Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ann Arbor Learning Community's Bat House


On February 2nd, 2011, I went to Wendy Nagle's 2nd and 3rd grade classroom at the Ann Arbor Learning Community to give them a short power point presentation on the environmental initiatives that we have implemented here at Leslie Park and receive a bat house that the children had made.

On April 11th, we were finally able to hang the bat house near #3 fairway.

When I let Wendy know that we had hung the house, she told me that they had another one available and that the class would like to come out to the golf course and give it to me. On May 26th, the weather co-operated enough for 18 kids as well as 10 chaperones to come out and present us with our second bat house.






We then took a little stroll out to #3 to look at the original bat house.





Thursday, May 26, 2011

Precipitation

I have already named too many blog entries Rain (Rain) so I am going with another title.

Walking Bridge on #13

During the last 24 hours, we have gotten 3.04 inches of rain. From the level of Traver Creek, I think some areas upstream from us have gotten more than that. We are closed on the Back 9 today because the bridges are under water.
Walking Bridge on #10

Cart Bridge on #18


Cart Bridge on #12

Cart Bridge on #18


We also had some major flooding on the Front 9.

Pond on #8


#9 Fairway

#1 Green

#3 Fairway


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Poa Seed Heads

Annual bluegrass (Poa annua) is more commonly known as poa, even though one of the most important turfgrasses shares the same genus name (Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis.) Poa is considered a weed by many turf managers due to many factors such as its shallow root system, tendency to die during heat, drought or cold stress and the fact that it is not a grass that is planted on purpose. Most of this stem from poa being a summer annual.

Under normal circumstances, poa germinates in the spring, grows like crazy and dies in the winter. On golf courses throughout the country, it has been so well taken care of, that it will live several years until things get really bad.

Then it will die. This usually happens in the heat of summer, but will also happen during really cold or icy winters.

To make a long story short, bentgrass is better adapted to survive on a putting green at the extreme stress periods but poa out-competes the bentgrass during normal weather. If I could get the poa out of my greens, I would. Instead, turf managers have developed strategies for maintaining the poa at times when the poa would normally die.

Also, being an annual, poa makes a lot of seed. This seed is viable at a very early stage and can persist at very low mowing heights. This can be a problem on greens where we are striving for the smoothest surface possible. Right now is the time of year when poa is producing most of it's seed. Here are a couple of pictures of the seed on a fairway.

The light yellow-green spots are poa seed heads.


A close-up shot.


Using Michigan State University's Growing Degree Days Tracker, I used a plant growth regulator called Embark to stop some of the production of the seed on the greens. This is the first time I have tried this and am hopeful that we see an 80 to 90% reduction of seed heads.

Odds and ends.

Here are some picture I have taken in the two weeks since I last wrote an entry.


 







Monday, May 2, 2011

Tee Times for Turf

This year Leslie Park is once again participating in a great online golf auction program that benefits turfgrass research at Michigan State University through the Michigan
Turfgrass Foundation. The auction is called Tee Times 4 Turf and can be found at
www.teetimes4turf.com. The online auction is May 1 - May 15. You will find over
200 fantastic golf packages from all over the state of Michigan, including ours,
at unbelievable deals.

All of the money raised will go directly to Michigan State University for
turfgrass research to make the game of golf better and more cost effective. And,
because the money goes through the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation (a Michigan
501(c)3 foundation specifically raising money for turfgrass research at Michigan
State University), there is no overhead or costs taken out. 100% of your bid
price goes to research!

Please join us for the Tee Times 4 Turf Online Auction May 1 - May 15 for
great golf packages at unbelievable pricing and help improve the game of golf
through turfgrass research at Michigan State University.

www.teetimes4turf.com

April Weather Summary

April 2011 saw Leslie Park Golf Course get 4.86 inches of rain. 19 days (out of 30) had at least a trace of rain with 13 days having over a tenth of an inch. The average temperature was 46.7 with a high of 82.8 degrees and a low of 24.8. Only 6 days had a low temperature below freezing. The high wind gust was 34 mph on the 17th.