Still looking for bermudagrass weather
The weather the last few weeks has not been in our favor for growing bermudagrass. Not far to our west 16 inches of snow dropped down about 4 months too late. We ended up with 3 inches of rain and low in the 40's after last weekend.
We are looking for at least 140 degrees after adding both the low and high temps together to get the bermuda going. We will be much closer next week as the lows get back out of the 40's. Richmond remains a very difficult area to manage turf and golf play for 12 months out of the year. There is no perfect solution but the temperatures will be here eventually for our warm season turf.
Our bentgrass is loving the cool spring weather and we really could not ask for the greens to be in better shape after spring aeration.
Our fertilizer and growth management programs are doing well on the greens. The leaf texture has gotten extremely fine and is allowing for more consistent and quicker green speeds. The back nine Sabot greens will be lowered another .005" for the weekend as we continue working them down to the front nine height. The difference now is only .010".
Solid tine aeration was completed on the Sabot fairways, approaches and tees this week. The solid tines poked about 3 inches deep with a 4" spacing. This aeration will help relieve some compaction from winter and encourage root growth as soil temperatures rise.
The solid tines really have no impact on golf play. The Manakin will be aerated the same way starting May 22nd and compost will applied through the entire property that week.
The Manakin guys started working on sodding over the drain lines from the winter on 13, 14 and 17 this week.
Sabot took most of the sod off the truck this week to start patching wear areas in the fairways. Two more trucks or 18,000 square feet will show up next week so we can continue sodding our winter damage on both courses. Each spot has its own story, whether the bermuda stayed too wet or too dry, or was worn from cart traffic or didn't get enough sun, or froze too long or had too much water running across it, it all will be patched or continue to fill in over the next few weeks.
Some of these areas, especially on Manakin we just have to flat out give up on trying to grow grass in. We've been asking this bermuda to survive after being dormant for at least 7 months while being under a tree, run over by carts and infiltrated with Poa annua. This spot on 4 will turn into a pine straw bed now and the surrounding area will be sodded and restricted from cart traffic. We would expect some heavier restrictions on cart traffic next winter, and plenty more drainage and tree work! Battling Mother Nature never ends!