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Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
care and feeding in a drought
« on: August 02, 2007, 10:31:18 PM »
In the DC area we are in a drought with temps in the 90's.  Our super is doing a great job.  Just a few questions for the supers on the site.

Does it help to aerate?
Does it help to syringe the fairways and greens?
When is the best time to water?
Do wetting agents really help?
What are some other practices that you use?
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Eric Morrison

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2007, 06:12:58 AM »
Aeration is a good summer stress reliever as long as it is done with care...no heavy sand topdressing and brushing when it is really hot. Aeration improves water infiltration and enhances oxygen exchange.
Syringing is extremely important to keep the grass alive, especially if one does not want to overwater. Needs to be done multiple times throughout the afternoon.
The best time to water with sprinklers is early morning right before the sun comes up, so the moisture on the plant tissue is minimized. If you water as soon as the sun goes down, the plant is moist all night, and disease becomes more prevalent. Syringing is still necessary during the day.
Wetting agents, in my experience, are a very useful tool for superintendents when used correctly.
Good sound cultural practices all add up to help turf deal with stress...regular aeration, spiking, judicial water use, verticutting, plant growth regulators, etc.
Green speeds are a very critical topic in this day and age. In this type of drought situation, supers really need to raise mowing heights, use PGR's, and roll more frequently to keep speeds in the ballpark and keep the turf alive. Players need to realize what a fine line this is to walk and accept some more average speeds until the stress period subsides.
Now off to check my turf in this droughty time...I could use some rain as well...
It is what it is.

Ray Richard

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2007, 07:39:14 AM »
To add a few points to the Erics fine post.

On aerification, Its a critical component to good turf management, it should be done in the spring and fall if posssible.

Syringing of greens will work but it requires skilled hand labor, not just some kid smothering the green with water. Syringing of fairways with sprinklers will also work but you should have covered the daily watering needs at night. The problem with syringing is that the turf gets used to a mid daily cooling and becomes addicted to it-so you need to do it more often-which is a real problem when you have a large amount of players.

Wetting agents are a critical summer management tool, they reduce the surface tension of water and should be used with care so that you don't overdose, as some can be toxic in extremely large doses.

 I agree with Erics thoughts, water in the early morning.

  The basis for a good drought strategy is to manage for drought during the entire year by extending root systems, watering sensibly(not over watering!), moderating fertilizer applications and mowing heights (if allowable). You need to assume that your going to have a drought crisis at some point so its much easier to maintain for the long haul as opposed to crisis based irrigation which may be too late.

Don_Mahaffey

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2007, 07:56:04 AM »
Tommy,
I'm not near as big a fan of syringing as others.
I find it’s use caters to the weaker grasses and really the cooling effect is very short lived. It can become addicting and before long your doing it every time you have a warm summer day. Not saying the practice doesn't have merit during extreme periods, but I think it's done too often and can sometimes end up doing more harm than good.

One specific point I'd make is too be very careful with fertilizers during an extended or extreme drought. When our turf starts to thin the first reaction is often to try to get it to fill back in with extra water and fert. Doing this during times of stress is not usually a smart thing.

One point that Ray made should be repeated. Good supers are always planning for the worst. They are always looking  ahead and their agronomic plans have a long term focus.

Eric Morrison

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2007, 08:10:09 AM »
Every program is definitely site specific. I have a large amount of poa annua mixed with my bent, so syringing is critical to the turf's health and my mental state. Courses with predominately bent can get away with less babysitting when it comes to water management.
It is what it is.

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2007, 08:51:21 AM »
Yes, the best time to plan for the next drought by slightly underwatering to make roots reach is, well.....NOW!

Here in DFW we have gone from near record drought in the last two years to record rainfall this year.  Cities have called off the lawn watering bans (which were only every other day anyway) to allow full watering now that the lakes are full.

