Poa Annua (Annual Bluegrass)

Over the last month and a half, I have had many questions and concerns regarding Poa Annua (Annual Bluegrass).  This winter has been brutal and been perfect conditions for Poa Annua to thrive. Here are a few questions and answer regarding Poa Annua.  

• Is there anything you can do to prevent Poa Annua from germinating?

Yes, there has been a standard for controlling Poa Annua in overseeded bermuda greens for years. The standard control of Poa Annua is three applications of Rubigan A.S at 4oz/1000ft.  The last application of Rubigan must be applied 30 days Prior to overseeding. However, The EPA has removed Rubigan from the Market. 

• Did we apply the necessary products to prevent the Poa Annua?

Yes, we applied three applications of Rubigan A.S on August 12th, August 26th and September 9th.

• Why didn't the application work?

Weeds are like humans, overtime the plant evolves and becomes resistant to chemical application.  All the Poa Annua you see on our greens are mature plants and have become resistant to Rubigan applications.

• What can we do to prevent Poa Annua in the Future?

There are a few things we can try in the future, but I'm not sure if we will get complete control of this pest.  We can spray Revolver (herbicide) 21 days before overseeding and begin spraying Proxy and Primo starting in November to manage seedhead productions.  This has been tested at a few courses, but the jury is still out. We will work with our chemical distributors over the next 5-month and weight out our best options.

• Can you spray out the Poa Annua with a Post-emergent herbicide? If so, why haven't we sprayed it out?

Yes, there are several chemicals used to spray out Poa Annua.  Two chemicals that come to mind are Revolver and Kerb.  Unfortunately, these chemicals will also eradicate the ryegrass that the greens are overseeded with.  With the current weather this spring, we are not quite ready to eliminate all of the ryegrass out of our greens. We want to make sure our bermuda grass is growing and moving before we make any applications to eliminate the overseeded greens. 

We have been spraying Embark(Plant growth Regulator) over the last few weeks at .5oz/1000ft2.  This PGR slows down the growth of C3 grasses (cool season), with little effect on C4 Grasses (warm season).  I will be bumping the next rate to 1oz/1000Ft2 and the following application to 1.5oz/1000ft2.  Hopefully, these applications will reduce the amount of Poa in the greens and help with ball roll.  

Once temperatures rise and we get into our weekly cultural practices, the Poa Annua will begin to die out.  If the Poa continues to hold on during the warmer temperatures, we will eradicate with a post-emergent herbicide.  

Overseeding Has Become a Dying Practice

Over the last several years a majority of golf course have converted their greens to Ultradwarf grasses.  With the growth habit and cold hardiness of these new grasses, superintendents have illuminated there overseeding. This allows these superintendents to spray post-emergent herbicides to their greens during the winter month to keep them free of Poa Annua.  Since overseeding has become uncommon, there isn't a demand for the chemical companies to develop new chemistry to illuminate Poa in overseeded bermuda.  Only time will tell, when it comes to our overseeded greens.

I hope this post answers some of you questions.

Justin Lonon

April Sound Country Club

Golf Course Superintendent

  

   

#15 Fairway bunkers

On Monday, we had 20 pallets of Zoysia delivered to fill in the bunkers on number 15.  Our staff is laying  sod as I type. We should have the work completed by this afternoon.  Below are some pictures of the work in progress.

Fairway and Rough Aerification

If you haven't already seen, it's that time of year again and we have begun aerification of the roughs and Fairways.  This process will take us the entire week, and we hope the weather holds out.  We completed the red nine this morning and have turned to the blue.  I expect to finish the blue nine sometime tomorrow morning and move our crew over to the white nine.

We are hoping to have all three nines complete before the rain moves on Thursday.  We currently have one tractor on property that is pulling the aerifier.  Once aerification is complete, we will hookup the gang unit to pulverize the plugs in the rough.

This is a once a year practice, so be patient as we will have the course back into condition shortly.

Thanks,
Justin Lonon
April Sound Country Club
Golf Course Superintendent

Applications Rescheduled

Due to the weather, we have rescheduled a few golf course applications. Our Chipco Choice application has been rescheduled for Sunday, March 23rd.  This applications if for molecricket and ant control.  Our pre-emergent application has been rescheduled for April 10 and 11th.

#15 sod

On Monday, we were schedule to lay sod on the fairways bunkers on #15.  Due to the weather we had to reschedule the sod for a later date.  I have reschedule the sod to be delivered on Monday the 17th.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate throughout the week and we can grass these areas in a timely fashion.

Chemical Applications

We had two chemical applications scheduled for this week.  Our pre-emerge herbicide application (specticle) was scheduled for Monday.  Due to the wet conditions, we will need to reschedule this application.  The applicator has fallen behind due to the weather conditions and he will contact me once he is available.

The second application is schedule for this coming Sunday.  This is a Chipco Choice application to control ant and molecrickets.  We will evaluate the conditions throughout the week and make a decision on this application on Saturday morning.  This will be our second year to apply this herbicide.  We saw great success with the application in 2013.  This application will give us a 1 year control of molecricket and ants.  We will be treating all of our fairways with this product.

We also want to control molecrickets and ant on our greens and teeing surfaces.  We will use an alternative product called Provant.  This product will be applied three times throughout the year to give us complete control of molecricket and ant in these areas.  

