Carmel Country Club Agronomy

  This has been quite a September so far, now featuring a 40 degree swing in temperatures just this week. We are elated to see the temps drop, especially at night as we work towards October. While daytime highs will be right back at 90, the nighttime temps will stay around normal. The next few nights of low 50's will really slow the turf down and put us in prime time fall golf condition. The drop of nighttime temperatures means we can finally bring the fans in for the season. It does not take long for the bentgrass to start initiating new root growth as soil temps drop. Lower humidity and lower temperatures means the electricity can be turned off. We have plenty of notes from the summer and will continue moving a few more fans this winter so they can be even more effective next year. Not that we see much growth on these bermuda greens on the North anyway but a few nights in the 50's will certainly start to close the door on the growing season. The roller will be out daily on th...

  There is no arguing that we are losing daylight but our summer theme of above average temps and below average rain is still here. It looks like we have another 5 days of this pattern before things change for the better next week. Despite the summer temps we still have fall preparations to make as in a few weeks warm season growth will shut down quickly. We continue to apply nutrients to the zoysia collars so that they are ready for the off season which involves plenty of traffic from greens mowers and golfers alike. Along with the short grass, bunker banks as well as the north facing slopes on the driving range are being treated with fungicide for spring dead spot. SDS develops now in September and October but does not reveal the turf it has infected until the spring. Applying fungicides twice in the fall helps prevent any damage. We have made our second pre-emerge application around the greens on both courses this week. On the zoysia we used a granular product that won't spread ...

  The bentgrass has had a few mornings of relief this week with some low 60 degree temps. After four straight days of 100 plus again last week and getting missed by just about every drop of rain over the weekend, we were briefly rewarded by a few hours of jacket weather. We have only seen a low of 61 on the thermometer once since mid-June. The amount of any low with a 6 in front of it in the past 90 days is less than 10. We continue taking care of the bent as carefully as possible with a variety of fungicides and nutrients. With the South closed Tuesday we also laid down a light topdressing along with some gypsum and potassium to help strengthen the plant as it enjoyed some cooler air temps. Some natural rain may cool things off again this weekend and then we will be halfway to October already which will quickly become prime time for this golf course. The Champion on the North continues to do well through the extended summer although growth is starting to slow here. This may be out...

  It is 2pm on Thursday September 3rd and our weather station reads a 100 degree heat index and a feels like temp of 109. There are 5 golfers on the South and not many more on the North. We have gone from the hottest July on record to one of the muggiest August months recorded. Our warm season turf is loving life while the bentgrass keeps checking the 10 day forecast for some kind of night time temperature below 75. The last two weeks have been tough on the bent. Getting rolled for club championship, then crushed with rain, then aerated and now sweating through 78 degree nights and 100 degree days there should be no wonder why they look tired. We have raised heights slightly since aeration and put a second fan on 2 and 11 greens in order push more air across the entire surface. Our best greens have the best fan placement so we will continue to tweak positions this winter. The subair is running at midnight to expel gases from the previous day and 5 am to help pull over night irrigat...