The weather has been kind to us this week as cool temperatures and plenty of sun have made conditions perfect for seeding. On Monday we started up at the back range tee. We lowered our sweeper machine enough to cut about a quarter inch of thatch off the top of the tee, smoothing out many of the divots along the way. After a quick drag, the seeder dimpled in some ryegrass and brushed it into the holes. As bermuda growth comes to a halt here, we hope to use this back tee more often in the winter with a thick stand of rye on it.
The major project for the week was getting bluegrass seed sown into the Sabot back nine fairways. With the front nine being closed from November 1 to mid April, we wanted to let that go dormant on its own and then see if we could get the bluegrass back as a viable winter surface on the back nine. Like we did two years ago, the fairways were aggressively verticut, producing a hefty amount of material to be cleaned up.
With the debris cleaned up, the fairway mowers were set about 50% lower than normal and the fairways were scalped down in a circle pattern and again blown off.
The seeder puts a dimple into the now thinned bermuda surface, then drops seed down, then a brush pushes it into the hole, then another dimple drum pushes more seed in and another brush sweeps the seed in again, all in one pass! The back nine fairways are being kept moist for about the next two weeks while the bluegrass starts to germinate. We did do one fairway with ryegrass, just to see how the vamont can compete with the rye come spring time. We know the bluegrass grows very well with the bermuda, while rye can try and out compete it. By this time next week you should be able to tell which fairway was seeded with rye thanks to its faster germination rate.
The Manakin squad has been staying busy on the back lawn. They have just completed 3 new paver circles that will each house a firepit and 6 new Adirondack chairs for your fall weather enjoyment.
The fans are coming down off the course which means summer is officially over! The Manakin greens are healing up nicely from their aeration and the greens roller will be back in action over there starting Friday. Enjoy some great weather this weekend!
