It’s been a bit of a struggle to be efficient and productive this week due to the rain. For 8 days straight we have had rain, accumulating 5.8 inches. Adding to the interruption, most of the rain has come between 12 and 1:30pm, forcing us to come in off the course.
As you would expect with that much rain, the course has many wet areas that we are doing our best to work around. We are still on track to complete all of our critical tasks (greens aerification, etc.) I just keep trying to remind myself, that come April/May I will be complaining that we aren’t getting rain 😂.
We finished August wet but generally on track with other years at 11.11” of rain. Year-to-date that brings us to 58.16”, which according to the news is Naples’s 2nd wettest on record.
Here are some of the tasks we have been working on this week…
Greens Aerificaiton (1/2” core tines)
Core Cleanup
Topdressing
Molasses Application
(Molasses is used as an inexpensive food (sugar) for soil microbes that break down nutrients and thatch)
Greens aerificaiton gets all glory so not pictured is core aerificaiton of tees and wall-to-wall core aerification.
We also tackled a needed project by raising two drainage catch basins, one on #3 and one on #14.
As organic material accumulates and we topdress the fairways the soil level rises so the irrigation and drainage appears to sink. Over several years, the soil has elevated enought that the heads/drains have to be raised. Raising the drains will reduce the potential for cart accidents and mowing issues due to the steep slope around the existing drains.
Now that the turf is back in place, we will tamp it down and topdress the seams to finish the project. In a month or two, it will look like the drain has always been at that level.
I look forward to seeing everyone on the course, and as always, if you have any questions, flag me down or shoot me an email. I always enjoy talking turf!
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