September Update From Turf Care

I haven't posted a blog since mid July but it is now time to detail activities on the course over the next month. Following the list of work a couple of turfgrass issues will be discussed. The month of August went very well at the Club. All the events came off without weather related problems. In fact it was the driest August (although very humid for Edmonton) in many years. Since I arrived at the Royal Mayfair in late 2010 the course has not gone through a dry spell until now. This weather has exposed irrigation shortfalls (as it always does) and further reinforced the remaining work required to keep improving the golf course and especially our fairways.

September is typically a month of aeration and this year is no different. Aside from the greens all the tees, approaches and fairways will be core aerated and topdressed. The biggest task, fairway aeration, will begin next week. They will be both solid tined and cored then heavily topdressed in order to begin reducing the compaction and poor drainage problems that have become more than evident throughout the summer. The wet summers of 2011 to 2013 masked underlying problems that need to be addressed moving forward. The greens are scheduled to be aerated in the first week of October (which may include the 29th and 30th of September). 9 holes will be closed each day so that Turf Care can accomplish this work without interruption from frost delays or member play.

Turf Care and Project Work:

• Early fall fungicide application on greens, tees and approaches (preventative).
• Aeration beginning September 8th on fairways with tees and approaches to follow later in the month.
• Sodding of damaged turf in wet areas around a few tee sidebanks.
• Repair the small collar damage behind 14 green.
• Replace a few small repair plugs that didn't survive at the very front of 9 green. Sodding on greens in mid summer heat at a very low mowing height is tenuous at best. The cooler seasons of spring and fall are more suited to that kind of work, when you have the choice that is.
• Leaf sweeping will begin soon. The leaves are quickly changing color and by mid month cleanup should be well underway and will continue until closing.

Projects:

• The largest project is continuation and completion of cartpath paving. The front 9, a continuous path from tee to green on #11 and some extensions on #'s 12, 13 and 15 will be undertaken towards the end of September. Exact start date is still to be determined and you will be notified as to when very soon.
• Removal of rxr ties on the south and east side of the north tee complex at #4. The tee was going to be renovated this fall but that has been delayed for a season or 2. When it is rebuilt a new retaining wall system will be built on the north side of the complex.
• Removal of the rxr tie wall beside the path leading up to #2 green. The need for a wall will be eliminated by moving part of the path into the tree line.
• The promised washroom at #14 tee is to be built in early 2015 and then installed on the course during the summer. Apologies for the delay but the process is in motion.
• Renovation of the nursery as all the turf was used earlier this season.

There are two turfgrass related topics to review. The first is the purplish colored spots on the greens that appear during the onset of cooler weather in the fall and prevails until the turf begins to grow as the soil warms the following May. It is not a disease and not much of a concern. It usually occurs on the strain (or bio type) of Poa annua that is perennial in nature (a tight growing, fine bladed variety with  low seedhead production). A very simple explanation is a buildup of certain sugars in the leaf blade that becomes apparent when chlorophyll is reduced as cool weather arrives. Some of those sugars give the leaf blade the purple/red color you may be noticing.

The second issue is more of a concern. Going back to my previous comments about the soil structure of the fairways, the hot August with little precipitation, high humidity and inadequate irrigation throughout the fairways, we experienced numerous dry areas and the onset of Summer Patch disease. This is not a new problem here but had been very limited in its occurrence in the past. It has run its course but we are dealing with the symptoms. There are patches of damaged Poa annua on many of the fairways. You may have noticed reddish patches of degraded turf quality even close to irrigation sprinklers. This is a root disease that can be mitigated by a healthy root zone. The solution for our fairways is more intensive management and perhaps a preventative fungicide application in future summers. That will depend on the type of weather we are forecast to experience during July and August. A mild September in combination with a recent fertilizer application and the upcoming aeration will certainly help recovery in those areas.