I am not so sure I wouldn't have voted to keep those on, given no lawn and few shrubs here need every day watering, even in the hot summer, at least in my experience. I used to water my lawn every third or even fourth day and it was as green as the neighbors.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

RT

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2007, 08:54:54 AM »
Jeff,

Has buffalograss made any sort of inroads to home lawn use in DFW?

RT

Craig Disher

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2007, 09:19:56 AM »
Is there an accepted general standard for syringing greens? I assume the amount of water applied for USGA greens is different than for native soil greens. The technique at my home club is to saturate our greens and surrounds  (native soil) to the extent that water is visible in the bottom of the cup. The putting surface suffers - it's bumpy and has some muddy spots - and the ground game is non-existent but perhaps that's the price for keeping the grass alive in high heat and humidity.

Ray Richard

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2007, 09:50:49 AM »
In the Northeast, gc supers are always monitoring the color of the turf, watching out for "off color" which is usually a light blue tint to the turf. You can actually see when the turf is beginning to suffer moisture stress by visual inspection and monitoring evaporation and wind rates. You should syringe only if needed, only on parts of the green that need it.

The turf doctors always say "water to field capacity" which means irrigate to a point that the soil cannot accept any more water. Infrequent,deep night irrigation is always better than syringing, assuming that you have the grass types and green construction that can survive a windy, low humidity day.  If not, its time to syringe.You can't really assume that a USGA green will require more water but it fair to assume that old, push up style greens are constructed with loamy, native soils and they really retain water and require less irrigation than the sand/soil based USGA specs. You need to evaluate each green to determine what is field capacity.

As for humidity, you can't assume that high humidity requires more water, if fact it requires less water because the evaporation rate is lower although high heat and wind are other factors that can dry the course out. In the Northeast, the worst days for water usage are in late May, when low humidity and high winds combined with short roots to really dry out the turf.

To Eric, You are right, Poa greens are a whole different animal, they love/need syringing.

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2007, 06:59:13 PM »
Thanks for the answers.   It was extermely helpful.  Our super, aerated with very small tines on the greens and did not top dress.  He did the same on some high points in the fairways.  He syringes at least twice a day, both fairways and greens.  We recently regrassed the fairways with Declaration and I believe A4.  It is holding up very well.  BUT August is only beginning and there is no relief in sight.

Good luck with your courses.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2007, 06:59:38 PM by Tommy Williamsen »
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2007, 07:23:59 PM »
I agree with Don...syringing does not appear to be a good use of labor..out here in the west it might cool the grass blades for 10 minutes...I think most people confuse it with hand watering...we hand water with a wetting agent in areas of the green with LDS...and we return to those spots day after day and hand water heavily until we see some results...also when it comes to hand watering and wetting agents we often use our most experienced people...newbies tend to stand on the green, wave the hose around for 5 minutes and move on to the next green...not very effective...

Eric..your post was excellent.
No one is above the law. LOCK HIM UP!!!

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2007, 07:34:12 PM »
We had 30 days over 90 degrees in July, and 11 over 100...I played my course again today and the greens are too wet...any ball hit to the green leaves a huge crater...I don't know....this coming week we are aerifying and top dressing....
No one is above the law. LOCK HIM UP!!!

Peter Pallotta

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2007, 11:59:06 PM »
Craig
you've mentioned this a couple of times recently, ie. that you've had very hot and dry conditions there but that the greens are too wet. Can you explain a bit more what's going on there (maintenance wise) and how you feel about it?

I think you mentioned 700,000 gallons of water a day, just to keep the grass alive.  (I don't know how that fits the general approach for your region and those conditions.) Are you saying that they're putting on too much water? not watering properly? doing everything necessary to keep the grass alive but this necessarily means wet green?

Not rhetorical questions, but genuine ones from a rookie in this area. I just can't make out what the situation is that you've been describing.

Thanks
Peter  

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2007, 12:33:05 AM »
Peter...it works out to somthing like 3/10ths of an inch per night...the ET for our area in July is 5.20 inches...so we are pretty much right on the money...run time on our greens was bumped up a little...actually all the times have been bumped up...

