Work Window Comes To An End

Hi,
Just another quick update on the work we have done to the greens so far.
After borrowing a tractor from a very kind company (Sharrocks) we managed to get all the holes into the greens by Thursday evening. We are now coming to an end of the topdressing.

Plenty of sand on the green.

With 60tonnes gone into the greens so far. We have another 20tonne pile left for topping up wherever needed.  In all my time at Trentham Park Golf Club I dont think we have ever managed to get this much sand into the greens in one go. This should set us up really well for the winter ahead and well into next spring where we will probably concentrate on the Gradening process once again.
The greens are looking reasonably OK, however with this very dry almost hot weather we are now having they have dried out VERY quickly. There are some dry patches on the greens at the moment, which is why you have seen some of the staff out with the hose pipe concentrating on those areas. By the end of tomorrow we should have gotten all the sand out that I want to put on, so then its a matter of concentrating on recovery.
I will be out with the sprayer on Friday morning spraying a mixture of wetting agent, Bio stimulator and Pesticide.

18mm tines going in!

The wetting agent will help us to break down the water into those dry patches, it will also help the Bio stimulator to get down through the green to promote root growth through the holes that we have created with the Veri Drain, and the pesticide is to kill off the Leather Jackets (which are Crane Fly Lavae) and Chafer Grubs.

Wet sand doesn't brush in very well!

Fertilising - Usually after some very intense work to fine turf we put a granular fertiliser down to help the greens recover by promoting growth. To do this isn't normally a problem at this time of year,
however with the weather being as it is I feel it will be best to hold off for a little while until some rain is predicted. I can force this on with using the irrigation but i feel that the Biostimulator will keep them ticking over for a week or so giving me time to assess the situation next week. If I feel that the greens are struggling in any way then the fertiliser will go on and then we will irrigate over night.

Thats better!!

I feel the 'Work Window' has gone very well this year after having a major hiccup (clutch on tractor) which set us back a couple of days. I thank you for your patience because I know the greens havent been easy to putt on this last couple of weeks, but I really think that if we carry on doing what we are doing and the weather stays the same I see no reason why the greens shouldnt be fully recovered within a couple of weeks.
Regards
Leigh.