GROUNDSKEEPING
April May
Typically, this can be another
challenging month as golfers
expectations are certainly high. With
the changing weather patterns, this
can perhaps be the hardest month to
deal with. This is the real growing month! The
fescue will be in full force by now. The
seaweed & wetting application in full
flow so it will be all about keeping
moisture levels pretty constant.
The hardest hurdle tends to be
the sudden changes in weather
temperatures. We can go from 7c up
to 23c within a few days, but luckily we
have such a good sward coverage that
I am not fighting for growth so can get
very good smooth greens.
We will ramp up our cutting by now &
will roll a couple of times a week at this
stage. We also improve by spraying
seaweed on a monthly basis in addition
to the wetting agent.
16
I will look to keep them at between 16%
- 20% . By now the poa is looking really
stressed and for me this then tends to
be a great opportunity for me to verti
cut the greens at around -1 mm below.
This tends to help me in my fight
against the bent grasses & the poa and
I also use a granular fertilizer & apply an
8-0-0 feed. This will be followed up by
a very light overseed of fescue at a rate
of around 12g/m2.
By now we in full flow of top dressing
every two or three weeks. This will
be very light at around 11 tonnes an
application and we tend to roll it in then
irrigate to wash in as by doing this we
feel we don’t have to brush in.
This is so we can be gentle on the
fescue & minimize any abrasive
actions.
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019