teeing areas from the score card
adding new heat to pump station

Carry over jobs
clearing out the riverbank on #8, 16, 17, 18
rebuilding bunkers
repair poor sections of cart path

Repeat jobs
spray roundup and pre emergent on entire course 
repaint all tee markers on course
repaint all hazard markers on course
repaint all OB stakes on course
leaf removal in late fall/early winter
re seal wood products out on course benches, cooler stands, trash cans
reorganize the maintenance yard area
clean out and re insulate bird houses huts and nesting areas
working on repairing faulty wiring in the irrigation system
repainting the pump station

I know that I am missing a few in there but even with the amount of repeat jobs we have a lot to accomplish in an off season with a limited staff, not to mention working on the interior of the club house when it needs attention.  And I know that I will come up with more stuff that I want to complete because I do suffer from my eyes being bigger than my stomach frequently.
With all of that said, that's what we will be doing this winter.

Winter is around the corner

We have now had a couple of light frosts so far this month even though our temps have been awesome so far.  But, those light frosts are a sign of things to come.  I am hearing forecasters predicting weather patterns that mimic last winter.  We all remember the trouble that we had with the tees and fairways this spring, and we don't want a repeat of that scenario next year. 
One of the things that I will be doing is reducing the amount of cart traffic that we will be allowing on the turf during dormant periods.  We may even see some of the holes get restricted back to cart path only if the weather patterns get bad.  I encourage some of our members to partner up on personal carts to decrease the amount of cart wear during the winter months.  I know its nice having everything in your cart where you want it but may be pile in with your playing partner once in a while to help the course be better in the spring. 
As you know, Hole #9 is now cart path only all of the time.  I have had people comment to me lately "did you over seed that hole".  The fairway on #9 looks so much better and greener because of the reduction in cart traffic, so the proof in in the pudding so to speak. 
We have also fertilized much heavier in some of the areas that were hit hard last winter.  The height of cut is currently up to 3/4" on the fairways and tees.  3/4" is our normal HOC in the fall.  I just made sure that we got to it a little sooner this year.  Both of these issues should help our chances of getting through the winter in a bad season.
In the end I have learned that it is my job to understand what Mother Nature is throwing at me and know how to react to the conditions.  I cannot change the weather I can only react to it. 
Just remember when it seems like its dry in the winter but its still "Path Only" that I am trying to protect the turf better than I did last year.