Good Rooting

Last week I was changing cup locations on the greens and was extremely pleased to see rooting to the bottom of the cup cutter and deeper.  The cup cutter we use pulls the plug out in one 7" piece and to see roots popping out the bottom is a wonderful site.  We even have rooting that deep in the poorer soils below some of our greens as evidenced in the picture of the black turf plug.  By accomplishing this in the spring the turf plants are set up to better cope with the stresses of summer when roots die back instead of continuing to grow.  It won't surprise me to see root depths as shallow as 1/2"-1" by the end of the summer if things really get stressful.  And then the plant will do it all over again next season...  Obviously the trick is to help the plant maintain as much root mass as possible during the summer.  Syringing, deep/infrequent irrigation, and raising the height of cut are a few things that aid that in happening.

How Much Peat? Or Organic Matter for that matter...

( 2010_07_19 - Soil Boring #14 Approach )

In an effort to better understand what kind of soil structure, or lack there of, we did some soil borings on #14 approach today. With the pond banks collapsing, the bunkers in need of renovation, and the approach a rolly-polly expanse, the greens committee is starting the planning process for what will take place over the next couple of years. The amount of organic matter, specifically peat, has always been in question in that area. And with renovation plans beginning we needed to get a handle on what exactly we are dealing with in the area.

( 2010_07_19 - Soil Boring on #14 Approach )

From the looks of things as the cores were coming out, we are not in a situation where we will need to excavate any substantial peat. The soil profile appeared to be made up of about 4 feet soil & peat, then about 2-3 feet very sloppy wet gray clay, and then down to the boring depth of 20 feet it was generic looking clay. Braun Intertec will be compiling a report on the profile and getting that back to us. With that general knowledge we should be able to come up with a pretty good game plan for renovation of the general area. It's nice to know we don't need to dig up 15 feet of junk and then fill it all back in with some proper soils for good growing conditions.