Message Board - Golf: Creeping bent????
3 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Hi just looking for wee bit of advice if i can get some.
We verticutted our greens last week to try and improve new growth etc.Since we have done this the greens are slow and you are getting all these " tuffs of grass lying all over the green ( photo included). It's sitting lateral on the soil anCd the length of the grass could be as much as inch or two.
Can someone tell me if the grass is creeping bent and should i continue to verticut other directions to get rid of these tuffs?
The golf course was taken over last year from an outside contractor and things have not been great in getting the right machinery and materials to do the work when need too.
Hopefully we can give them a dusting of a top dress and a roll this week.
Any advice would be great!!!!
Thanks
PS
The picture was taken just after we verticutted two ways and double cut the green.
3 Jun 2011 by Grassman2011
What machine did you use and to what depth did you verticut/ were the blades sharp?
3 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Hi,
We used the interchangable verticut units that go on one of out toro greens mowers.
The depth I am not to sure the boss set them, he had it going in enough so that we were not taking any soil as we did our first top dress of the season 3-4 weeks ago.
Yes the blades were sharp.
As i said before new compamy came in and took us over and getting things done is a niightmare
4 Jun 2011 by Ken Barber
Its very difficult to I.D what species it is from the picture. Have you considered identifying it using a grass I.D chart. They are fairly straight forward and can be down-loaded.
If it is creeping bent then I reckon it is one of the coarser variates such as Cobra.
Lateral growth can be removed and a more upright growth habit can be encouraged by a combination of the following practices.
1. The most obvious is verti--cutting. Recently, I had a demonstration set of Poa-Busters (verti-cuts), to try an reduce my seed heads. I was impressed how they also removed all the lateral growth and created more upright growth. Ant form of regular verti-cutting will promote up-right growth and remove lateral growth. Just lay off this practice if the weather gets too hot and dry.
2. Liquid Silicon will encourage up-right growth and is often used during the spring seed-head flush to promote the seed-head to grow more up-right and therefore a better chance of removing them.
3. Applying a growth regulator as part of a regular program during the growing season will cause the grasses to naturally fine up, become denser and more up-right. I have used this program on Cobra creeping bent and you wouldn't believe it was the same grass after about the third application. Something like Primo Maxx tank mixed with a soluble feed every 21 days has worked well in year gone by.
KB
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under who’s shade you do not expect to sit.
4 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Thanks for the feedback Ken!
We used to have Poa Busters few years back when we were not under this contractor. They did a great job.
With regards to the liquid silicon and the growth regulator they are pipe dreams.
We are only getting to maintain the courses to very bare minimum. We do well getting some bunker rakes!!!
Maybe when the conditions are right might set veri cut units down a bit to get rid of more laterals.
Ross
4 Jun 2011 by Ken Barber
I also work for a contractor. I adjusted my programs to those that were affordable i.e. I changed them to fit within the agreed maintenance budget and have manage to make improvements every year..... It is now coming up to my 7th year here! The client is very happy and so is my employer.
KB
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under who’s shade you do not expect to sit.
5 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Glad you seem to be doing a great job. We are a year in and we have 5 courses in the contract and the courses are going to pot. They even got us cutting rough with a tractor and gangs we gone back to the 70s
5 Jun 2011 by Ken Barber
Who's the contractor?
KB
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under who’s shade you do not expect to sit.
5 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Big company from woking i will not mention their name but they do all sorts of amenity and cleaning contracts.Money comes first and the quality of the course comes last!
6 Jun 2011 by Ken Barber
Hey Ross..... I sent you a P.M message yesterday any chance of a response?
KB
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under who’s shade you do not expect to sit.
8 Jun 2011 by bluecoopy
I like the poa busters I believe they use them on my local course in Aberdeen called Balnagask golf course which is looking great this year.
10 Jun 2011 by eagle may
Balnagask? Yes that place used to be great when I worked there Bobby!!!!!
2 Jul 2011 by Ian Taylor
It looks like rye grass to me m8.
2 Jul 2011 by Ken Barber
Hi Ian,
If I am not mistaken, I believe the young shoots of ryegrass are folded..... Look closely at the picture and you will see they are rolled. Maybe it was the ribs on the upper side of the leaves that fooled you?
Bentgrass has ribbing on upper leaf blade, but the underside is dull..... I reckon bentgrass.
KB
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under who’s shade you do not expect to sit.
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