GROUNDSKEEPING
This can vary between years, but typically for me in the years I have been responsible for
Royal St George’s, it’s between 30 – 50 kg.
Hand weeding will continue, however,
if the weather is mild it is feasible we
could roll the greens to keep them
smooth, but I try to keep this minimal
as I want to reduce the amount of
compaction this could lead to. It is
possible we may spray a little sulphate
of iron onto the greens.
This will help add a little colour to the
greens, but can also help us by aiding
us in control of some cushion moss we
may get during the winter months.
March
This month tends to be quite
complex for me. Spring is trending
to be later these days hence we are
finding growth a little sluggish. This
can be a frustrating time as golfer
expectations are beginning to rise by
now. Thankfully the fescue greens still
produces a smooth fast surface so with
some constant sand dressing we can
produce a fast firm surface.
We still have a cutting height of
5mm which I have tended to stick to
throughout the year.
This is the beauty of fescue as we
can get speeds from 9 to 10.5 on the
stimpmeter without having to cut much
lower.
This enables us to keep the fescue
sward happy & stress free.
This can also help in the reduction of
any fusarium patch disease.
In addition to the iron, I have started to
spray a wetting agent. This has allowed
us to keep the moisture levels more
even. The dry springs & summers we
are experiencing has certainly aided us.
I have found that this can help alleviate
any hydrophobic areas as this can help
the water to negotiate its way through
the soil.
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019
15