Course Update - February 3, 2013

With some scheduled vacation time and a national turf conference, it's been quite some time since my last blog post so I thought I'd update everyone on what's been going on lately out on the course.  The extremely wet weather we were experiencing has subsided which has afforded us an opportunity to mow lots of grass, work on cleaning out and raking some bunkers and even vent (needle-tine aerate) the greens.  I can honestly say that the greens are the healthiest they've ever been for this time of year and they are rolling exceptionally well too!  The fairways are also in excellent condition and continue to drain very well.  The investment in drainage has clearly paid off as we have had very few days this winter where carts were restricted to paths.  It's amazing what a little break from the usual wet winter weather can do for the health and playability of the course!  That being said, the wet weather is supposed to make an ugly return this week as we are expecting up to 75mm of rain over the next four days.

This time of year we are often asked about the unsightly patches in the fairways.  These patches are actually a fungal turf disease called fusarium.  I've written numerous times before about this fungal pest as it is our most common turf disease out here on the west coast.

active fusarium on #5 fairway

Fusarium strives in damp cool weather so our typical winters provide ideal conditions for this turf disease to develop and become quite prolific!  You are sure to find "textbook" specimens out on our course throughout the winter months.  We treat the greens with preventative fungicide applications to ensure they remain disease-free, but it is cost-prohibitive for us to treat the rest of the golf course.  Once the warmer and drier weather returns, the turf will "grow out" of this diseased condition.  We do help it along with fertilizer applications, but we must be very careful to time them properly and be sure the damp and cool conditions are behind us as fertilizer can cause fusarium to flare up on us.  We tend to err on the side of caution to avoid further disease development.

For information and updates on the landscaping projects being completed around the clubhouse grounds, please visit Jacqui's blog here: http://quilchenaflorafauna.blogspot.ca/.