Summer Struggles and Greens Update

This has been a roller coaster year and now we are fighting a new challenge.  From June 25th to July 20 we received just .19" of rain and had extremely high temperatures during that time.  We were all very thankful to receive a steady soaking rain on July 21st to give us a much needed break from hand watering.  The temperatures backed off as well which was nice.  However, it has now rained 14 of the past 17 days and we are hot again.  Humidity, air and soil temperatures, and soil moisture are all way too high for bentgrass to be happy.   Greens will not be firm and fast in this weather although it's not because we're "babying" them as many may believe.  It's just a fact of bentgrass life in the mid-Atlantic.

We are battling a disease issue at the moment as a result of this weather.  Samples were sent to Blacksburg on Monday and we got feedback today.  Despite preventive treatments and scouting daily, conditions have been perfect for disease on turf (especially bentgrass putting greens).  Treatments for Take All Patch will begin tomorrow.  This is an odd diagnosis for older greens, but it's the same issue we battled last year.  Typically it's associated with newer greens.  Of course it's raining as I type this so it may be too wet to treat in the morning.

Shade covers most of 8 green until almost 10 AM

I'm still limber enough to get on the ground for a closer look

My camera on top of the lens actually worked although a more powerful microscope was
needed in order to make a diagnosis.