DryJect demo
Patrick Daly, CGCS, Framingham Country Club, Framingham, MA:"Yesterday we had our contractor out doing a demo of the DryJect sand injection process on the chipping green. We are considering using the DryJect instead of the Drill and Fill for our September greens aerification program.
About 4 years ago we used the DryJect but issues with our contractor and the need to increase deep greens drainage made the move to the Drill a no-brainer. I am sure you all remember that we had some issues with the Drill this past fall, when wet ground conditions caused tufting of the turf and scalping across many of our greens. We also want address the needs of our membership to have the greens heal quicker in the Fall and Spring. Although the penetration depth into our native soils is only 7" with the DryJect compared to 13" with the Drill, this is a process that we need to look at again."
Chipping green being completed. Follow DryJect with seed, light brush, and water sand topdressing in.
Column of sand to right of ball mark repair tool was injected by DryJect.
The only issue we found with the DryJect was the inability to follow contours on a sloped green. Here the DryJect ridged the contour, raising the injection ports and causing sand buildup on surface. Light brushing after the sand dried filled in the holes.
Visit Pat's blog at http://fccgrounds.blogspot.com/
TurfScreen trial
Scott Bordner, RiverCrest Golf Club, Phoenixville, PA:"As many of you probably noticed last Friday, half of the fairways on holes 1-10 are a shade different. I know, I just had a picture up stating do not spray sunscreen on the turf, but this is different. It is an all natural turf sunscreen product produced by Scott May, uperintendent at Manufacturers Golf and Country Club in Fort Washington, PA. I am running a test on Turfscreen to determine its ability to help us control disease, use water more efficiently, increase plant health, and improve turf recovery in regards to traffic and divot repair.
Test results have shown UV rays have detrimental effects on the plants ability to photosynthesize which immediately affects the turfgrass health. This product will help by coating the fairways with a blend of sunscreen and a sticking agent which allows the material to adhere to the plant, even in periods of heavy rainfall. I plan to continue this trial through the entire season and believe it will be a valuable tool for us to use in the future. I will keep you updated with results as we continue the trial."Visit Scott's blog at http://rivercrestgolfclub.blogspot.com
Orange paint on fairways
Cory Janzen, Westmount Golf & Country Club, Kitchener, Ontario"A few people have asked me about the orange paint marks on a few of our fairways. We are conducting a trial with Valent Canada using a herbicide caled Velocity. The orange marks are check plots which are covered with plywood when we spray so we can observe what untreated turf looks like. This product was designed to eliminate annual bluegrass from a creeping bentgrass stand of turf.
The program we are are on is called 'transitional conversion' in which very light rates and very wide application intervals are used. This is because we have quite a bit of annual bluegrass in our fairways and killing it quickly would not be desirable! What we want to do is weaken the annual bluegrass so that the creeping bentgrass has a competitive advantage. If the program is successful, we will gain creeping bentgrass - a more desirable turf species becasue of its resistance to heat, drought, disease, and winter injury."
Visit Cory's blog at http://westmountgreens.blogspot.com
Technology at work
Kevin Breen, Lahontan Golf Club, Truckee, CA"This winter there was a lot of technological updating to our management processes. The goal for me is to move Lahontan Maintenance to a GIS management system. It is easier to organize, and manage the Lahontan property with mapping, and inventory data, and then to integrate these systems together so they are accessible and usable from any location at any time. To date the irrigation system, every square foot of the property, water quality testing, fertilizer and chemical applications, and geo-referenced photos have been processed, and are working from anywhere at any time.
A smart phone allows me to be out on the golf course, accessing information that in the past resided either on my computer, or in a file somewhere. We have gone so far as to be able to run the irrigation software from a smart phone, which is something that we figured out on our own, and is not something that the irrigation company has available."
Jake and Marc running irrigation from Jake's phone
Visit Kevin's blog at http://lahontanmaintenance.blogspot.com
Some new sand
Craig DeJong, Hendersonville (NC) Country Club:"A few of the bunkers have received additional sand. Luke Sweeterman, our Equipment Technician, fabricated a tool to measure the depth of the sand in all of the bunkers. It was used to show us where we were less than 5" deep. Four bunkers were indentified as needing additional sand. (Greenside bunker on #1, greenside bunker on #6, left greenside bunker #15 and the right greenside bunker at the practice area.) We used a mechanical rake and water to help the sand settle and firm up. It will take a few good rain events for the consistency to equal the other bunkers on the course."
Our depth tool.
Adding sand.
Applying water to help firm up the sand.
Final product.
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