Photos From Aerfication Process

Below are some pictures taken during the aerfication process and after. We will be posting more on our return visit the first week of October.

Cores on the Green

Topdressing Heavy to Fill Holes and Smooth

Dragging in Fertilizer and Topdressing

Watering to Release the Fertilizer & Keep Seed Moist for Germination

First Mowing After All Processes are completed

Musgrove Country Club Update September 22, 2017

Greens:

Despite the delays caused by Tropical Storm Irma we finalized the double aerification and topdressing processes on Friday September 15^th.  We rolled the greens over the weekend several times to help smooth them. On Monday, we focused on preparing the worst spots for seeding. We seeded them on Tuesday and nearly ¾” of rain washed several of the areas so Wednesday we raked up the washed seed, repaired the areas, added seed and began watering. Thursday, we rolled and topdressed the greens again to help the smoothing process. Watering has begun to get the seed to germinate and will help release the fertilizer we put down to continue to have the greens recover. Today we will be mowing the areas that have good turf for the weekend

To get the seed to germinate and provide a good stand of seedlings we need to water several times per day. This will take about 8 minutes per green and we will be doing our best to avoid play. We seeded with a 50/50 combination of the AU Victory and Penn A-1 bentgrass. Both proven varieties for our area.

We are asking you to avoid walking or playing from the weak areas on the greens so that we do not disrupt the seed and seedlings as they begin to emerge. We should begin to see a green fuzz in 7-10 days. We will  be fertilizing weekly once the seeds up to get the seedlings to grow and get established. We will begin mowing as soon as the plants have an adequate root structure to prevent the plant from being torn out of the ground.

Collars:

You may have noticed while you were playing the last 2 weeks some of the collars around the greens had turned white. We had some weeds (goosegrass & nutsedge) on these collars and we used a herbicide to control them. This herbicide is safe on bentgrass. However, as a side effect it does turn the turf white and bermudagrass even more than the bentgrass. It will grow out in a couple of weeks. During my visit, this week the white was disappearing and the collars were turning green again. The goosegrass was dying!! We will be spot spraying a few more areas with this herbicide to eliminate some more areas of goosegrass.

We will be posting more picture to the Blog Site at http://gmsmusgrovecc.blogspot.com/  

#1 Green after aerification and the white collar growing back

Musgrove Country Club Update September 11, 2017

Greens Aerification

This week we will be doing an aggressive aerification to the greens. It is our plan to do a double aerification to help reduce the amount of organic material present in the top 3 inches of the greens. We know this can provide between 20 and 27 percent displacement in the soil profile. We had been discussing doing a single aerification now and then a double in October. However due to the recovery we are seeing on the greens and the rooting getting much better we have decided to do the double aerification now. This will aide in creating a better soil condition for seeding bentgrass into the worst areas on the greens. We will be doing all we can with rolling the greens and heavy topdressing to get the greens as smooth as possible following this process. We are anticipating the process taking 4 days. This double aerification is time consuming to do it correctly.  Tropical Storm Irma has already caused a delay in the process. On Monday, the 11th the team was only able to get 6 greens completed with the first aerification before the rain began. No work was accomplished on the 12^th. We will keep you posted on the progress once we can begin again.

What to Expect

To help us insure that we get a good stand of bentgrass we will be watering the greens lightly throughout the day to keep the seedbed moist. We will be raising the height of cut so that once the seeds have germinated and the roots are long enough to hold the plant in place we will begin mowing. We will be fertilizing to push all the grass to fill in, with extra  applied to the seeded areas to push them to fill in even faster. The greens will be shaggy and slow as we work to get the plants as healthy as possible going into the fall.

Why

Last year on September 22^nd we toured the course and on the 23^rd met with your representatives and began the process for us to become your maintenance partner. We knew there were issues with the amount of organic matter in the top 3 inches of the greens. We did the March aerification of the greens and were happy with the results but they would not have taken a double aerification. As we approached the end of June we began to see some disease appear and these were treated rapidly, but as preventative we sent out samples to verify the disease, Dr. Bruce Martin, at Clemson University let us know we had high populations of Nematodes. These are microscopic worms that feed on the roots of the grass. We treated for these as well as began routine venting of the greens to help get more air into the rootzone. As soon as the Invitational was over we did a ¼” quad tine aerification of the greens. This was followed up with weekly venting and some weeks two ventings in the same week. The last 10 days of July saw over 10 inches of rain and heat indices of over 110 for several days. This combination of excess moisture and hot temperatures was not allowing the top 3 inches of the greens to dry. Because of this they soil became anerobic and a black layer began to form. We did a 3/8^th in aerification to try and dry the down and to get air into the roots zone to eliminate the anerobic condition. At the same time, we stopped applying any water if the moisture levels were above 20%. We also tipped the fans to force more air over the surface of the greens and used our large blower as a fan to cool the surface of the greens rather than syringing with water. These efforts allowed us to stop the decline that was occurring in the turf and with the help of cooler weather began a recovery. 

We need to reduce the impact of the organic matter in the top 3 inches and aggressive aerification is the method we are using to achieve that result. This is a process and will take years for us to eliminate amount needed to allow us to better manage the air levels in the soil. If the weather is good in November we will be doing another aerification. We are then looking to do 2 more in the spring of next year as well as additional aerifications and ventings thru the rest of the year. We recognize aerification is a disruptive process but it is necessary for us to be able to manage the greens in the summer stress periods.  This is our method of cultivation. Farmers and gardeners typically plow or till the soil prior to planting. We have a crop that cannot be plowed or tilled. We will make you aware of the dates and plans for each event.

We have also created a Blog for Musgrove Country Club and will begin posting more information and pictures to this page. The link is http://gmsmusgrovecc.blogspot.com/   

This is a plug from #16 green. The plug on the left is what the greens should look like all the way to the grass. The plug on the right is why we need to aerify so aggressively.

We will add a picture to this near September 22nd. Stay Tuned...