Strange times we are living in for sure.  Golf course maintenance goes on however.  We have had a productive week.  All the greens have been deep tined aerified and we hope to complete the tees today.  Rough aeration is essentially complete except for some deep rough.  We seeded bentgrass in bermudagrass areas before we ran out of seed.  The front nine and several holes on the back are finished.  This work will continue the first week of April. 
In response to the COVID-19 virus we have removed all the ball washers and rakes on the course.  Cups have been removed from the practice green and replaced with cupless markers.  On the course  all cups have been raise one inch above the green surface.  Hit the cup and you are holed out!

 

Josh seeding large areas on the 15th fairway with the Redexim seeder.

 

 

This is what it looks like after seeding. 

 

 

Max seeding small patches in the top picture and Rony below. 

 

 

Deep tine aeration of greens by Francisco followed by rolling by Jose. 

 

 

Julio and Oscar cutting back the last of the ornamental grasses. 

 

 

Josh with a puzzled look while bringing rakes in at the beginning of the golf season!

 

 

Like a proud papa Jose shows off a greens plug with awesome roots from our green nursery.  This is going directly in our practice green.  Good turf is all about growing roots. 

 

 

The pond on 11.  Have you noticed the water is darker?  We added a dye to help reduce the promotion of algae. Less light means reduced photosynthesis and less algae.  This pond will be treated with a safe algaecide once the water temperature reaches sixty degrees.

 

 

Soil temperatures are beginning to climb.  Once the temperature reaches 55 degrees crabgrass begins to germinate as well as some disease pathogens. We will apply Dimension herbicide next week excluding where we have seeded. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty has happened since my last blog.  COVID-19 is here and we are doing are best to deal with it. This is a very busy time of year for our crew so we are especially careful when interacting with each other.  The early start to spring has been beneficial.  Rough aeration is nearly complete and we begin deep tine aeration of greens and tees on Tuesday.  Bentgrass seeding in fairways begins tomorrow. 

 

A cloudy start but the bentgrass is starting to take off.

 

 

Rough aeration is wrapping up.  We have experienced excellent conditions to perform this work,

 

 

Rony on the JD5210 with Aercore 1500 aerating large areas around fairways.

 

 

Francisco on the JD955 with Aercore 1000 doing tight areas around greens and tees.

 

 

Jose Nunes on the JD5055 pulling the Ryan Renovaire in the deep rough.

 

 

Bill Rechin taking over for Richard in the stick department.  We begin mowing rough this week!

 

 

Growth regulators have been applied for annual bluegrass seed head inhibition.  Here Josh sprays the 9th green.

 

 

A west wind has pushed our algae bloom near the 16th green.  This will be treated once the water warms up.  Heavy silt accumulation with some nutrient leaching is the cause.

 

 

This is our enlarged garden.  This will be amended with leaf compost and tilled in before too long.

 

 

Red tail hawks are pairing up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well there goes winter.  Things are happening fast on the course.  Soil temperatures are way ahead of normal which has a bearing on timing of preemergent herbicides and growth regulators.  Aeration of rough will begin on Monday.  This needs to be completed before we can apply herbicides.  Our old nemesis Mr. Annual Bluegrass Weevil will be out earlier too.  The irrigation system is being charged up today.  We also will begin seeding bentgrass in fairways next week.  We are hoping to establish more bent before the bermudagrass comes out of dormancy.  We will apply different herbicides to these areas throughout the season to combat bermudagrass encroachment.

 

The tarps are off and the greens look excellent.

 

 

Four green after several rolls and mows.  Awesome!

 

 

The upper tee on 11.  This tee will open in May.

 

 

Soil temperature on 2 green at a two inch depth.  Pretty warm for this early in March.

 

 

Cutting back last years growth in the wildflower bed on the third hole.

 

 

This is discouraging.  Filamentous algae in the pond on 11.  This is the first outbreak that I have seen on our course in over twenty years. This pond is in need of dredging in the near future.

 

 

More fescue/blue establishment in the rough between 1 and 9.

 

 

Tulips emerging in pots on the patio.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter's last hurrah?  Later this week we will have a pretty good cold blast and then the long range weather looks remarkably mild.  All tarps will be removed next Monday and the entire course will be open by Thursday.  Turf areas covered by blankets need a short period to acclimate before allowing traffic on them.  All play will start off of one at this time.

 

Winter work is just about wrapped up.  Here is 16 creek ready for this years growth.

 

 

The guys cut back some tree remains that were partially damming the creek.

 

 

Fifteen pond bank is all that is left.

 

 

On nice days we are patching poor areas in the cart paths.  Here is some stellar work by Luis and Max.

 

 

Our greens are as strong as I can remember coming out of winter.  We have developed so much more bentgrass throughout.

 

 

We are seeing a little Waitea Patch on some of the greens.  Can you see it in this picture?  This patch disease is a harbinger of spring!

 

 

Winter greens have a mottled look.  This is called bentgrass segregation and is common in older greens.  Segregation is the sorting out of individual clones or biotypes the grass cultivar was planted with.  During cool temperatures different biotypes change color and grow at different rates enhancing the patchwork appearance.  Once warm weather returns the grasses lose this look.

 

 

A sure sign of spring- Julio pruning our roses.  This variety is called "A Touch of Class".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow are we glad that it finally stopped raining.  The course is saturated and this sun and wind are just what it needs.  Winter is not completely over with cold temperatures expected through Saturday.  The course will reopen with play on the regular greens on Sunday.  Winter blankets will be removed either next week or the week after.  Long range weather looks promising.

 

 

We removed the turf cover on three green February 5th and the turf looked excellent.  Expect all the covers to be removed and the greens back in play very soon.

 

 

Beautiful work by the crew before the two week deluge.

 

 

Another view of our hard working crew below three tee.

 

 

The nature trail in the woods between holes ten and twelve is complete.  This will be used during Kids Camp and nature walks.

 

 

Josh constructed this walk bridge out of one of our downed oaks.

 

 

Operation Bermudagrass Reduction has begun.  Weather needs to cooperate to help achieve success.  Cool season grasses are beginning to grow.

 

 

Daffodils beginning to bloom on February 6th!

 

 

Gill is excelling as a goose dog. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had a very mild winter so far and the fifteen day forecast looks promising for some winter golf.  Ole Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction on Sunday but he is wrong as often as he is right.  It seems unrealistic to expect this weather to continue though so expect some winter weather to arrive later in February.  The nice weather has permitted the crew to perform some excellent work particularly in the pond and creek banks.  Most of this work will be complete by mid-February.  Josh and I have been attending professional seminars and trade shows.  We are always looking for tools to make our job more efficient as well as keeping up with the latest technology.

 

The crew is working hard on the lake surrounds on the third hole this morning.

 

 

Check out this beautiful work.

 

 

Our honeybees have even been out some this winter.

 

 

In early January I attended the Mid-Atlantic Nurseryman's trade show in Baltimore.

 

 

Some nice topiary work here.

 

 

Josh and I recently returned from the Golf Industry Show in Orlando.  Here is a new updated John Deere fairway mower that we are looking at.

 

 

Josh found a friend at the Audubon booth!

 

 

Josh served on a panel of assistant superintendents in a Chapter Management Session.  He currently serves on the Virginia Golf Course Superintendents Board as the Assistant Superintendent Representative.

 

 

Resting the leg after a lot of walking!