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