Editor's Note:
GCI's January cover story "After a perfect storm" shared the stories from industry bloggers on how they coped with Summer 2010 and the important lessons they learned. We were extremely fortunate to have a surplus of superintendent contributions for this story that we regret we couldn't include in the print edition. However, we intend to share these compelling accounts with you. Here is one such contribution.
On the heels of one of the coldest winters on record, Mother Nature followed suite by giving south Florida its hottest summer on record… and of course, she didn’t bring the rain, either.
Pine Tree Golf Club is located in Boytnon Beach, Fl. about 15 miles south of West Palm Beach. We are blessed and cursed to irrigate the golf course with reclaim water. In the dry months, we are always provided with adequate amounts of water, but the water lends itself to higher than desirable amounts of chloride, sodium and a terrible pH.Unfortunately, this summer did not bring the typical Florida afternoon rains that help with the flushing of salts in the soil. An average Florida summer month includes nearly 8 inches of rain, far above what we received this summer. Very little maintenance was interrupted by these afternoon showers, but as the summer continued, the turf began to show signs to sodium build up.
That being said, we embarked on a very aggressive cultural program to give our turfgrass the best chance to flourish. We began vertidraining our fairways in March and subsequently completed a deep tine aerification 2 more times on the fairways. We also core aerified the fairways in June and August using ¾-inch tines.
Over the years of using reclaim water, our soil pH had dropped into the 4.5-5 range. Knowing this, we applied 1500# of dolomitic lime to the fairways over 3 applications. Understanding that the lime will take an extended period of time to get into the soil and change the pH we continue to introducecalcium into to soil by scheduling for bi-monthly application of Tri-Cal, which is applied at 15#/acre and watered in. When we feel as though we are not getting the desired response from the turf or have not had a good flush by natural rains, we will apply Calphlex at 5oz/1000 and Pervade at 1oz/1000, watering it in immediately, but also trying to time it with a rainfall. We feel as though we see results in 2-3 days. The turf looks healthier, it has a much better color and we get a better respond when applying nutrients after. Many post applications on the fairways consist ofsoluble potassium nitrate for color and encouraging new, stronger roots. The potassium nitrate has very little effect on our low pH and also has a minimal contribution to soil salinity.
Similar programs are in place for our tifeagle greens, tees and approaches. Soil samples are taken 3-4 times a year and fertility and amendments are adjusted accordingly. We have found, because of our dedication of handwatering our tifeagle, our soil pH is not nearly as low, nor are our salts as high, though we still create monthly flushes with wetting agents.
As quality water sources continue to be difficult to find and more and more courses are turning to reclaim water, it is vital that we are able to amend our soils, remove the salts and allow the turf to thrive.
About the author...
Tony Nysse is superintendent of Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Fla. Check out his blog: Pine Tree Golf Club Department of Agronomy