A real mixed bag weather wise this week.  Autumn is definitely here and the course will now slip slowly into winter mode as the month draws on.  However course is still in good shape with the warmer weather surfaces have filled in well following a long dry summer so will enter winter in a good state.
  This week Abbotts tees have been hollow-tined to open up the surface and early next week they will receive a slow release fertilizer.  This is a coated fertilizer that releases nutrients according to the weather.

Hollow-tining the 1st Tee

It allows us to have a steady stream of Nutrient available to the plant throughout the winter but only if temperature and moisture levels go above 'X' giving us control.  Tees and approaches are already in good shape so this approach should see them last well into the winter months.

In the sunshine and showers on Friday we took some great pictures of rainbows across the 13th green on Abbotts.

 Greens will have the height raised during the month which will increase leaf tissue thus aiding photosynthesis with less available light.  The plan is to solid-tine Abbotts greens this or next week down to 2 inches just to open up the surfaces with a deep tine 8-10 inches scheduled early December. Abbotts will be ready for a 2nd preventative spray for disease this week to keep clean surfaces.  

  Priors greens are only sprayed for Fusarium when we spot disease and you can see the pitfalls of this strategy clearly at the moment.  After a warm damp weekend the disease developed rapidly and by Monday was clearly out of control.  Sprayed on Monday and 3 days of good growth have seen excellent recovery but it highlights the aggressive nature of this disease as you can see below

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Close up of fungal Mycelium

Disease has killing a patch of grass

As we pan out we can see the extent of the damage

 

 Fairways on the Abbotts are looking much better after the intensive work of the last few weeks.  The fertilizer and iron together with the good weather has forced them on well.  The seed has yet to come through and believe it or not us greenkeepers now need some rain to help this process along.

 Greens on both courses have been given a light granular feed to help fill in some of the smaller indentations, with a light dusting of topdressing due next week.

  Below is the new information board outside the Pro-shop.  This will be used as your first point of call for things happening on the maintenance of the course.  Each day as needed we will display important information such as Buggies off, or Aeration on an area of the course.  This will give you a better idea of daily works likely to effect your round

  

Next week all being well tees on the Abbotts are being hollow-tined and then feed with a slow release(to last all winter) fertilizer.

  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.

  

Not a great week weather wise with cooler temperatures and rain around but hopefully some warmer weather on the way.

Abbotts recovery after the hollow tining has been very good considering the lack of temperature.  The picture below is of the 18th green and shows a disease called Anthracnose.  This is a late summer stress disease, in this case caused by continued pressure on some of the dry patches on greens.  If you take a close look you will see yellow leaves and general thinning out in irregular patches.  I'm not to concerned over these areas as the late time of year will see greens filling in quickly in the next few weeks, helped by a heavy liquid feed and some seeding and dressing into these patches.

Anthracnose active in the foreground

Whilst soil temperature is still high poor fairways are being seeded.  Scarifying is taking place first on all fairways, followed later in the week by the seeder on weak areas and some complete fairways.

Scarifying the 7th fairway

                                                                           

Early start for the hollow tining, which went well although the weather was unhelpful.  Lots of brushing tomorrow.

  Trialing the hollow-tining on the par 3 today as the weekends Club Championship prevents us setting up the machine on the main greens.  We are beginning on the front nine Monday morning at 5 am (yes that's 5 am),  Hollow tined to a depth of 3 inches, cores pushed into rows as you can see from the picture below. Collected behind with snow shovels and debris blown off.  Followed up with heavy dressing of around  a ton and a half.  Brushed, dragmat, rolled and watered.   

  In spite of the weather course set up finished for the Club Championship, having it so late in the year means good greens, but fairways and lots of turf areas looking tired.  Perhaps the end of July next year would be a better date? 

Tining.

  Hollow-tining on the Priors was a non starter, the course was far to dry and the machine just ripped the surface to pieces, so as you've no doubt seen, we heavily dressed, then tined, then tidied up the surface.  Nearly 2 week on and the Priors have recovered very well although there will be more than normal disturbance over the winter on these greens as we attack the thatch build up and firm them up ready for the new season.

A ton and a half per green

Before and after brushing

Next week we are hollow-tining the Abbotts.  Front 9 on the Monday and Back 9 on the Tuesday.  The greens will be on temporaries at some point during the day to allow us to do the work.  This work will cause lots of disturbance to the surface on the day but if the weather stays warm greens should soon return to normal.