As we indicated in our last communication, our water supply has high levels of sodium and bicarbonates which build up in the soil during the summer months through irrigation and can be detrimental to the turf. One of our practices that helps reduce these levels is deep watering that we call leaching. This process flushes salts through the entire root zone (profile) and out through the internal drainage. This can be achieved in our sand-based surfaces such as our greens. We performed this Tuesday, and everything went as planned.
The golf course will be closed Monday so we can perform some additional maintenance on the greens. We will perform the second of three annual bentgrass seeding procedures. This is the second year of implementing this process to promote introduction of new bentgrass that is more resistant to heat and disease than the predominate Poa annua greens. Along with those characteristics it has quicker wear recovery and a high resistance to Poa annua herbicide controls. With that being said, this is a slow process when greens are open for play, so it will take several years to see a significant difference.
Along with the green programs, the staff will also start vertical blade slicing on the fairways to open air and water channels on the highly compacted native soils. I will send out another communication the middle of next week.
Yours in turf,
Stacy L. Wallace, Golf Course Superintendent
Sonoma Agronomy 