Carmel Country Club Agronomy

  Charlotte remains in an extreme drought  so with less than half an inch of rain over the past month coupled with 90 degree days and high winds we have called quickly upon all of our new toys to keep both courses playable and healthy. The new sprinkler nozzles, fertilizer programs, acid injection system and Turfrad moisture sensors have the zeon looking especially good on the South. The poa scattered here and there is seeding out so it will start to disappear naturally and with the help on some herbicide next week. The turfrad along with the acid injection and sprayer applications of wetting agent are proving to be extremely valuable in the drought. Each day our moisture uniformity gets better and we are using water efficiently. Most of 4 fairway is within 5% moisture level which is extremely consistent! This week both courses got a fairway application of wetting agent and essential nutrients via our Predict N program . While the fairways will continue to get their fertility ...

  There will be no talk of Subair at this years Masters as are spring drought continues. The last time there was a rain free Masters from Monday through Sunday was in 2011! Augusta looks amazingly pure right now and it will be interesting to see how far they let it dry out. Our bentgrass greens on the South are just about finished filling in from aeration and should be putting nicely for Masters weekend. The dry weather is making it easy to see some immediate benefits to our new TurfRad soil moisture sensors. We have mounted these new sensors to one of our utility vehicles which then is driven up and down the fairways in 3-4 passes. The sensors use a microwave technology to give us the volumetric water content of a large area. In two hours or so we can have millions of data points detailing moisture levels across the property. The sensors collect the data and when the cart comes back to the shop it is uploaded to the TurfRad cloud. Over the next week we will continue taking measur...

  Our Champion bermuda greens are trying to break dormancy for about the third time this spring. The 30 degree nights last weekend did not help the greens at all and certainly put another sting on the rough. Soil temps were back in the 60's this morning which is good, but staying above 65 through the night is really a good key in getting the Champion to kick in to gear. Color and greens speeds will come as the weather continues to warm up consistently. Our assistant in training on the North, Colin Costello put out some gypsum and potassium on Monday after a dusting of sand. This monthly application of micronutrients helps manage any salt buildup and aids in water use efficiency inside the plant. Carlos and his father Juan got the cartpaths edged on the North this week. We are excited to button up all our winter projects and spend more time on details in the coming weeks. The North guys also finished scalping down the bunker faces this week. We have now lowered our normal flymowers ...

  The weather continues to fluctuate on a wide scale, from about 35 degrees to 90 degrees on any given day. The rough has seen frost form up on the leaf blades twice this week and probably once more on Saturday morning. The bentgrass greens on the South and starting their recovery process. We have mowed them a few times and hope to do so again on Friday and then roll through the weekend. These greens are rolling adequately one week out from aeration and as they continue to perk back up from the processes last week the holes will continue to fill in. The big mess for the week was spreading gypsum across most of the property. While we have a good amount of calcium in the soil, most of it is locked up because of the existing salt buildup. Our injection system is up and running but it will take time to flush the salt out and start seeing results of newly released nutrients. This gypsum application will help supply needed calcium this spring for healthy turf and better water infiltratio...

  This past Monday for aeration week did not start out exactly how we would of liked. Another nationwide long severe thunderstorm rolled through with some serious wind and frigid air behind it. Thankfully less than an inch of rain was observed and not much of it was in the form of hail although we could make out some tiny indentations on the North greens from what may of been a quick hail storm at some point. One huge oak uprooted right of 11 South and it did some damage to other surrounding oaks as well. In addition to aeration we were also tasked with cleaning up this area. The North team came over to help out and the main positive is that much more sunlight will be coming through in the afternoon to help keep 11 approach a little drier. While our kids sat home from school on Monday we ran out and got started with aeration. 6 greens were cored with 3/8" tines and blown off before the storms rolled through.  The SavATree guys were the only ones that braved the afternoon rain ...