Autumn renovation continues at a pace.  As you will have noticed it was the turn of the fairways this week. All fairways were scarified, cutting lines in the sward to remove lateral growth and pull out lots of dead organic matter.  This is always a messy job and we then needed to let the surface dry a little.

Scarifying the 8th

 Next came the blower to tidy the surface and leave it ready for seeding.  Fairways 8,9,10,11,12,14,and various other areas were seeded at a rate of 22 gm2, this combined with the current dampness and predicted warm spell should reap excellent rewards in germination rates.

 Greens have moved on well this week although I feel a further light granular feed is needed just to help them along in the last month of good weather.  This is noticeable by the small patches of Fusarium beginning to effect some areas on greens.  As this disease is so aggressive and we know an Autumn attack will always happen we now use preventative fungicide, sprayed twice in early and late Autumn in order to stop the disease building up and keeping it under control.  This was scheduled for next week but slightly weak surfaces and damp weather caused enough concern to bring the date forward.  This library picture shows the danger of untreated disease and with the lack of recovery at this time of year any scars will effect play until Spring.

 

Fusarium Patch

 When spraying for disease modern greenkeeping now tank mixes more than 1 product to improve efficacy and cost effectiveness. The preventative spray yesterday included 2 different products for disease control, with different modes of action, therefore broadening chance of good control.  Also in the mix was a little fertilizer to help speed the uptake of the chemical into the plant.  Finally we included a pH buffer to help combat the hard water in this area which effects the efficiency of the products.