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



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.


 

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.

Rain

3.68 inches!

That is the amount of rain we have had in the month of April, so far. It looks like more is on the way tonight. According to Weather Underground, 1.85 inches (ed: weather.com says 3.3 inches is normal) is normal for the month of April. What this means is that we are wet.

Some other things that have been going on:

We planted 9 cherry trees and 3 apples trees in the orchard. Most of the cherries are at the north end of the orchard, near #7 green. This is just replacing trees that have died over the last forty years since the course was built. This is one of my favorite projects out here. The orchard belonged to the original farm owned and operated by Dr. Eugene Leslie. They would sell apples, pears, cherries and raspberries to the local citizens. The orchard is a signature of holes 6 and 8, as many drives make it into the tightly packed trees. Last year we replaced 10 cherries, 8 apples and 7 pears. I have counted around 40 more spots where trees have been cut down in the past and not replaced. My plan is to fill these areas in so that there is a fruit tree every 15 feet in this section. 10- 15 trees a year should see this plan done in the next 5 years.

We had these little guys drop by for a few days.

They are Bufflehead Ducks (Bucephala albeola) They stopped by on the migration north.

This last picture is my attempt at a close up of some lilac buds getting ready to burst.

Catching Up.

Things have been busy the last week or so. Golf season is finally upon us (as evidenced by the 80 degree weather we had last Sunday, hope you got a chance to get out and play.)

Here are some of the things we have been working on.
1) New irrigation installed on the left side of #3, between #1 and #3 and the left side of #16. Below is a picture of the lines on #3.

2) We put up a bat house that we got as a gift from Wendy Nagle's 2nd and 3rd grade class at the Ann Arbor Learning Community.

3) We deep-tine aerified all of the greens and hollow tined the collars. The deep tine aerification is a solid 14 inch long tine. This breaks through any layers that develop in our greens over time. #3 green is a prime example of this layering. After many years of topdressing on the greens, we now have 3-4 inches of sand on all of our greens. Unfortunately, water doesn't move readily through the change from one layer to the next. On #3, this means that all of the water from the spring tends to sit in the top 3 inches, making it waterlogged. This is why we had #3 green closed down this spring. The channel that the deep tine punches allows water to move past the layer and drain out of the soil profile.

After aerifing, we topdressed sand onto the greens to fill in the holes and smooth the putting surface.

4)We also turned on the irrigation system. We waited until after we had the new irrigation lines installed because it makes it a lot easier to do when the lines are not filled with water.

5) I saw this green heron (Butorides virescens) near the pumphouse. I love this little bird. It is not as famous as it's larger cousin, the great blue heron, but I think it is more interesting. That might be because I don't see them as much.

Blue Winged Teal

These four ducks were out on the pond on #8 this morning. I believe they are Blue Winged Teal.