As I mentioned before, we are going to seed the nursery at the back of the practice facility with 8 different varieties of creeping bentgrass (see above). This will allow us to study their growth characteristics and performance on site in our unique climate. I think you will really find this interesting and it will allow you to see how far the newer varieties of grasses have come since the 1990's.
Before the nursery can be seeded, we need to fumigate the soil. The greens mix that we are using was initially installed on the site in 1998. Therefore it has a host of potential issues, like weed seed and other pests hanging out in the sand. We want to kill all of this stuff so we can grow a solid stand of bentgrass without competition of unwanted pests.
Historically, Methyl Bromide was a gas used in the past to fumigate soils. The product was injected deep into the soil and then covered. The gas killed all living organisms in the soil, resulting in a sterile root zone. This chemistry was very effective but it is no longer available thanks to the EPA. Today, a granular product called Basamid, is used in it's place. The product is applied to the soil, irrigated deep into the root zone and the area then covered with plastic tarps. Once water reacts with this product, it turns it to a gaseous state where it works similar to the way Methyl Bromide did. After 5 days of being covered, the tarps can be removed and seeding can take place.
You can see below, we are trenching an 8" deep ditch around the perimeter of the nursery. This allows us a place to tuck the tarp so none of the gas can escape. This process is sub contracted out to a company who deals with just this. They plan to be at Highlands CC on Tuesday, May 22nd. We plan to seed the green on Monday, May 28th.
