Audubon Recertification: Monarch habitat

Ken Thompson, Greate Bay Country Club, Somers Point, NJ:

"For our Audubon re–certification project, we chose to make the course friendlier to the monarch butterfly that passes through the area on its trek north from Mexico in the spring, and back again in the fall.

Early in 2010 we identified and preserved milkweed beds growing along both tunnel slopes to provide habitat for the monarch butterfly. We also preserved areas that were growing flowering plants that the monarch likes as a nectar source. We continued this project through this year, and hope to expand it in the coming years.

The monarch butterfly larvae only feed on one plant — milkweed. And for that reason milkweed is the only plant that the monarch will lays its eggs on. The digested milkweed makes the monarch caterpillar "toxic" to other animals that eat them and makes them sick. An animal soon learns not to eat these caterpillars, and so the monarch species naturally protects its population generation after generation. It's an arrangement that worked so well for awhile...

...except for one thing the monarch could not plan on: man, his machines, and herbicides. Over the years, development and the "need" to have manicured open spaces has greatly reduced the population of milkweed plants, which in turn has reduced the population of monarchs. This is why preserving remaining communities of milkweed and establishing new ones is important.

We are lucky that we have areas out of play that support the milkweed plant. These past years we have not allowed the staff to cut them down, and we do not use any herbicides in these areas. It is our goal to help the monarch by helping the milkweed!"

Visit Ken's blog at greatebaycc.blogspot.com/

All About The Turf?

Paul Sabino, The Farms Country Club, Wallingford, CT

"Most courses have completed their greens aerification or are just finishing, like me. Tee and/or fairway aerification may be in your course's plans now. Every club is different.

"More importantly, for many clubs it is budget season. We are planning the next year in advance..."

More importantly, for many clubs it is budget season. We are planning the next year in advance. Break out the crystal ball! Revenue vs. expenses! How does the superintendent at your course make sure he or she can provide the course conditions desired by players? Enter the realm of zero base budgeting! Almost every superintendent employs this accounting tactic whether they know it or not. Zero based budgeting means you start from zero and detail every item, in every line item and total all the columns. I know... this is a simplified explanation.

I had a finance chairman who introduced this system to me twenty-one years ago. Little did he know he actually made my budgeting process easier as the years progressed. The spreadsheets I developed actually made subsequent years easier. It was a lot of work to get started, but I just keep tweaking the system. Frank Loehman's (my plug for his 25+ years of hard work) direction and support made it easier for me to show our finance committee, BOG, GM and members exactly what I planned on spending the money on. Long gone was the mysterious budgeting of the superintendent!

"Our field of expertise is so obscure to the average businessman or woman that it's hard for a superintendent to explain what we do in relation to the total budget process..."

Governing bodies of many golf courses are unsure of what a superintendent does from an agronomic aspect and then relating it to finance. Our field of expertise is so obscure to the average businessman or woman that it's hard for a superintendent to explain what we do in relation to the total budget process. It is the onus of every superintendent to somehow bridge that gap. It is a tireless effort to continually re-explain as political hierarchy's change. It is the superintendent's job, and to his or her benefit, to help the new (volunteers in many cases) understand what it takes to do what we do and how it affects their course in every way.

As much as we know how to grow grass and are so immensely confident in this aspect, it is just as important to explain and ensure our abilities on a higher level.

Our governing bodies need to be confident in all aspects of what we do as superintendents. We are agronomists, accountants, personnel managers, politicians, architects, environmental stewards, communicators, licensed professionals and true lovers of the game! I'm quite sure I left something out..."

Visit Paul's blog at farmsccsuperintendent.blogspot.com and CTGolfer.com.

Grub Damage...

Steve Cook, CGCS MG, Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, MI:

"Grubs is the term used to describe the larval stage of several species of beetles. They damage turf (and lawns) by feeding on the roots of grass plants. They typically appear in the Midwest in mid to late summer after the adult beetles have laid their eggs in the soil.

The North Course fairways have been hit hard this fall even though a preventative treatment was applied in late June. We're not sure, but perhaps the heavy rain we experienced this summer caused the chemical to leach through the soil.

Most of the damage you see is from skunks and raccoons digging for their next bedtime meal. We are applying a curative treatment which will get the problem under control in a couple of weeks."

Visit Steve's blog at ohccturf.blogspot.com/

New Chem Turf Sprayer Arrived

Matt Crowther, CGCS, Mink Meadows Golf Club, Martha's Vineyard, MA:

"Earlier in the year I posted about the research I had done for a new sprayer.. The utility vehicle that the sprayer mounts to arrived a few weeks ago and we have driven about a few times to run it through it's paces. This particular vehicle is a John Deere Pro Gator.

One of the main things the operator needs to adjust to is the sheer weight of the new sprayer when full. Our old sprayer was a 160 gallon tank while the new one is a 300 gallon. The weight difference on water alone is 1,120 pounds. Plastic vs stainless steel (of the tank) is a few hundred more, I am sure. I like the feel of this sprayer vs a tow-behind model I used in the past, which was unwieldy and possibly too big for the rig we were towing it with.

We chose a couple of nozzles based on the rates I want to apply and for their wind resistance properties. We then proceeded to test them on the nursery in open conditions. One was clearly better with less drift and the pattern proved to be sufficient.

They have this special paper with a dye on it. You lay them on the turf then spray over them at your desired settings. The water activates the dye and you can see what your coverage and pattern will look like at those settings. The top three in the photo are greens and the bottom one is fairways.

Our current sprayer is set up to cover 2 acres so we could spray all the greens with one tank. In the beginning we could also spray tees and approaches providing we did not get too aggressive with the size of our approaches. As we enlarged the tees I had a tough time getting them all done. Fairways took seven tanks. The new sprayer will cover 2.5 acres for greens, tees and approaches using 250 gallons at 4 mph. Using the same nozzles and boom with a full tank at 4.8 mph, which is second gear full out it will cover 3.9 acres or roughly four tanks.

With a special flood jet nozzle mounted directly behind the rig it will cover 6.8 acres or 2 tanks. These nozzles do not give you the coverage pattern of the others but can be used for certain products such as wetting agents and fertilizers. The time savings on fill ups and travel alone make them very appealing.

A flood jet nozzle in action.

The flood jet nozzle sticks out beyond the regular boom

Also with this new sprayer we purchased and installed a pre-load system called Cleanload. It it a mechanism that you add the products you wish to spray directly into and they flow into the tank with the water while it is added. It has several rinse ports for powders and also a jug washing port to efficiently rinse any liquid products from containers. Usually these are mounted right on the sprayer but they stick out and can become cumbersome when traveling around the property. We decided to mount ours right at the mix/load pad attached to the chemical storage building. This will save the person spraying from pre-mixing in a five gallon bucket to ensure the product goes into solution and also having to add product through the top of the rig, which is often cumbersome and dangerous."

Visit Matt's blog at minkmeadows.blogspot.com