Groundhogs and Their Inaccuracy

Wiarton Willie says, 6 more weeks.  It has been a few weeks now since the forecast of an early spring, and yet we have received more snow and wind and had 4 snow days for the kids in the last 2 weeks.  The snow cover is albeit good for the golf course, it has insulated during the nights where we have dipped to minus 16 Celsius, as well the wind hasn't had a chance to desiccate the turf under all the snow either.

In another 2 weeks though I will start the process of clearing greens to let them shake off the winter  and see how they have fared over this period of snow cover.  I will also be spraying a heavy blue dye to keep the ice formation from being too heavy.  This dye is food grade and will be used for the sole purpose of using any little bit of sunlight it can pick up to keep the ice from becoming a destructive factor by suffocating the turf and not allowing it to inhale and exhale properly.

That is correct, the greens need to respire the same as we do.  With excessive moisture in the soil mix the greens run the risk of freezing the soil pore spaces together, therefore not allowing for proper venting.  This build up of gases in the sub surface can asphyxiate the turf roots.  They need what is called "gas exchange" to live.  Just as we inhale oxygen, and exhale carbon dioxide, so do the roots of the grass plants.  If there is too much build up of carbon dioxide in the roots they will shrivel and die.  If you loose the roots of the plant, well you know what happens.

There are a couple of ways this can happen:  a deep freeze of surface water forming clear ice, (ice containing no air pockets), unprotected ground having the soil freeze deep, (I am not worried about this one as the snow cover had helped).  The last way is when you have a good blanket of snow cover, and it melts a bit, then the top of the cover gets a crust of ice on top during the next freeze cycle.  This last one is the one that is of top concern to me.  This is why in the next few weeks I am looking to remove the snow down to the ice on the surface of the green, and use the dye to melt that ice and create air pockets in it so we have good gas exchange.

So let's hope that Mr. Willie was right and we are going to have terrific weather in March so we can get out there and start swinging the sticks.

Evan Martin

Winter Weather

With the weather in this part of the country being snowy right now, it is safe to say that the golf courses will be closed for a little while longer anyway.  We are facing deep snow, cold winds and ice that formed with the melt and rain of a week ago.  This makes me a little uneasy as I cannot see what is going on beneath it all.  Just remember that the grass on the course is like you or I, it is susceptible to dehydration when exposed to cold winds, a problem on our site for certain.  Issues such as crown hydration, when the plant, and soil is exposed to moisture through thawing cycles, (rain, warm temps, remember last week's record highs?) and then freezes with lows followed by the thawing.  The cells in the plant are not able to expel the moisture therefore they freeze and burst.  This is a cause for great concern on my part as it is nearly unavoidable and not preventable.  As well there are the typical snow moulds that I have sprayed for in the fall, with hopes that we don't stay under snow cover any longer than the 150 days that the chemicals that I use are sustainable for.

#16 green in 2009 without proper chemical application

So please understand when the snow melts and we are faced with certain issues, myself and my staff are going to work diligently to repair any of winter's spoils, and issues, we may use varying techniques which you as a golfer do not care for, but these are all necessary evils of the industry and we need to do them early so you can enjoy the hotter weather on the best course that we can possibly bring you.