Bailing Hay!
By Todd Lowe, Agronomist
June 30, 2005

There are few things you can count on, but summer rains in Florida is one of those events. Most years daily showers are the norm for June, and this year is no exception. In fact, some regions have received more than 20 inches of rain over the past three weeks, saturating golf courses and making routine mowing and weed management impossible. Once the soil becomes saturated, it takes several days for the turf to dry out and allow mower traffic without causing tire ruts and streaks to occur.

 
With the continual rainfall piles of clippings and scalped turf are common on most recent Turf Advisory Service visits.
Bermudagrass turf is growing at an accelerated pace with the increased soil temperatures, and the decreased mowing frequency creates an abundance of clippings. This creates piles of clippings and a scalped, yellow appearance to the turf. Luckily, this has no long-term impact on turf health, but certainly creates short-term inconsistent (ugly) playing conditions. Golf courses that are short-staffed or lacking an appropriate equipment fleet are especially impacted by the increased rainfall as continual mowing is a greater challenge.

Plant growth regulators like Primo (trinexapac-ethyl) are effective tools to utilize during rainy summer months to slow down vertical turf growth and reduce mowing frequency. This in turn reduces clipping production and creates a denser turf canopy. These tools decrease unsightly conditions, but certainly do not eliminate them. Significant improvements in turf quality will occur only after continual mowing resumes.

Our Florida offices have received numerous calls from courses throughout the region that are still experiencing the "spring transition blues". Winter overseeding has transitioned quite aggressively over the past three weeks, leaving bermudagrass thinning in its wake. Most of the thin areas only require a little TLC over the next few weeks in the form of raised mowing heights, weekly spiking, weekly sand topdressing and additional fertilization to recover appropriately. Some areas, on the other hand, will need to be repaired with plugs from the nursery green or practice putting green perimeters. Overseeding creates pretty, dark green playing conditions in winter, but oftentimes ugly putting greens in spring. This causes many courses to evaluate whether the improved color is worth the increased time, labor and decline of the base bermudagrass.

Common golf course issues like overseeding, tree management, putting green quality, construction issues and new turfgrasses will be discussed in the upcoming August 12th USGA Regional Meeting at University Park Country Club in Sarasota, FL. If interested in attending and learning about important golf course related issues, please contact our office (772-546-2620) for more information.

Source: Todd Lowe, tlowe@usga.org or 941-828-2625







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