The change of seasons is upon us with a Winter chill greeting us each morning at the Maintenance shed. We received a couple of days of low single digit numbers which was enough to shut down the growth on tees and fairways and put most of the greens into Winter dormancy. As with previous years the height of cut for greens has been raised from 3mm to 4mm and rolling now dominates over mowing. The greens are pure going into Winter & will only get firmer & faster over the coming weeks. They are rolling true and nothing, but positive feedback has been received.
All tees have been aerated with 8mm solid tines & sprayed with Pronamide, a pre-emergent herbicide for Winter Grass (poa annua). This practice will reduce the compaction of the soil during Winter as well as increasing the oxygen exchange in the soil & provide greater penetration for the herbicide application.
The fairways have a terrific coverage of turf coming into Winter. They have been sprayed with Tribute, a post-emergent herbicide for the control of Winter grass, Crows foot & Paspalum. Their height of cut at 15mm will remain the same during Winter.
With the slowing in growth of all playing surfaces we have changed our cultural practices as required. The use of Primo, our growth regulator, is no longer necessary & mowing days are replaced with rolling, brooming or blowing. With this freed up time once again our attention turns to concrete & concreting cart paths.
This year our main focus will be on:
- 2nd 9th, & 18thholes from exiting the fairways to the current cart paths
- 12thtee from tee to fairway down the L.H.S.
Another winter job completed was the front garden on the 1st & 10th tees. Finished off with crushed sandstone pebbles, bordered off with railway sleepers and planted out with Silver Plumbs (a sun loving Bromiliade). The area now looks far more presentable than previously.