So much for not getting hot until July
On May 29th we were worried as the forecast for June did not have a day above 90 degrees in it. Here we are a month later sitting on a 102 degree high from Wednesday and the bermudagrass is loving life. In less than 6 months we get to manage turf on a 92 degree wide spectrum!
All 20 fans made their way out to both courses last week and as of today we have 19 out of 20 running with 3 Sabot just waiting on a new oscillator motor. These 20 fans remain imperative to our bentgrass greens health. On these greens with naturally less air movement the fans drop surface temperatures up to 10 degrees and keep soil temps generally out of the death zone.
For this summer we have 4 new moisture meters made by the USGA. The meters connect via bluetooth on your phone and then show you every moisture reading as you work around the green poking it with the meter. Anything under 15% is going to wilt pretty quickly and anything over 30 is probably too wet. The different undulations in the greens will always produce slightly different moisture levels but keeping the numbers between the guardrails results in a healthy summer surface. Don't mind the 100 degree surface temperature by the way!
That last small aeration after Member Guest allowed for a final gasp of root growth before these 100 degree temperatures showed up. The Pure Eclipse on the Sabot is more than ready for a long summer.
With the bermuda weather here we can finally start to balance nutrients and growth regulator. Tae went out Wednesday with a quick tenth of a pound of Nitrogen to keep the Vamont shining in the sun. That is just 3 bags of fertilizer mixed in 500 gallons of water and applied over 12.5 acres each time.
Last week our driving range and chipping fairway mower decide to put out some alignment aids by blasting hot hydraulic oil through a lift arm hose. Unfortunately no one was able to see the oil coming out while mowing so we are stuck waiting on these lines to fill back in. The chipper fairway was verticut, topdressed and fertilized Monday to help encourage some lateral growth.
The afternoon jobs in the shade list has been tapped into this week so that means plenty of bed edging and mulching. The guys are drinking their water and snacking on some ice cream this week as we wait for normal summer weather to return. Stay cool!