Summer Patch

Pat O'Brien, Hyde Park Golf & Country Club, Cincinnati, OH:

"The extreme weather conditions over the last months have been a challenge for the staff and turf alike. The putting greens, specifically the Annual Bluegrass populations are exhibiting signs of Summer Patch. Summer Patch, is a soil pathogen that causes root dysfunction on mainly Annual Bluegrass, which generally shows signs and symptoms in July and August when the turf is under a tremendous amount of stress. In order to reduce summer the effects of summer patch we have a comprehensive strategy that includes:

• Promoting Creeping bentgrass (the ideal grass for greens in this region)
• Aggressive aerfication and cultural practices to improve drainage
• The addition of subsurface drainage
• Reducing PH with acidifying fertilizers and added Manganese
• The last line of defense is the fungicide program that includes monthly preventative applications beginning in April and continuing until August.

On #6 green we have treated only half of the green curatively. We are going to continue assess how the treated area responds versus non-treated and how rapid the decline will be on the Annual bluegrass. Our goal is to investigate strategies to encourage the bentgrass populations long-term; this project will be only one of many options that will be laid out over the next year.

Visit Pat's blog at hydeparkgolfandcountryclub.blogspot.com

Nose hairs

Mark Kienert, CGCS, Bulls Eye Country Club, Wisconsin Dells, WI:

"A close up of one of the open aerification hole (or growth chamber, as I call them) showing prominently two seedlings emerging to fill in our thin putting green turf. Proof that our inter-seeding can and does work when the time and conditions are right. Plants like these survive better because their growing points are sub ground having protection from the mower blades and foot traffic.

While this is progress there is still a long way for this plant to grow before it reaches maturity. It is generally understood that less than 5% of the seedlings survive inter-seeding, dying as a result of competition from surrounding plants such as Poa. I like to think of it as 5% less Poa I have to worry about keeping alive in years like this.

Two individual bentgrass plants can be seen just south of the ball point pen tip.

You can see rows of inter-seeded grass appearing as straight lines in the aerification holes.

Visit Mark's blog at bullseyegreensblog.blogspot.com

Nice addition...

Trey Anderson, Hickory Ridge Golf Course, Carbondale, IL:

"While browsing through one of my latest turf magazines, I saw a ad for a new sprayer that had one of these flow meters on it. The first thing that popped into my head was, "this would help us measure the water that we add to our sprayer for small spraying jobs so often".

One of the websites that I belong to is TurfNet. The advertisement that I spoke of was for a company called Smithco. I remembered seeing one of Smithco's employees on the forum on the site and contacted him. He got back with me in a day and pointed me in the right direction to find the flow meter.

We installed it last week and it has saved us plenty of time already. We use such precise measurements in everything we do and this addition has helped us make certain our small sprayer applications will be properly applied. I purchased it here.

Visit Trey's blog at hrgcturf.blogspot.com

The Next Generation Irrigation System

Brian Boyer, Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, San Jose, CA:

"I had the opportunity last week to visit Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore and view the installation of what I think will be the future of irrigation systems. They are installing Rain Bird's new IC system which is a system that only has two wires in the trench. A typical irrigation system has 1 wire that goes to every head in order to achieve individual head control. That 1 wire gives the sprinkler its identity to the computer. With this system, the solenoid is what gives the sprinkler its identity.

The picture shown below left has the new system in the foreground with the old system in the background. The older systems can be a pain to install, but talking with the construction superintendent of Wadsworth Construction, the Rain Bird system has been a breeze. He now just hopes it works.

The installation of this system is one of the three things that excites me about this system. The other two things that excite me are the cost savings on wire and the ability to add a new sprinkler.

In a typical irrigation system (according to Rain Bird), 29,000 pounds of copper wire is used. With the new IC system, only around 3,000 pounds of copper wire will be used. Current copper prices are around $4/ pound so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the savings there. I don't know for sure, but the installation time has to be around twice as fast so there is a labor savings too. It should be noted that while the wire cost is significantly reduced, the sprinkler is priced higher than a normal sprinkler. The overall savings though is still roughly 10-15%.

Having the ability to easily add a sprinkler is huge in my book because no irrigation system goes in perfect. I currently have two options. 1) Run new wires back to the irrigation clock which is a lot of work or 2) add a special device to the solenoid which 'creates' an individual identity for that sprinkler. Option 2 isn't always possible though if I don't have enough room on the irrigation controller for another sprinkler. With the IC system, I just have to connect new wire to the old wire and then program the computer with the new sprinkler information. I can do this with up to 24,000 sprinklers (Cinnabar has maybe 2,500). Piece of cake.

While it may sound like I work for Rain Bird, I don't. I appreciate people and companies who make me look good at my job and also make my job easier. Thank you to Tom Jackson of Sierra Pacific Turf Supply for the site visit.

Visit Brian's blog at cinnabarhills.blogspot.com.