April Course Report
Published on 13th April 2018 in Course News, Guests NewsCourse Management Report
April 2018
We have experienced another dry month with only 22mm in March which is less than half the monthly average and no rain as yet in April. The dryness on fairways had come back with cooler temperatures and shorter daylight length.
Greens
The greens have picked up with the aid of cooler autumn weather and an application of slow release fertilizer which is helping grow out areas that were affected from Anthracnose at the end of summer. We applied a foliar fertilizer and low rate of growth regulator to keep greens tight and growth at a manageable level at the end of March. We have managed to dust the greens twice in the past month which we will do again once before we core them on the 7th & 8th of May. We applied fungicide to all greens before Easter however there is still Anthracnose in several greens which we have treated with a follow up application. We have finally got around and spot sprayed the greens for Hydrocotyle and Pennywort which will require a follow up application to get full control.
Fairways
We have nearly finished spraying all fairways with an application of Nitrogen Magnesium & Iron which has picked up their health and colour. We will repeat this application in early May to ensure the fairways are as healthy going into dormancy as possible. On the areas that are poor from tree root encroachment we will spot fertilize these areas with a granular slow release fertilizer as well. In the next month we will assess how much Poa has germinated throughout Autumn and decide if we need to apply a selective herbicide otherwise we will wait until July to apply a light rate of Roundup to the fairways.
Tees & surrounds
The tees and surrounds were fertilized with the same foliar application of Nitrogen Magnesium & Iron as the fairways recently. We have also applied a granular slow release fertilizer to all tees and high traffic areas on surrounds.
Bunkers
We are in the process of whipper sniping the bunker edges and tongues which has been ongoing for a while with short weeks around Easter. Hand weeding and spraying is ongoing.
Rough
In the next month we will commence spraying of kikuyu in rough areas on the course. Areas around greens and tees we will use the selective herbicide Drive which will only kill the kikuyu and leave all other grasses. This product has reasonable control but will require a follow up application. In the areas next to fairways we will use Roundup at full rates which we will also target Paspalum.
Rainfall Total Average
February 1mm 46.9mm
March 22mm 44.9mm
April 0mm (as at 13th) 63.2mm
David Phillips
Course Superintendent
13th April 2018