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Ricardo Ramirez Calvo

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Paspalum greens in winter
« on: May 06, 2013, 08:00:34 PM »
I share an experience that we are making in Argentina at the Hurlingham Club. Our greens are of paspalum, a summer grass that is native to Argentina, but is being used more and more in the USA, in the transition zone. Buenos Aires and Georgia and the Carolinas have similar weather, although winters in Buenos Aires tend to be milder. The great thing about paspalum is that it is very resistant to irrigation with poor water. It tolerates incredibly good salty water (even ocean water). The problem with it is that, as any summer grass, it goes dormant in the winter.

The usual practice in Buenos Aires is to overseed paspalum or bermuda greens with winter grasses in autumn. The problem with this practice is that it requires the greens to be overseeded at the beginning of autumn, which cuts the golf season right at one of its peaks. In addition, clubs have to incur in substantial costs for this process.

This year we decided at the Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires not to overseed our paspalum greens. Instead, when they start to become brown, we will paint them with a special paint. The good news is that members can play with excellent greens during autumn and there is a substantial cost reduction. The risks are that since paspalum goes dormant, there will be no growth until spring and, thus, any damage to the green surface will not be covered by growing grass. This can result in poor putting surfaces by the end of the winter, particularly if the winter is very rainy. Our greens have native soil, which as poorer drainage that USGA greens.

It's a bet. We'll see the results by the end of the winter.

Ricardo

Bill_McBride

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Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2013, 08:20:52 PM »
Ricardo, we used to overseed our Tifdwarf greens in Northwest Florida and finally got sick of the aggravating transitions in both fall and spring.  We stopped overseeding perhaps five years ago and paint the greens while they are dormant.  Everyone at the club is very happy with this program. 

Our latitude is 30N, yours is 34S, so your winters will be somewhat cooler than ours.  I'm not sure how this might affect not overseeding the paspalum.

Ricardo Ramirez Calvo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2013, 08:23:53 PM »
Temperature is a factor, but it's mild enough not to be the main concern. The big problem can be humidity, because of the combination of heavy rain with greens of native soil. USGA greens are much dryer.
Ricardo

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2013, 08:29:02 PM »
Temperature is a factor, but it's mild enough not to be the main concern. The big problem can be humidity, because of the combination of heavy rain with greens of native soil. USGA greens are much dryer.

We have humidity to spare!

Ricardo Ramirez Calvo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2013, 08:35:56 PM »
But I assume that you have USGA greens, which are much, much dryer than our greens.
Ricardo

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2013, 10:00:18 PM »
But I assume that you have USGA greens, which are much, much dryer than our greens.

Good question, will have to find out. 

Randy Thompson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2013, 10:32:18 PM »
Something that might be worth expermenting with is to cover at least one of them when hard frost are expect or freezig temperaturas and see how that Green reacts in comparrison to the others. My bet would be there will be a significant favorable quality difference in the covered Green. Good luck!

Matthew Rose

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Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2013, 04:40:36 AM »
Paspalum is what they have at Kiawah, right?

With all the talk here lately about Quail Hollow's issues and about transition zones / too hot for bent, too cold for bermuda - is this a potential solution to this issue, or is it basically just a warm season grass?
American-Australian. Trackman Course Guy. Fatalistic sports fan. Drummer. Bass player. Father. Cat lover.

Ricardo Ramirez Calvo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2013, 07:34:16 AM »
Randy,

You are right. Covering the greens would certainly protect them from frost and would make them more resistant to damages caused by transit. However, in this part of the world cost is an issue. In order to cover the greens, you would need personnel, which we don't have because they leave by 3 pm, when there are plenty of players still playing. Just to give you an idea, the Hurlingham Club has 8 (yes, only 8) people for course maintenance and that includes the superintendent. At least you can see it as an example of what a reduction of costs would mean in times of financial trouble. You can still survive and have a good course.

Matthew,

Correct. Kiawah has paspalum. Although it is a summer grass, it is much more resistant to drought, shadow and poor quality irrigation than bermuda. It still goes dormant in winter.

Ricardo

Randy Thompson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2013, 10:07:11 AM »
Well if you are not satisfied with the greens in the spring and the entire program, its smething to consider for the future, still cheaper then overseeding and less disruptive. If I remember right, there can be between 0 and 10 hard frost??? I remember a few wet  and warm winters where the bermuda stayed light green. The best long term solution is impeaching that silly woman from the presidency! ;D

Ricardo Ramirez Calvo

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Paspalum greens in winter
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2013, 10:21:16 AM »
It is an experiment and we can always go back to overseeding next year. The good thing is that no long lasting damage will be caused to the greens, because once temperatures warm up, paspalum will cover everything again.

She is not just a silly woman, she is a corrupt fascist dictator.

Ricardo