A Nightmare of Elm Seeds

The 10th Tee

Looking over last years blog entries, it seems that May is one of the busiest months for our Turf Care Facility. Last year at this time there was a large gap between posts, and here I am at the end of May, apologizing again! It seems at this time of year it is a struggle to keep up with the growth rate of the grass and I often find myself becoming a part time operator/labourer on the course, limiting anytime I would usually get to be in the office. The grass in our climate enjoys rapid growth between 12C and 25C, which are exactly the high and low temperatures we have had for the past few weeks.

This year we are again challenged by a short staffed Turf Care Team and our ability to keep up with the mowing is an ongoing battle. Rough is especially tough to keep under control as we only have one rough mower. Once you fall behind, the wet long grass becomes even more difficult to cut. To help alleviate this problem some of us have been coming in periodically in the evenings to mow fairways and rough. We have also applied a growth regulator to the Fairways, Tees and Greens, helping  us get things back under control.

A Nightmare of Elm Seeds

Unfortunately someone about 30-40 years ago thought it would be a great idea to plant a bunch of  Elm trees all around the golf course. I curse this person. Elm trees are a live fast, die young tree; they spend all their energy trying to ensure their species survival by producing prolific amounts of seeds. Billions... trillions... gazillions!... of seeds that stick to everything when wet. Sticky when wet? Yes it's a thing, an elm seed thing. Every year for about 2-3 weeks in May we are inundated by an apocalypse of seeds, sometimes looking like a hellish snow storm of evil mess. They cover the ground, they stick to our mowers rollers, tires... even the operators! Spread onto cart paths, greens and fairways by golf carts and golf cleats, filling our bunkers up to your knees... okay, maybe just up the the ankles, but still, come on! As if we didn't have enough to deal with just trying to keep up with the growth of the grass, now it's A Nightmare of Elm Seeds. Yes, elm trees are really a pain in the arse!

Now that I've got that off my chest, I can give you an update on our recovery from winter damage.We are actually quite pleased with how most of the damage on the fairways has healed. Many areas that were dessicated by wind and cold damage are 90% - 100% recovered. Most of the areas that were damaged by crown hydration and/or ice damage/anoxia are well on their way to a full recovery, while a few stubborn areas are slower to fill in and may require additional seeding or sodding. We have used a number of techniques to repair these areas:

1) Aerate (shallow depth to create seed bed), topdress with sand and seed divot mix, fertilize
2) Aerate, drop seed, topdress with sand, fertilize
3) Slit overseed, roll, blow debris, fertilize

With each technique we saw success in areas, while in some the grass is still struggling to fill in. Using the green and white GUR stakes has also helped to keep most traffic out of these grow-in areas.

The 1st Fairway healing progress

 
The 4th green which suffered a small patch of crown hydration was slowly healing. As the area is mowed daily with the green and then walked on by golfers all day, healing was taking longer than desired. We decided to use hex plugs to fill in the remaining area of damage.

The 4th Green, before and after Hex Plugs

The 5th Fairway

The 4th green has a shade issue created by a large elm tree (you can see the trunk in the background). Shade can cause major issues for rapid ice formation in the late spring causing crown hydration (plant breaks dormancy, takes in water, then rapidly freezes). Since our course has 100's of trees, there are a number of other areas on the course that also have shade issues. We have been working with our arbourist to deal with some of these issues through crown lifting and crown thinning of the tree canopy's. As you can see in the photo to the left, the damaged area follows the shade pattern very closely.



As we move into June the grass will continue to heal, and as we get warmer temperatures, the growth rate will begin to slow and we will again be able to keep up with mowing. Our Turf Care Team is working towards bringing the course into peak conditions by July to host the 2014 BC Women's Amateur and Mid Amateur Championship. The event will see some of the best female golfers from around the western part of the continent. Please join us in welcoming this great event, as well as the Kamloops Golf and Country Club's 100th Anniversary Hickory Tournament July 19th weekend.