Assistant's View: It Must Be The Start Of Summer In Vail

Well the water table is rising and we have high water on various areas of the course, it must be the start of summer in Vail.  Now that we’ve had about 10 days of good weather we are trying to get in to a rhythm of course maintenance.    

Due to the weather we are about two weeks behind schedule on fertilizing.  I began this week with a liquid application on greens.  I will continue the rest of the summer every two weeks with this application.  We do this “spoon feed” of liquid fertilizer to help keep the greens consistent.  Each application has small amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium key nutrients for healthy turf.  The tank mix also includes micronutrients and biostimulants which is also highly important in finely groomed turf.   We add about five different products to each tank to help create the healthiest greens we can.  The combination of these products help increase stress tolerance, build stronger deeper roots, aid in cell division, and aid with plant recovery from stress. 

Justin Gompf

Assistant Superintendent 

We Have an App For That

Today, prior to our 1 pm shotgun tournament we were able to apply our second fertilizer application for the season. This granular application will continue our healthy look into mid July. The product applies a sufficient amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron to the plants to help them along the stressful parts of the golf season. The fertilizer is applied to only maintained turf areas on the course with the exception of the putting surfaces. The greens fertilizer is applied in mostly a liquid form through a boom sprayer.

Also, today we took advantage of the slow morning and applied our only fungicide application for the season. The greens here in Vail have a widely-known mycelium in the soil commonly known as fairy ring. This particular strain is rare and nothing I have ever seen before. It was diagnosed by a Colorado State University pathologist 3 seasons ago. Normally fairy ring looks like a ring. The mycelium gives off an excessive amount of nitrogen in the soil and sometimes produces mushrooms. Typically the ring has a deep green color, which makes it stand out. The ring is not aesthetically pleasing, but can be harmless. Unfortunately in Vail we have been experiencing some turf loss. The mycelium gives off more nitrogen than the plant can handle. Instead of a ring, it is more like a patch, about the size of a golf hole and it kills off the turf.

For the past three years we have been applying a product that does a wonderful job disbursing this mycelium before it becomes a problem on the surface.

Mixed with the fungicide is our first wetting agent application on greens this season. The wetting agent makes the fungicide more effective as well as keeping some of the moisture in the soil more available for the turf plants. The wetting agent allows us to irrigate less frequent and create a firmer putting surface.

The greens application is watered into the soil immediately after being applied. Like all of our fungicides we use, it has a very low toxicity rate. However it is always good practice to wash your hands after playing a round of golf.

Fertilizer Application

This week we have been finishing up with our second installment of our first application of fertilizer. Pictured here is Justin applying through a Lely spreader to hole #6. This fertilizer is one of my favorites. It is a quick release that provides great results. Very high in Nitrogen to get the turf into gear after hibernation from the wintertime. It also contains almost 4% Iron which gives the plant a deeper green color.

By applying this synthetic fertilizer it not only gets the turf actively growing, but it also helps reduce the amount of weeds throughout the course due to the dense turfgrass population. We apply this fertilizer to allmaintained areas except the greens.

Our second application or "summer application" contains a lot of organics due to the increased soil temperature to optimize its results.

Feast or Famine

We have seen almost 2 inches of rain this month of May. Only an inch or two of snow, but a total of 1.9 inches of moisture to date. For about half of the month we had a stretch of extremely dry conditions and it looked as if we were headed for another dry spring. Moisture is great for growing grass and sending employees home early, however not so much for golf course construction. Irrigation was supposed to continue on Memorial Day, but with the rain it limited them to clean up. Wet conditions also put a halt to any development on #3. Today's goal is to begin pouring a concrete curb for the new cart path. We hope that we can stick with that schedule.
Yesterday was productive though. Justin was able to begin the first fertilizer application to the course and take advantage of Mother Nature's irrigation. A bulk spread of 19-3-5 was done on holes 2 through 8 except for the third hole. This quick release fertilizer will help with getting some of the slower grass into gear and on to the road for summer stress. There is also 3.4% of Iron with this product which helps produce a deeper green color in the turfgrass. We will continue to spread the rest of the course throughout the week.

Fall Fertilization

A good nitrogen application in the fall is a healthy way to start the 2009 season. Now that the soil temperatures have dropped below 40 degrees the turfgrass plant has slowed growth tremendously. However it is a great time to build carbohydrates and strengthen the plant for the winter months. When soil temperatures warm up in the spring the plant can respond to these changes positively. This application is critical for better winter survival and spring rejuvenation. At Vail Golf Club we use Ammonium Sulfate which is popular in these climates. It is very economical and provides an excellent source of quick nitrogen to reach our goals. This application will take the entire week.