Shade in the summer isn't always good

The importance of morning sunlight on the growing effects of bentgrass have come full circle in the mid-atlantic region this year. The seemingly non stop rainfall this summer has made drying out the soil a difficult yet top priority. A balancing act is required to be proactive agronomically (preventing problems rather than reacting) while providing high quality playing conditions. The greens have been deep-tined, cross tined, and punched with bayonet tines to not only relieve compaction but more importantly, air out. Tees have been punched with the larger bayonet tines to allow for drying 3X.

Deep tine, cross tine, bayonet tine

Number nine tee has always been more difficult to maintain due to it's location. The back two tees are tucked against a retaining wall for the carriage homes, tall trees directly behind, and little or no air circulation.
These three elements will always be detrimental to turf growth.

The front tee on 9 gets full morning sun and adequate airflow.

This picture was taken at 8:45 am

 Last weekend the back two tees reached their boiling point. The 3.5" of rain Tuesday, another .5 over the weekend along with temps reaching almost ninety caused what it is known as wet wilt. The saturated soil has effectively suffocated and compromised the roots. Once this happens the plant cannot pull any moisture out of the root zone to cool off and overheats. Dry wilt happens when the plant doesn't have enough water to cool down. Ironic that perfectly moist soil will cause wilt! Even after poking holes on Thursday to alleviate  the wetness, the continual combination of no sunlight, no circulation, and relentless rainfall destroyed the roots. The pic below shows a mass of brown/black decaying roots.

Notice how wet and clumped together the soil is.

 Keeping the plant cool is vital and SUPER light misting every half hour was needed to keep the remaining plants alive. Cooler temps earlier this week were a welcome relief and aided in the recovery. After five days the tee has begun to bounce back.

This temperature reading was taken at noon with an air temp of 81! NO GOOD.

Directly across from the back tee.

             

                         The front tee on nine moments later. The healthier green grass reflects the heat much better.

Breath,Breath

The most effective way to dry this root zone out is core aerification. This will remove the saturated thatch and soil allowing the plant to breath. Timing and temperature is key and the forecast for the next week or so has mild temps and much cooler nights. We will aerify all of the tees early next week to avoid any further damage due to water logged soils. The wet root zone and extreme temps two weeks ago contributed to the decline of this tee but opening holes during that week would have been more damaging than good. Updates to follow.