This is certainly
not a subject that I want to cover here but unfortunately it has to be
done. The weather over the past four weeks and in particular the past
week, has been the most severe summer conditions I have experienced in my 16
seasons here. For anyone who has played
the West greens recently you will realise that the greens are really struggling
and 17 has all but died. Captain Dave put some information on his weekly
newsletter and I would like to offer some more background information for
members here as well as a plan of
action.
The West greens
are bentgrass which is a cool season turf variety that provides a superior
putting surface in comparison to couchgrass which is a warm season turf
variety. In turf growth terms there are certain climatic regions where
particular grasses are suited. In the case of bentgrass obviously the
southern States of Australia are more suitable for its growth and the northern
States are more suited to couchgrass. CTH is situated in a sub tropical
climate zone and as such is in what is known as a transition zone as far as the
growth of plants and in particular
turf is concerned.
It is an
agronomic fact that bentgrass roots start to stop functioning at soil
temperatures above 25º and they start dying at temperatures above 30º.
Given that the soil temperatures on the West greens are constantly at or above
30º during summer it is easy to understand why the greens are under
stress. In the case of 17W in particular, the soil temperature on Friday
January 16 was 36º which was the same as the surface temperature of the green
which had a humidity level of 85%. This is a recipe for disaster for
bentgrass and in the case of 17W, disaster is just what happened, with the green
suffering massive stress and ultimately turf loss. Night time
temperatures are also a factor and with our overnight temperatures rarely
dropping below 23º in summer the soil gets very little chance to cool.
When the greens are irrigated, the water temperature generally sits around 28º so the greens
are effectively being irrigated with warm water which only adds to the
problem.
As a background,
17W has been an ongoing problem forever. To my knowledge it has been
rebuilt 4 times – twice in my time – 2005 and 2007. In January 2010
a temporary green was actually prepared and the decision had been made to
rebuild and convert the green to Tifeagle after the green started to
deteriorate. The green recovered slowly and we fought on and the
rebuild wasn't done. A fan was purchased and
installed at the rear of the green later that year to assist with air
circulation and the green got through the next two years although was always a
problem and in poorer condition than the other West greens. The fan
rusted badly and repair was considered too costly at the time.
Over the years I
have had every turf consultant / expert I know look at 17W and there have been
countless soil tests done which have all been fruitless in providing a cause or
solution. The greens location (whilst nowhere near as closed in as 12R
for example) seems to be the
problem. Surface and soil temperatures are constantly 3 – 5 degrees
above the other greens, even the adjacent 13 and 16W. Air movement
is much poorer with the flag often limp on 17W and fluttering on 13 and 16W for
example. The proximity to Shallow Bay and the salt air environment (which
was the reason the fan rusted so badly) is also a contributing
factor. Most of the consultants
mentioned above simply ask why we
are trying to grow bentgrass greens here at all.
I firmly believe that the
last 2 summers have been “easier” as we haven’t had the rainfall / moisture as
usually experienced in summer (this last 2 weeks for example)
and 17W has been in better condition but the return to a normal summer has seen
it fail. The other West greens are also stressed which is normal for this time
of year and in this weather. The change in the weather from continually wet to dry
and now back to continually wet also has an influence. Late last
week the greens had localised dry spots appear and required hand watering throughout the day to help them limp through
the day and are still trying to recover now.
In August 2012 the Board
agreed in principle to start a
program to convert the West greens to Tifeagle couchgrass and a member’s
information session was held on the subject where the process was explained and discussed. That program was never
actioned but the time has now come for very serious thought to be given to such
a course of action.
Some of the advantages of
converting the greens are;
1. A year round reliable putting surface.
If you look at the 328 greens right now there is no environmental stress
and because we don’t get severely cold in winter they don’t enter any high degree
of dormancy so there is no real stress or colour loss in winter. Tifeagle will be the same.
2. A
putting surface that will cope with the number and type of players that we experience. Tifeagle won’t have a pitch mark or disease
problem as the current West greens have.
3. Tifeagle will require significantly less irrigation
water which saves on pumping costs and will improve the green surrounds turf
health. The current surround of 17W
green is very soft due to the amount of irrigation applied
to the green due to the poor root structure of the bentgrass.
4. In
2008 the Club participated in a trial of some of the new ultradwarf
couchgrasses of which Tifeagle is one. The nursery area was
prepared as a green would be and the varieties; 328, Tifeagle, Champion,
Floradwarf, MS Supreme and Mini Verde were planted.
These trials were replicated at
Horton Park GC, Twin Waters GC, Indooroopilly GC and at Redlands Research
Station. Every variety performed differently at each venue with Champion
being the poorest here but is now being used at Brisbane GC. Tifeagle
performed very well here and at Horton
Park but not at Twin
Waters or Indooroopilly where it suffered a lot of disease. The new Horton Park
and Sanctuary Cove Palms courses have subsequently planted
Tifeagle and our trial success is why it has been recommended for future West
greens works, in particular 17W.
5. In all the former discussions about re-grassing 17W
it has been suggested that it will be the ideal opportunity to try a new grass
type in readiness for future West greens conversions. Many of the West greens are approaching 30
years old and have an obvious problem with encroachment of foreign couchgrass,
let alone their ability to cope with the summer heat and humidity. There is
only one product registered for the control of couchgrass in bentgrass putting
greens and as is easily noticed it has little effect on the varieties present
in the West greens. All I am doing is
restricting the further spread of the couchgrass without control.
6. The time for re-grassing all the West greens is looming large on the
horizon and this will be an excellent opportunity to evaluate Tifeagle.
Due to the very high soil and surface
temperatures on 17W the bentgrass struggles to survive. Tifeagle thrives when
soil temperatures are between 25 and 35º.
And so next Tuesday the
dozers will roll back on to 17W for hopefully the last time in my
lifetime. 150mm of the green will be
excavated which will remove the thatch material with 450mm being removed from a
two metre wide swath around the outside of the green. This is to ensure that the foreign couchgrass
will be removed and the green will be taken back out to its original edge. The irrigation will be renewed while we have
the green open and then the new growing medium will be installed and shaped up
ready for stolonising on Tuesday February 3.
Given the summer weather continuing there should be eight weeks of very
good establishment conditions and the green should be ready for play in 12 weeks time.
Meanwhile the other West
greens will continue to be spoon fed and nurtured as best we can to get them
through the remaining summer. And
finally, apologies in advance as the temporary green on 17W is a bit rough but
there has obviously been little time to prepare it.
I wrote much of this on Thursday night and arrived to work on Friday morning to another 73mm of rainfall. That takes us to 623mm since Boxing Day which is just shy of 25 inches in 28 days!!
