Back in the Saddle

Well it's that time of year again. Time to shake off the last vestiges of winter and start preparing for the season...but someone forgot to tell good ol' momma nature. We have already gotten 15+cm this week and now they are calling for 15+ more overnight tonight! Not that we had big on course plans this week, but it's still nice to see the white stuff disappearing.
 We had another fairly typical winter here on PEI. By typical I mean snow, then rain, then snow, then more rain, then freezing cold, then warm, then melting all snow, then cold, then snow...you get the idea. Ice formation on the greens has become the norm in recent years. It is something that we have to constantly monitor, and take action when necessary. By the end of January we had had solid ice cover on the putting surfaces for a little over a month. With bentgrass that is not such a bad thing (it lasts for 60-90 days), but for poa annua surfaces that is getting close to trouble(30+ days).
 So with a big mid winter thaw we decided to blow off the greens and melt things off. By then end of the melt everything was gone and we were ice free. That lasted a week. It snowed again, then rained, then got cold...well you know what happened. Good thing was the cycle was broken and the second round of ice was not a threat.
 So here are a few pictures from last week. Things are looking pretty good...

                                                                    That's # 4 green

                                           The lighter grass is poa, it did not like the ice

                                                               This is #10 green

                                                    Looking back up #10 fairway

                                                           Another shot of #4

 Some have you may be wondering, where are the tarps? Well short answer, they are in the maintenance building...long answer, we decided not to use them this season. The tarps have always been part of the winter preparation here at the Meadow, but they were never part of my philosophy. I was taught that for turf to be comfortable in it's own environment it needed to survive all that mother nature had to offer. It just makes it stronger. So think, new workout regime.
 The other main reason for forgoing the tarps was to avoid the big March flush of growth underneath the tarps. On the sunny days in March, the temperatures underneath the tarps can be 5-7 deg warmer than the air temps. That causes the greens that are exposed to break dormancy and begin to grow. It's simply to much growth way to early. We end up pulling off the tarps, mowing off an obscene amount of grass, and then proceed to watch the green go backwards as the temperatures get cold again.

                          That is # 4 back in 2011, I could not get two strips done before dumping
 
  There are a couple more reasons for not using the tarps, but suffice it to say you will not be seeing them around much in the future. (Despite the common misconception, they do not prevent ice damage...they are permeable so ice forms anyway) So gone will be that strange nuclear green color you see when you drive by #7 green in March. They will stay this beautiful dormant tan color until they decide to wake up and let you play again.

thanks for reading
paul m