Fluctuating temperatures along with light frequent rains have caused a few headaches over the past month. During late November temps dipped into the low 20s for several nights and barely got into the 30s a few times during the day. We winterized the irrigation system since our pump station is not inside and many bridges have exposed pipe beneath them. As luck would have it, we then warmed up, got steady rainfall, and subsequently had a flare up of pythium root rot in greens. We confirmed this with a lab test and will need irrigation to be able to water the appropriate treatment into the soil. Our hope of having rain fall as we spray or soon after we spray isn't going well so today we re-charged the irrigation system. Tomorrow (Friday) we will apply a treatment to the greens in hopes of suppressing the pathogen that is causing trouble. We fought this issue back in July and August when we went through a wet spell in the presence of extreme heat and humidity. Unfortunately, this is really more of a symptom than a problem. The problem is excess organic matter in the top two inches of the soil profile and excess shade from trees. Age is a contributor to both issues and we are budgeting and planning to approach these problems better in 2023. Our new deep tine aerator will get more work and be set up a little differently in terms of tine size, spacing, and depth. We will also tweak our core aeration program to include more frequent but less disruptive applications. Additionally, we hope to find some more sunlight and air movement with the chainsaw around greens this winter. It's a tough challenge, but one I'm confident we will overcome.
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| Symptoms are very pronounced in the dew |
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| Shady greens are a bigger problem than those out in the open |
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