#7 Tree Removals

Whenever trees are removed from the golf course, we always receive some inquiries as to what the reason was for removing them.  As anticipated, this is once again the case after removing over 30 trees around #7 green complex during last week's aeration course closure.  For those that may have missed my submission in last week's eNews to the membership explaining exactly why, here is a summary of the reasons for removing them...

All of the trees removed were categorized as either dead, dying, dangerous or detrimental to turf quality (The Four D’s) and all but one were birch trees.  Now that the trees on the property are “leafing out” for summer, it is clear to see that even more birch trees succumbed to the wet winter conditions.  The majority of our birch trees are now past their 40-50 year healthy life expectancy and they are declining rapidly.  The bronze birch borer has also infected many of our birch trees which is also killing them off.  You can expect to see many more removed this season.

To illustrate just how bad the condition was of the trees removed, here are a couple photos of the trunks that were rotting from the inside out:

Here is a "before & after" photo of the right (east) side of #7 green complex:

As you can see, the trees that were removed were in very poor condition and blocked out the majority of the morning sun resulting in unhealthy turf conditions and increased disease incidence on # 7 green, such as the fusarium seen below:

After removing the trees, #7 green will benefit greatly now that it receives FULL morning sun - a crucial component of healthy turf!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 604-277-1513 or jhooper@qgolfclub.ca