August is winding down and seeding time is here.  We begin working on some of the fairways and rough this week and go full bore the following two weeks.  Please pay attention to cart rules as we will really be throwing the water to areas that have been seeded.

 

Pylex continues to do a nice job suppressing the bermudagrass in the fairways.  We realize it is not very attractive but hopefully the bermudagrass population will eventually be reduced to not stand out so much.

 

This area of the 18th fairway had much more bermudagrass last year.

 

 

Pylex is particularly effective on goosegrass.  The cart path edges were recently treated at 1/2 ounce  to the acre!

 

 

Hopefully a lesson will be learned from this.  The sprayer was not cleaned properly before a fungicide was applied.  This is Pylex residue left in the tank from a previous spray.  The bermudagrass should grow out of this in about three weeks.

 

 

The driving range tee continues to receive plenty of use.  We will begin reducing play on the turf soon.  We are already preparing the bermudagrass for winter by raising the height of cut.

 

 

Foxes are really in their element this time of year.  Now that is a foxhole!

 

 

There are lots of wildflowers courtesy of Mother Nature in our creeks.  We have cut back some of the overgrowth in play areas but are promoting this where possible.

 

 

Another type of flower that we haven't seen before.

 

 

Our annual maintenance picnic featured mallet busting crabs!!

 

We are enjoying August!  Adequate rainfall with moderate temperatures has allowed much of the course to perk up a bit.  If this weather pattern continues we plan on seeding weak areas in fairways and rough earlier than usual.  Once seeding begins we ask that you pay particular attention to cart rules so not to damage any new seedlings until they are established.

 

As expected we have had quite an invasion of weeds in the rough.  The sedges have been particularly abundant this summer.  This is yellow nutsedge and it easy to recognize by its fast growth rate.  Over seven acres were treated on August 1st.

 

 

This is soft crabgrass which has been prevalent as well.  Preemergent herbicides were applied but too much rain reduces their effectiveness.  The nice break in the weather should allow us to apply herbicides that will remove this weed without hurting the turf. 

 

 

Annual bluegrass weevils are going to be a major pest on our course in the future.  Here a soap flush is being performed in a fairway to bring adults to the surface.

 

 

These are the adults collected from that area.  Three additional soap flushes in adjacent areas produced hardly any adults. 

 

 

This is a sample from a fairway showing one annual bluegrass larvae near the center of the plug.  We are starting to see better rooting as illustrated by the nice whites roots.

 

 

The signs near the green refer to pull carts!  I sure hope riding carts aren't getting that close to our greens.

 

 

Ropes are put up to control foot traffic.  Do you mean I've got to walk all the way around?  Yep.

 

 

Damage to the third fairway with carts restricted to the path. 

 

 

How I keep my sanity.