With the golf course closed on Mondays, its a great time for us to add nutrients and irrigate the product into the rootzone immediately after it hits the ground. This morning, an 0-0-18 potassium fertilizer was applied to the greens. Every 14 days, a granular product is applied; alternating between this potassium product and a calcium sulfate (AKA Gypsum) product. Calcium and Potassium are two critical nutrients that are easily stripped from the soil during periods of rain. In the Highlands environment, these are necessary applications that aren't as important in other environments that receive less rain because those soils are able to hold onto the nutrients longer. With the golf course closed, we take full advantage of the opportunity to focus more on agronomics and less on playability. In addition to this, we are also fertilizing all tees and approaches with an 0-0-12 Potassium/Magnesium product.
Now that we are back in what looks like a week long cold weather pattern, we are backing off aggressive maintenance on greens. Spring is a delicate time because there is still a lot of sand left on the surface and the new bentgrass growth has very soft tissue compared to the fall when it starts to harden off. We start seeing some bruising on the bentgrass if we push it too hard during these cold spring days. Therefore, we skipped mowing mowing today since we are closed and for the rest of the week we will alternate mowing and rolling each day. Once the temperatures get back up and the turf resumes a period of active growth, we will return to aggressive double cutting and rolling.