Is it official?

Even though it officially kicked off on March the 20th I don't think we could really say it had arrived yet in Northern Ontario, but today I'm making it official, spring 2013 is here! I would think it's fair to say that old man winter proved to us all that even though forgotten for the past couple of seasons he is alive, well and kicking.

Last Friday here at the course we saw easily 8" of the white stuff once again halting our forward progress on getting this place ready for the golf season. With that being said, we did take some good strides in the right direction this week but that also didn't come without disappointment. It is with great disappointment that I inform you of some ice damage to greens 1, 10, 12, and 14. It's difficult to say at this time which green suffered the most damage but it is safe to say it's between 1 and 14. Just the fact that the impermeable tarps have been remove and replaced with perforated ones means we have begun the recovery process. When ice damage occurs under an impermeable cover, noxious gases build up due to the anaerobic conditions produced by a lack of oxygen in turn creating an environment that is not conducive to recovery. Now with permeable tarps in place a free exchange of oxygen, carbon monoxide and other metabolic gases can take place to encourage recovery.

When moving forward with the recovery of putting greens due to winter kill, there is always the question of what method should be used to do so, seeding or sodding? Over the past 9 years being a turf manager in Central and Northern Ontario I have been presented with the challenges of regenerating putting greens damaged from winter kill. During this time I have always been a believer in seeding appose to sodding. The success I've had in seeding is definitely one of the reasons why I'm a believer along with some logical thought process that I will discuss further.

Availability of the amount of sod that sometimes is required when significant amounts of damage has taken place can prove to be difficult to attain (unless on site). Even if available, matching compatible root zones is next to impossible and can in turn create patches that need to be managed differently than the rest of the green. This is particularly evident during periods of stress. When sodding areas of localized damage you can almost never blend the sod to the existing turf and contours leaving visible differences as well creating playability differences. Finally I truly believe by the time you sod there is no significant difference in time that the green would recover to the condition that would deem it playable. If reestablishment is successful from seeding in my mind the eventual quality and uniformity of the putting surface far out weighs the possibility that the green may be playable sooner.

Our plan of attack to resurrect the damaged areas on our greens is to aerate the areas twice with a 3/8" tine and special tine mount to produce approximately 260 holes/square foot. Once that process is complete two types of bentgrass will be applied using a drop seeder. One of the bentgrass species has adapted to germinate at temperatures 10 degrees lower than the desired bentgrass. The purpose of this is to produce a "nurse" plant that in turn will aid in the germination of our desired species. The next step will be to use our slit seeder in two directions thus increasing the areas where seed germination will occur. Black sand topdressing will be applied to the area which will aid in accelerating the increase in soil temperatures as it absorbs light energy. Finally we will reapply the appropriate green covers (to generate heat) and water the areas constantly throughout the days. Once the desired bentgrass has established the "nurse" bentgrass will die off when mowing heights decrease as it can only withstand mowing heights of 1/4" or more. Fear not I guarantee in time you will be putting on the surface you have become accustom to.

So enough with the somewhat disappointing news and on to when we think the golf course will be ready to open. I have always stated that once the snow has completely gone it takes a solid 14 days to get the golf course ready for play. With that being said I feel May 10th is a realistic opening day for the golf course. Now, if we can get some cooperation from mother nature that could possibly be sooner with out a doubt. Rest easy knowing we are ready for the challenges handed to us and are confident we will come out on top! Thank you in advance for your patience.

Initially I had some reservations showing these pictures but realistically there is no hiding it and things can only improve from here. Stay tuned to see the forward progress.

Jay Sisko
Golf Course Superintendent

1 Green (has drainage)



 

14 Green (no drainage)

9 Green (it's not all bad)