Carmel Country Club Agronomy

  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 ...

  Here is our quick test plot on the South putting green for the start of greens aeration on this coming Monday. As we described in the email that went out this morning , these 3/8" cores will be filled with dry sand and then a similar size solid tine will pass over the green a second time and we will brush all the sand in. The green remained nice and firm after this first pass so we are encouraged for a smooth process next week. At the same time next week, Monday through Wednesday, this bridge between 2 and 17 will be closed for re-surfacing and repair. The construction company will actually get started on some smaller prep work on Friday this week in order to beat any sort of rain delays next week and have the bridge back open for Thursday the 19th. Neighbors will need to drive through the North course to get up to the Clubhouse Monday through Wednesday. Not long after the blog was posted last week did the bermuda greens decide to start growing. Friday and through the weekend th...

  Your first false spring is here and at the very least is providing some great golf weather. The bermuda greens look like they are waking up in the mornings and then they look dormant as can be in the afternoons. We will continue mowing them once a week or so and keep the roller on them daily. The bentgrass on the South is enjoying the perfect cool season weather and those greens are rolling nicely. We will have more details next week but remember that the South greens will be aerated on March 16th! The air temps are more than pleasant for turfgrass growth but the soil temps have months to go before any kind of warm season kicks into gear. Soil temps will be fairly close to the untampered temperature of your pool which right now is hovering in the 50's. Until you are ready to jump in (80 degrees+) then any warm season grass is not going to be moving with any kind of haste. You can see in this picture that around the green on 4 North is greening up slightly. Normal growth is a ways...