Cultural Work on Cypress Greens

We really got after the greens on Cypress this past week as we were closed for a couple of days to get the work done.  If you were out there playing now on them you probably don’t realize all that was done because they are very smooth and clean. 

I’ve been watching this grass, Emerald bermudagrass, since I started here in January, and like I’ve said before it is a different type of turf.  It does not produce nearly as much organic matter/thatch as the other ultras like Tifeagle, Miniverde, or what you used to have out here years ago, Champion.  Organic matter is essentially any plant growth or decomposed matter from the plant that forms below the grass in the soil.  Organic matter will accumulate to high levels if not taken care of with practices like core aerification, verticutting, topdressing, solid tine aerification, etc.  These practices either dilute or remove this material, giving the plant more room to grow and mature.  Without removal it will accumulate to the point that it becomes a sponge and your plant gets stunted and roots aren’t allowed to mature.  You become more susceptible to disease and pests as the plant is just not healthy enough to stand the pressures of weather and daily play.  Besides that, the putting quality is so poor when not maintained properly. So, the choice of Emerald is good in that regard, as you don’t have to do as much removal, but it still needs maintenance. 

Verticutting at 0"height, flush with the soil

 We removed a good size core in May when we aerified, and while looking at the profile the last few weeks I didn’t see the need to go in and remove a core at all this time.  So we changed up our cultural work to focus mostly on grain reduction and at the same time open up the canopy with a solid tine to allow for water penetration, reduce surface compaction, and allow for gas exchange.  We started with a good verticutting, 2 directions, down and back over the same pass.  It is essentially a quadruple verticut, attacking the grain from all angles.  It is almost like taking your dog to the groomer! Gotta thin out that hair (leaf blades) for a healthier hair and skin layer.  Like the hair, the grass just stacks on top of itself without proper control and when putting, the ball will move and waver from side to side.  So, the verticutting is done to thin the canopy and allow the plant to grow tighter and closer to the soil surface. 

Double cutting surface at .125" with baskets - roughly 6 baskets of clippings per green!

Lots of clippings and plants removed - good thing

 

After we blow the surface completely off, we came in with our triplex greensmower at a lower height and double cut all green surfaces. We mow down and back over the same pass to catch all leaf blades at two different angles.  This really cleaned them up.  Most people think that after greens are verticut they are unputtable for days.  That is simply not the case and at every other club I’ve been at the members actually looked forward to this process as it made the greens smoother and faster.  For you physicists out there, the biggest factor effecting ball speed is friction caused by the leaf blades.  The verticutting process removes leaf material, which essentially decreases the friction on the ball.  The only real negative to the practice is that you might see the verticut lines for a few days after, but if this practice is done frequently the lines will not affect your ball roll at all. 

View of 5 green after verticutting and mowing - some minor scalping is a good thing here

View of 3 green after verticutting and mowing

After heavy topdress we needle tine with the Toro 648 - notice small holes on tight spacing

On day 2, we came in and topdressed the greens very heavy, as you can see from the picture.  The sand, after we work it in, moves down into those verticut lines.  The sand replaces leaf blade which creates a firmer, truer surface.  The way bermudagrass grows in the summer this process has to take place every 1-2 weeks for the best possible putting.  Behind the topdressing we solid tined the greens with a 0.2” needle tine that goes down about 3” into the soil, getting below the organic layer and opening up channels for air/water to penetrate to deeper levels.  We follow behind with a double rolling of the surface to smooth it out after the solid tine, making it puttable right behind.  We drag the sand with our bunker rake machines and their broom attachments to work the sand down into the canopy.  The surface is watered 10-15 minutes after all of these processes are complete to move the sand down into the canopy and also give the soil the water it needs after a stressful series of cultural practices.

Double rolling behind the solid tine work

We opened the course again on Wednesday, and just ahead of play we sprayed a wetting agent and some timely root absorbed fertilizers on the surface and watered it all in to get the products down in the root zone where they can work.  We should get some really good response in root growth over the next month due to these practices.  We sprayed them again today with a foliar package and growth regulator.  They are in great shape at this point and will only get better from now till fall.  Lots of work done.  Crew did an outstanding job this week making it all happen. We will be doing the Pecan Course the same way on August 31 - September 1.