Bunker Update

Due to the recent weather, VM golf services was unable to complete the bunker project by this weekend.  They will be out tomorrow to see if they can compact the sand.  I believe the issue we are dealing with is a phenomenon know as a perched water table.  With the gravel layer in the bunker floor, it may set up a perched water table and the moisture in the sand won't release at the 4" depth.  We have taken soil samples and sent them off to be tested.  One test is called the moisture release curve test.  The finer the sand, the deeper the sand needs to be.  We will work through the issue with VM and Clubcorp to resolve the problem.

The course is currently open this Saturday for play.  If VM is able to compact these bunkers tomorrow morning we will shut the course down for the day.  As you play today, make sure you play the green side bunkers as ground under repair.

Thanks,
Justin Lonon
Golf Course Superintendent

Before and After

Below are some before and after pictures of the bunkers.  In these pictures, the bunkers received the same amount of rain.

Golf Course Maintenance Update

Spring is just around the corner and we are looking forward to a great year.  Yesterday, we started mowing the fairways for the first time.  We dropped the mower to .450" to get a tight cut and hoping for a little scalping to help with the green up process.  Once we mow all fairways, we will increase the mowing height to .550" until we have a healthy stand of Bermuda.

While we were working on the blue nine bunkers, we were also pushing the greens with both slow and quick release fertilizers.  A majority of the greens have responded well but maybe a touch slower then the other greens.  We are working with these greens to get them ready for play by Saturday.  However, #13 and #16 are still struggling.  We will be babying these greens throughout the transition period to aid in recovery (walk mowing and hand watering).  I have also ordered sod for these greens and a few other areas that are thin.  We will begin laying sod on these greens once the Tifdwarf is available.

We have made a few adjustment to our agronomic plan for this year. The two big factor that will help with our success are walk mowing cleanups at all times and our new fertility program. A majority of our thin areas are located around the greens edges and are directly related to mechanical damage of the Triplex mowers. We will find the necessary man power to walk mow these areas on a weekly bases.  We have also started a new greens fertility program that I'm very excited about.  We have been using the new line for two month and I've seen major improvements.

Due to wet conditions, we are adding drainage on #12 fairway, between the first fairway bunker and the slope on the left hand side.  Below are pictures of the work in progress.

A Race with Mother Nature

VM Golf Services is closing fast on the bunker project.  They have 1.5 bunkers left to get sand into before the rain rolls in.  We are crossing our fingers, hoping everything will fall into place and they complete this process before it rains.  If they are unable to finish #11 and #10 before the rain, we may be set back by a couple of days. Once these bunkers are filled, VM will use a vibratory plate compactor to firm up the sand.  I will then probe these bunkers to make sure all bunkers contain 4 inches of sand throughout.  If more sand is need to reach the 4 inches, VM will add the required sand and compact it to spec.  We are hoping to have the blue nine available for Saturday morning play.  

Better Billy Bunker Spraying

Forefront started the spraying process on Tuesday.  They have sprayed the following bunkers: #10 right side, #11,#12,#13 two right bunkers (edges still need spraying) and #18.  These bunker have been tested and are ready for sand.  Forefront is waiting for a deliver of the polymer and is schedule to resume spraying on Friday afternoon. Forefront should finish spraying Friday and the remaining bunkers will be ready for sand on Saturday.  This project has fallen behind of schedule, but we expect to be finished sometime next week.  Below are some photos of the spraying process.

Bunker renovation schedule

VM golf services is currently on schedule to finish the project next Sunday.  They have 11 bunker floors completed with the gravel layer.  The polymer coating has been scheduled for Tuesday and will take the entire day to complete.  Half the sand will be delivered this Monday and will be ready for installation on Wednesday morning. We are extremely excited to see the finished product.  Below is a picture of the gravel layer on #11 greenside bunker.

This new Better Billy Bunker designed will eliminate contamination during hard rains as seen in the picture below.  

Gravel Layer

We are in the second stage of the bunker project.  Below are some pictures of VM installing the gravel layer into the floor of the bunker. Once all 18 bunkers are complete Forefront Construction will spray the polymer coating.  

Existing bunker drainage

Below are pictures of the existing drains

Sundays bunker update

VM has complete stage one of the bunker project.  On Monday we will begin removing the top layer of gravel to expose the existing drainage tile. Drains will be flushed and all damaged drains will be replaced.  We will also be adding extra lines to bunkers that have drained poorly in the past.  I expect all drain work to be completed within two days.  The next step is to added the gravel blanket.  

Bunker Update

It is day four of the bunker project and VM Services has cleaned ten of the eighteen bunkers.  I expect the initial stages of this project to be completed by the end of the weekend.  On Monday, our staff will start checking the existing drain lines and determine what needs to be replaced.  Once drains are in working order, VM will begin adding 2" of gravel to the bunker floor.  This gravel will then be sprayed with a polymer to hold the gravel together. The spraying process will be preformed by a certified applicator.  Please check out http://billybunker.com/ for more details.

Blue Nine Bunker Project

I would like to officially welcome VM golf services to April Sound and I'm looking forward to working with them over the next few weeks. We are in the initial stages of the process which includes removal of the contaminated sand and expose the bunker floor.  Once the floor is exposed, they will begin inspecting the drainage tiles.  VM will make sure all drains are in working order before we start the "better billy bunker" process. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting pictures and updates of the project and a quick summary of how this process works. Below are a few pictures of the bunker floor on number #12 green.