The wetness is obvious, but then I'm playing at 7am...finishing around 11:30...I have not been doing any handwatering lately so I can't say how wet/dry the greens are at 2pm...

I think part of the problem is thatch...we are not getting good penetration...the water sits just below the visable surface...that's my opinion...when I'm at work Sunday I'll ask the boss what he thinks is the cause....I know he knows the greens are soft, but I don't think he's concerned...he just wants them alive and not brown...
No one is above the law. LOCK HIM UP!!!

Troy Alderson

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2007, 12:46:48 AM »
Craig,

5.2 inches per week???  Is that correct?  Even in central Oregon the turf requirement was only 1.5 inches per week in a high desert climate with 100F temperatures.

Sounds like the greens are not draining.  Can you reduce the run times on the greens to 50%?

Troy

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #15 on: August 04, 2007, 09:00:02 AM »
Troy...we are putting down 2/10th of an inch per evening X 7...by my calculations that equals 1.2" per week...

The ET is 5.20" for the MONTH...
No one is above the law. LOCK HIM UP!!!

Steve_Lemmon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #16 on: August 05, 2007, 03:46:34 PM »
Hey guys:  I know what syringing is, but don't know and can't figure out why it is called "syringing."  Does anyone here know the origin of the use of the term for this application.  Seems to me that "misting" would be a better term.  

Dave_Wilber

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2007, 01:51:05 AM »
In the Northeast, gc supers are always monitoring the color of the turf, watching out for "off color" which is usually a light blue tint to the turf. You can actually see when the turf is beginning to suffer moisture stress by visual inspection and monitoring evaporation and wind rates. You should syringe only if needed, only on parts of the green that need it.

The turf doctors always say "water to field capacity" which means irrigate to a point that the soil cannot accept any more water. Infrequent,deep night irrigation is always better than syringing, assuming that you have the grass types and green construction that can survive a windy, low humidity day.  If not, its time to syringe.You can't really assume that a USGA green will require more water but it fair to assume that old, push up style greens are constructed with loamy, native soils and they really retain water and require less irrigation than the sand/soil based USGA specs. You need to evaluate each green to determine what is field capacity.

As for humidity, you can't assume that high humidity requires more water, if fact it requires less water because the evaporation rate is lower although high heat and wind are other factors that can dry the course out. In the Northeast, the worst days for water usage are in late May, when low humidity and high winds combined with short roots to really dry out the turf.

To Eric, You are right, Poa greens are a whole different animal, they love/need syringing.

I'm such a big fan of the Fluke 62 IR Thermometer Gun and before long we will have good portable thermal imaging from Fluke which will really help the "color guesswork".

Good to see Turfheads here sharing info!

---------
Dave Wilber
Wilber Consulting--Coaching, Writing Broadcasting, Agronomy
davewilber@yahoo.com
twitter: @turfgrasszealot
instagram @turfgrasszeal
"No one goes to play the great courses we talk about here because they do a nice bowl of soup. Soup helps, but you can’t putt in it." --Wilber

Pat Brockwell

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2007, 07:39:13 PM »
If its hot and dry and the turf seems too wet, wetting agents can really help get the water down into the soil where you want it.  APSA 80 (your Amway distributor can get it for you in 35 gallon drums) is inexpensive enough to inject over the whole course, and AquaTrols "Revolution" has eliminated LDS on my greens, and we're still getting praise for fast and firm when I'm irrigating the most.  I've always felt that it's OK to stress your turf for deep rooting only when the weather is the least stressful.  Once the weather is doing the stressing, I back off and baby it.  Good luck!

Pat Brockwell

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #19 on: August 13, 2007, 07:43:01 PM »
One more thought, cytokinins have been shown to help in handling dought stress, it's the good stuff in seaweed extract, about the only bio stimulant to show results in any real research.  Read Dr. Frank Rossi in the current GCM.  I"ve used a bunch of stuff, and seaweed extracts seem to give me the best results, after all of the conventional practices are covered.

