Links News
by Tom Lipscomb, Director of Argonomy
We just completed double Verti-cutting of our fairways, approaches and tees. The thatch accumulation is at severe levels due to the lack of proper maintenance over the last 25 years. We currently have an average of 3 to 4 inches of thatch in the fairways, when properly maintained fairways should have a target of ¾ of an inch… this means we are WAY behind the eight-ball!! Having such a thick layer of thatch in the fairways poses many problems for our regular maintenance practices. Water is unable to penetrate to the soil and root zone, creating sloppy and soft playing surfaces, and fertilizer and other spray protectants that we apply get bound up in the thatch layer, which generates more thatch. Also, over-seeding with Ryegrass every year adds to our thatch accumulation issues. When the Ryegrass dies out in early summer, half biodegrades, and half adds another layer of thatch. Reducing the thatch layer will take several years of double Verti-cutting; this is why I mentioned that a thatch management program should have been started 25 years ago. Right now, the Lakes fairways are chewed up pretty good after the Ryegrass and heavy infestation of Pao-Annua checked out and the Verti-cutting was done, but they should recover in about 2 – 3 weeks. I am surprised that no one has asked me about the heart-shaped rings that popped up on several greens. They appeared overnight and at first glance I thought it was some sort of vandalism because it looked like a kid used a paint brush to paint a heart on some of the greens. After further investigation, it was discovered that it is a disease called Rhizoctonia Zeae. I’ve never seen this disease in person before and was truly surprised to see it at all because in late March we started treating the greens on a weekly basis for many different issues, and started using heavier rates as we got closer to the beginning of July. In response to these rings, we have applied two different curative fungicides and I feel that we are in good recovery mode now. Lastly, I would like to thank those who took the time to give me both positive and negative feedback on the new style bunker rakes that we placed in Par 3 bunkers. Your comments were greatly appreciated and offered me insight as to whether they would have been a good product for our course. The consensus was that they were not worth making the change, which will save us money in the long run.
Thank you again for your feedback and thoughts. See ya on the course!
8 | The Seven Oaks Scene
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