Important Notice!!! Greens Aeration will Begin on March 20!

Although this past weekend didn't make it feel like it, spring arrived fairly early this year. With early arrival of spring, comes early arrival of some of our basic cultural practices here at Old Hickory. This notice to get word out about our greens aeration beginning on Monday March 20. Below is a video from the USGA on why superintendents and golf courses aerate the greens. Also in this post, is an article from the USGA giving another explanation to the importance of the process and why it needs to be done to ensure we keep good, healthy turf on our greens.

Why Do Golf Courses Aerate So Much?

Please enjoy the literature in this post! I also hope that it helps you understand why this process is so important for the golf course!

Bentgrass Tee Aeration

On March 6 we started aeration of our bentgrass tees. This is a very important process to remove some of the thatch layer to help promote healthy root growth. We are taking a 5/8" core at 2.5" interval that are 3" deep. We do this on tees in the spring and the fall.

Granular Pre-emergent Part 2

With the soil temperature approaching an average of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, we have accelerated our efforts in getting our pre-emergent down. We use this machine to applicate in the majority of the golf course. Pictured: Tom Salvo and Assistant Superintendent Ryan DeGrendele.

Granular Pre-emergent Application

It's the time of year for prevention of weeds! We've finished our sprayable pre-emergent in fairways/zoysia areas, so now we have moved to our granular in the rough/tall fescue. We start by walking our tee surrounds to better control our throw. This pre-emergent helps to control the germination of crab and goose grasses, as well as some broadleaf weeds.

New irrigation #7

The boys are doing a great job of getting our new irrigation line put in on number 7. The old line had been removed from lake bank repairs this winter. 340 feet of new pipe and four new heads are getting put in today.

Winter Dessication Prevention

With the rise in temperatures and wind in February this year, I felt this was a good time to share the importance of water management during drought conditions. Without significant precipitation in the last four to five weeks and one of the dryer winters my staff and I have experienced in some time, I would recommend reading the following article posted by the USGA on winter desiccation and water management throughout the year.


 http://www.usga.org/course-care/regional-updates/central-region/2017/winter-moisture-management.html

Dormant Zoysia Round-up Application

The boys started our dormant zoysia application yesterday. This application cleans up any remaining weeds and that pesky Poa Annua in the dormant  zoysia. Along with herbicide, we also apply a pre-emergent to prevent new germination of weeds. Today and yesterday we targeted green surrounds and greenside bunkers. The rest of the week will be fairways and fairway bunkers.