Doug Siebert

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #20 on: August 13, 2007, 11:46:38 PM »
I wonder how it would work to run PEX type pipe a 6-12" down and 12" OC (just like a home with radiant heat) and just circulate water through that to a heat exchanger (i.e., dump the heat in a big pond)  It could also double as a way to warm up the greens when there is a bit of frost.

Yeah, its expensive, but greens are already so expensive anyway.  In a radiant heated home (or a driveway melt system) the pipe, embedded in concrete or gypcrete, adds about $5/sq ft to the price of a house when used for radiant heat.  Even if we take that $5/sq ft rate, which may be less for greens since there's no concrete, if you had 100,000 sq ft of greens that's only a half million dollars, which really doesn't sound like all that much in a modern construction budget.

You've already got pipe going all over the place on a course anyway, you just have to include a little extra plumbing to include the ability to keep the water circulating back to the source to dump its heat (a few fountains would probably work great for this, if you lack a large enough body of water) when you need it.

Then you don't need to syringe greens making them overly slow and soft, plus you have the ability to keep them cooler than they'd be even if you syringed them in an hourly basis.

Just a crazy idea I thought I'd toss out for the heck of it...
My hovercraft is full of eels.

igrowgrass

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #21 on: August 14, 2007, 12:45:00 AM »
The problem with syringing is that the turf gets used to a mid daily cooling and becomes addicted to it-so you need to do it more often-which is a real problem when you have a large amount of players.


There is no way you can prove that.  If so I would like to see the research.

igrowgrass

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #22 on: August 14, 2007, 12:54:57 AM »

The best time to water with sprinklers is early morning right before the sun comes up, so the moisture on the plant tissue is minimized. If you water as soon as the sun goes down, the plant is moist all night, and disease becomes more prevalent.

I agree with the second part of your statement in trying to limit the duration of leaf wetness at night.  The first part isn't completely true.  Wouldn't the true optimum time for watering be during the day when the plant needs it the most?  The benefit of night irrigation is that we dont have to worry about heads turning on and getting players wet?  

Pat Brockwell

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #23 on: August 16, 2007, 11:06:44 AM »
Sean, The water has to be AVAILABLE when the plant needs it. It takes time for the water to get from the nozzle into the root zone, up the root to the leaf.  Also since we're also concernered with creating a playing surface, it's arguable that you want to apply water as early as possible in order to have it percolate and keep the playing surface firmer, but not so early as to create disease problems.  Its a fine line sometimes!

As far as subsurface heat exchange to mitigate frost delays it seems to me that you risk serious frost damage if you don't allow the plant to go dormant naturally.  If the crown is hydrated (fall or spring)when the hard freeze comes you risk plant death!  Best to plant the right grass and work with nature.  Sometimes you just have to wait till it warms up a little or wait a couple of weeks for greenup.

Doug Ralston

Re:care and feeding in a drought
« Reply #24 on: August 16, 2007, 04:58:42 PM »
Many of you have heard me rave about a course in the Eastern Kentucky mountains called Eagle Ridge. The severe drought there has produced a tragedy.

ER, a State Park course, was contracted to have it's water provided by the nearby 'city' of Louisa. When the drought became severe in May [and it STILL is!], Louisa cut them off completely! The City Board apparently said something absurd about the water needs of people being more important than the water needs of golf courses  ::).

Now the fairways are literally burned away, and they must reseed for next year. They had been hand watering the greens, trying to keep them in their usual immaculate condition, until the fairways became completely gone.

If this had happened to a Top 100 course, there would be great sympathy. Well IT SHOULD BE!! Period.

When this course grows back out, I plan an all out assault on your eyes till you go see! The State Park Signature Series has several courses worthy of your note. And at maximun $42 for courses that in Chicago would be $150+ at least, you cannot golf quality any cheaper.

Damned drought!

Doug [who lives in Ohio, but often golfs in Kentucky!]

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