Cicada Killers vs. Yellow Jackets

Many of you have asked me over the past couple of weeks to spray bees in bunkers. I have found a couple nests and took care of them, but many of the insects you are seeing are actually Cicada Killers. They are larger than yellow jackets and much more intimidating, but do very little harm.

Cicada Killers will swarm over the sand, but are not an aggressive insect toward humans (even when we are raking the sand). The females utilize their stinger to attack cicadas for food for their larvae and the males have no stinging capabilities. Unless you grab one, step on it with bare feet, or happen to have one get trapped in your clothing, you should have no issues with them.

Yellow Jackets are extremely protective of their nest and will swarm immediately if you are even within a couple feet. They love to burrow in bunker faces and natives. You most likely will not even see them until it is too late. Please let me know if you see any nests out there and we will take care of them. We mark these areas during the day and spray them before the sun comes up to ensure most of the population is in the nest.




 Can't we all just get along???

Hand Watering

Watering the greens at RiverCrest is a challenging task and I need the crew to be able to focus on the turf’s health. We attempt to avoid play as much as we can, but certain greens need more immediate attention than others. If a worker is watering the green, please let him finish the task and get out of the way before hitting your approach shots. They are focused on the turf and cannot hear you yelling “Fore” with a nozzle blasting next to them. During dry, hot times like these, we will also have staff watering the green surrounds. They are trained to continue watering as you hit your approach shots, but please make sure they are looking up and see you coming before hitting in. Thank you for your cooperation.

Ponds

The waterfall on 16 has been temporarily turned off until we break out of this drought. We are currently lowering the top 2 ponds to help us fill the bottom pond, which is utilized for irrigation. There are many variables to consider as we fight through this stretch. The lower the irrigation pond goes, the higher the pH of the water becomes (which we adjust using our injection system in the pumphouse before used on the course). A shallow pond also effects the water temperature and watering stressed turf with warm water is not ideal.

We are still filling the pond with water from our emergency feed, but those numbers are mind boggling and strenuous on a brain and budget as well. 200 Gallons per minute = 288,000 Gallons per day = nearly $1500 per day when we utilize that resource. I will always prefer dry conditions over wet to maintain RiverCrest, but a full day of rain would not be so bad right now.....

A picture is worth 1000 words.........Turfscreen trial update

From the camera view, the right side was sprayed with Turfscreen a week prior to the picture being taken

 A few days after application, a significant difference in turf health is visible on the distant half

Dew patterns are a great indicator of plant health to Superintendents. The right side has been treated with Turfscreen, leaving a consistent dew pattern behind. The left is having a harder time recovering from traffic and heat stress.

Tree Damage

A promising new herbicide was introduced to the market last year featuring a 90 day control of broadleaf weeds in roughs and natives. This is music to every Superintendent's ears to control all of the tough weeds in natives with one application in early summer and one in the fall. Evidently, enough trials were not conducted on this product before it went to market and we have found out it controls white pines and spruce trees as well. We are currently working with the representatives of this company and other users to figure out why the damage occured, how long will it effect the trees, and if the trees will bounce out of the damage or continue to decline.

The top picture is the initial stages which curl the tips of the branches. The second and third pictures show the progression of the damage throughout the entire tree. The damage did not show up until 30 days after the application and we are hoping the trees will start rebounding within a month. It is a great product which has kept our natives very clean and we will continue to utilize the technology, but we learned the hard way to steer clear of any areas with pines and spruces.

13 Fan

The trees around 13 have grown to create a perfect barrier to the pool so golf balls cannot make their way in. This same barrier has created a lack of air movement that is essential for the turf on the green to flourish. Since tree removal is not an option, we did the next best thing -ordered a fan. This particular model is the most efficient, moving air over 150' and well equipped with a quiet oscillating motion. Hopefully you don't even notice it, but if you do, this tool is serving a great purpose.

Temperatures to jump at

The weather has been perfect to grow healthy turf and these last few nights have really allowed us to be aggressive with our practices. Yesterday we groomed the greens and cut them twice. The groomer helps us eliminate some of the grain in the playing surfaces and stands the turf upright, allowing the mowers to get a good clean cut.

This morning we brought out the brush which our mechanic, Michael created last year using the old bunker rake. It is a very aggressive machine and the temperatures and plant health have to be perfect or it can do some damage. We brushed all of the greens and had 4 mowers cutting the upright turf behind him.

We followed the cut by spreading 5 tons of sand over the top and brushing that in as well. This brushing process stood up more turf and with the cool temperatures lingering around all morning we decided to cut again.

Instead of trashing our good greens mowers, we used a triplex to make the final cut through sand. We left the baskets off to redistribute any of the sand the mower picked up.

All in all, a very busy and successful morning that will have a tremendous impact on the weeks to come. This is what makes my career so enjoyable. You sweat through temperatures and water until the sun goes down and the next week you are switching gears and beating up the turf to give the best playing conditions possible. All while making sure you are prepped for the next hot stretch so you can do it all over again.