Greens News - July 2017
1 August 2017

This has been a difficult season so far. As you will be aware the greens have had a mottled look with sward composition being evident.

Ideally with our desire to make the greens drier, firmer and faster regular aeration and applications of top dressing would need to be made. This in turn with lower nutrient inputs and moderate irrigation would encourage the finer grasses. We have maintained our regular liquid feeds which the bent grasses have thrived. However the poa has remained weak and not recovered from a cold dry and windy spring. That combined with some recent extremely high temperatures which all in all has proved an inhospitable environment for poa.

After a recent visit from one of our agronomic reps to discuss these issues. It was agreed that the poa was weak with signs of fungal activity and poa die back. He did say that we are not alone as both Moortown and Alwoodley have both had similar issues. He also said that “the more success we have the more the imperfections stand out.” With the weak poa we decided to apply a granular feed as we know it gives a good hit and boost to the plant. This has been successful and should last about a month. It is imperative to have the plant actively growing going into maintenance week to aid a quick recovery. While he was here we also took soil samples of 5^th, 7^th and 16^th greens. The results of which will indicate the appropriate aeration and how aggressive we would need to be.

Gareth Williams, Course Director

Rainfall                       32.5mm

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