Springtime, on a cool season golf course, is a transition time for a number of reasons. The cool nights and cool days aren't quite warm enough for active turfgrass growth. Combine that with our spring greens aeration process, making the greens bumpy and slow. While it's a great time to be in the mountains, it sometimes feels like it will take forever until the summer days of fast greens and dense fairways are upon us. As a Superintendent, these days are exciting because everyday brings with it improvements that only Mother Nature can provide but not noticed by the untrained eye. I'm reminded daily that there is a large portion of my career that I have no control of. I can only ride it out and respond to what is thrown my way. In Springtime, Poa annua is doing its thing....flowering and producing seed head in hopes of reproducing...the goal of every plant. Speaking of reproducing, broadleaf weeds- particularly summer annuals- are appearing in many areas. This time of year, broadleaf weeds can be plentiful on bunker faces and in the rough. We have sprayers out daily treating these weeds. Broadleaf weeds can only be treated one way and that is by the use of post-emergent herbicides applied directly to the leaf tissue. Unlike grassy weeds, like crabgrass and goosegrass, broadleaf weeds can't be treated with a pre-emergent herbicide that prevents them from germinating. In the photos below, you can see some clover and dandelions taken today. The bottom photo is a dandelion that was pulled from the ground, tap root and all, by a golfer this weekend. It was neatly placed on the collar of a green; I suppose to alert me to the fact that we have such issues. While weeds are being treated daily, their death is often long and drawn out because the same vascular system in a plants that allow it to circulate nutrients and grow is also the same system used to translocate herbicides throughout the plant. The faster these herbicides are metabolized, the faster the death. But once again, we remain patient because the cooler temperatures this time of year causes little movement of water and nutrients (and herbicides) through the plant's vascular system. It all goes back to that spring transition. I know that in 3 weeks, you'll be playing what feels like a completely different golf course. The awkward transition out of spring will be over and you'll be back playing the conditions that you've come to expect, over the years. Oh, about those weeds... finding a dandelion right now is easy. But I challenge you to find one after May 15th!
