Thunderstorms and Bent Grass Greens in NC Piedmont?

[hhuffines]

Sorry to start another thread on greens but I am looking for info on the effects of showers on stressed bent greens.  I know a heavy shower followed by heat and direct sunlight stresses the roots, but is there a temperature range where a late afternoon shower helps?  We've had a day in the 80s with a short heavy downpour at 7pm.  Temp fell to 72 degrees with sun setting.  Is this as bad or could it help?  Thanks for any input!

[Randy Thompson]

Its usually a positive thing, especially at that time of the day.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Depends. A cool down is nice, but we always wanted the greens as dry as possible in Texas, therefore we could control the watering. There are MANY variables here, as I'm sure Randy will agree-aerification practices, HOC, fans, topdressing to name a few...

[Randy Thompson]

Tony is right and that is why I kept it general and used the word usually. The first quarter inch of a rain during a thunderstorm has shown to contain some nutrients that are beneficial to the plant such as nitrogen, calcium and sulphur. The decrease in soil temperature is a plus, as is the decrease in air temperatures. There could be situations where an excess of these nutrients exsist in the green and in those cases you probably won´t see a postive response. In the majority of the cases though I usually see an improvement for a short period of a couple of days. If you get back out to club and in the next couple of days, let us know if you noticed any visual improvement.

[hhuffines]

Thanks so much!  We have a great super but he and his staff are in a tough spot with our weather.   I'm just a former greens comm. guy trying to stop bad rumors within our membership til we get some cooler air.  Cheers!