Carmel Country Club Agronomy

 Micah took the reins this week with his South Course cultural practice closure so the blog is his as well! Summer in the Carolinas can bring all sorts of weather and this year is no different. In the month of July we have had 19 days with temperatures above 90 with 8 of those above 100, not to mention the 20mph winds.  We received just under ¾” of an inch of rain this past Sunday night which brings our monthly total to 1.7”. That shot of rain was more than welcomed here at Carmel as we started the aeration on the South course warm season grass.  With the sun just starting to come up Monday morning Charlie and Danny were off to the races punching solid tine holes in 16 fairway. With so may cultural practices to get down across 40 acres of tees, fairways, and approaches we start on different holes to keep the show going. While the 1298 tractor aerifiers were rolling on 16 fairway, Christiam and Yhan Carlos enjoyed making a mess out of 18 fairway with the new VC60 tractor v...

  Our whining and complaining about the weather last week triggered some rain to fall out of the sky about 30 minutes after last week's blog was posted. We could not be more thankful for the inch of rain that fell Thursday afternoon through Tuesday last week. We even had two cloudy days and the humidity has returned to the delight of all warm season turf. The rain was perfectly timed as we started to heal in from the aeration and verticutting processes on the North. The fairways are filling in and very playable for a week out from removing a massive amount of thatch. The bermuda greens have also started healing in nicely with the rain. These Dryject holes will stick around a little while longer but our solid tine holes have already filled over. We are back to mowing and rolling these surfaces and will drop the height again tomorrow to try and maintain speeds through the weekend. The zoysia tees, fairways and approaches are playing beautifully this week after the rain and receiving ...

  Last week the forecast had over an inch of rain forecasted to fall in the afternoons on multiple days this week. The storms were out there but none of them hit our property. It was rained TWICE in the past 30 days. We have hit 100 degrees every day in July so far and the wind has been blowing all afternoon.  Someone north of us is getting rain but it is not helping our cause.  We are moving close to 900,000 gallons of irrigation water a night in order to keep our turf hydrated. The low humidity and wind means we are wet in the morning and dry in the afternoons. We are watering during the day when possible and we are keeping the bentgrass greens moist as we get through this crazy dry period. We are hoping for at least some clouds over the weekend to catch up a bit! It is not just hot for the turf, it is hot for the staff as well. This week they did an amazing job of getting the North course aerated for the season. The high sun, the sand, and hot machines all made for a g...

  Our warm season turf is soaking up the heat beautifully this week. Two quick thunderstorms last weekend recharged the soil so 100 degrees is no problem for all our bermuda and zoysiagrass. The North course is ready to go for aeration next week and will be closed Monday through Thursday. The greens will be dryjected and then solid tine aerated. These processes will limit golfer disruption but still allow us to put over 60 tons of sand into the upper profile. The tees and approaches will also be lightly verticut, solid tine aerated and topdressed with sand next week. The heavy lifting next week will be on the North course fairways. The fairways will be verticut with our new tractor mounted machines to a depth of close to 1". The debris will be blown off, picked up and then around 300 tons of sand will be spread out evenly. This annual process will allow us to keep the North fairways firm and consistent through the season. The bunker banks received an application of fertilizer, ins...