Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Winter Drought Continues

Things have not been getting any better in our area. There are some golf courses that have re-charged their irrigation systems trying to put down some much needed water. Most of these areas that need water are greens that have no winter covers or protection. Last week we hauled water to the target greens on the west range and east ranges. Those targets are not covered and they were very dry. We also checked every green and watered all high spots or knobs trying to be proactive and get down some much needed moisture. Here is a photo of us out watering by hand with a water tank. You can see the turf is very dry, this photo was taken on January 4, 2012.


Now fast forward to today and here is the forecast for West Des Moines. This type of weather can really hurt turf if it is not protected or if there is not enough moisture in the crown area of the plant. First it is very warm and then the temperatures drop dramatically with blustery, dry winter winds.


We don't have enough greens covers to protect the target greens on the west and east ranges so today we decided to do some old time greenkeeping. We topdressed these greens with a very heavy application of sand. This was common practice many years ago before greenscovers became popular. We did both ranges with the heavy applications of sand. We hope that the added "layer" will protect the target greens through the cold and windy forecast that is predicted.


We are really hoping for some rain or snow!