Encroachment

Foreign Couch sprayed out.

We have just treated some of the "foreign green Couch" that has infiltrated the River greens and you will notice over the coming weeks that there will be a few dead patches develop in some of the greens.  The plan is for another 1 or 2 weedkiller applications, then these dead areas will be plugged out in early October prior to the River greens renovations.  Not all the greens have been treated as some don't have any foreign Couch in the centre of the greens and the 9th has so much that too large a section would need to be removed and turfing would be required meaning that the green would need to be closed to play.  A proposal is currently being looked at for this green.  The Couch practice green has had some large areas treated, but again the risk of tracking the chemical means that the entire green could not be treated at once.

At this stage we have only treated patches in the middle of the greens as treating the encroaching Couch on the edges would require the greens to be closed to play as above.  This was mentioned at the Course Information session earlier this year when I advised that the greens would need to be closed, as to achieve a result with the weedkiller you would require at least 3 applications, and the chance of this chemical being "tracked" on to the green is a danger.  The 3 applications need to be 7 - 10 days apart to achieve a result and the greens would then need to have the entire perimeter sod cut out and the turf replaced and such a process is impossible whilst play continues.  We tried to perform this operation on greens 11,16 and 17 on the River course in 2007 with only 1 spray and leaving the greens in play.  Almost all the foreign Couch returned to these areas within 12 months.