It's snowing... leaves!

The leaves are coming down thick and fast and leaf clearing has become the major task for the greenstaff just trying to keep the key playing areas clear. 

Looking around the golf course - although we have taken away thousands of leaves - they say a healthy oak tree has 200,000 leaves during the summer. This means 200,000 down per old oak not including all the other species in the autumn. It looks as though most of the trees are still full of leaves, but the upside is the amazing autumn colour they are producing. 

Other works that have been going on when not clearing leaves-

Verti draining of the entire course was completed this week. Doing this helps with drainage, root growth, getting oxygen into the soil structure and help improve nutrient availability (as the oxygen breathes life into the bacteria and fungi in the soil).  This in turn will improve grass coverage. 

We Verti drained between 8-10 inches as the soil was still very dry underneath following the summer but this has allowed the moisture sitting in the surface to go down into the soil profile, drying out the fairways. 

We also sprayed the golf course for worms and leather jackets. These are sprayed with a product which suppresses the casting worms (3 types out of 9 cast) and stops the leatherjackets or crane flies as some say, from eating the roots of the grass plant. Remember we want worm activity in the soil as they do a great job at keeping it healthy but we don't want them on the surface as this effects our sward coverage. 

We try to spray this after aeration because along with the wetting agent this helps the products hit our target areas. 

We have also started hand cutting greens  (see photo top and below). This is very time-consuming but as the growth rates have dropped it is possible and gives a better cut and the machines are much lighter meaning the greens won't get compacted. This in turn helps root development. 

The greens are still looking in good condition at the end of November. 

Trolley lines have been introduced again. We tend not to do this in the summer as the growth rates and dry conditions don't require us to protect the aprons and greens but in the winter we need them in place. 

Please do not cross the trolleys lines with your trolleys. It does make a difference!! 

The forecast for the rest of this month is cold and dry. No snowmageddon like predicted by the press.

Cold, dry in my books is the best winter weather, we can still get golf played, do winter projects and function, it’s far more preferable to the extremely wet end to November we had in 2012 and with this cold snap it should help to bring the leaves down from the trees quicker. I always like to see them down by Christmas!  

That's become a bigger blog than intended, so I will sign off now and blog again soon.

Matt