Key Tasks for August
General maintenance:
Maintain sward height at 30mm-75mm; the top height will cushion heavy falls on any hard ground.
Mowing will increase as soil and air temperatures continue to stimulate grass growth.
Ensure that all areas are watered uniformly to promote healthy growth. Irrigation will be a priority, especially if maintaining newly sown or turfed areas. It is important to ensure that the water gets down into the rootzone to encourage deep rooting. Allowing areas to dry out can lead to problems of dry patch, a condition that prevents water infiltration into the soil, thus forming areas of non-uniform turf quality.
Linear aerators now offer alternative methods of aeration to the traditional solid tine spiker and hollow core spiker, which can install a continuous slit 10mm wide 200mm deep at 200mm centres. The machine has also been upgraded to infill with kiln dried sand.
Brush to remove dew and remove surface debris. Using a brush will restore levels and produce striping or banding aesthetics.
Pre-season training will be well underway, with club coaches demanding marked out areas for practices. Ensure you have enough marking materials and an efficient, quality line marker for carrying out these tasks.
Check with your relevant governing body for any amendments to the laws and markings of the pitch.
Care should be taken when initially marking out new lines, ensuring that they are true, straight and measured correctly, using the 3,4,5 method to achieve accurate angles.
It’s hard to believe that July is drawing to a close and we will soon be into August, with shorter days and cooler nights.
July has given us some very high temperatures, and for prolonged periods, which has brought with it challenges for turf managers, especially those without or with unreliable irrigation systems. When the rain has come, it has been well received. These extreme weather conditions put extra stress onto the plant at a time when stress is already exacerbated from the intensive management carried out to provide excellent playing surfaces. This in turn can be the tipping point for pathogen populations to increase and disease incidence to occur. Therefore, attention should be on stress management and alleviation where possible.
The forecast for August looks far more consistent with daily high temperatures typically being around 20°C. The rainfall looks scattered which means those that are desperate for some rain will get some respite and a good chance at some recovery. The key here is to ensure that those areas that need water the most will be receptive to it when it comes. Water will run off areas that have become hydrophobic; utilising a surfactant to break the surface tension and allow the water to penetrate into the profile can have a positive impact on recovery of drought stressed areas.
Nutrition
The increase in weather extremes is ultimately influencing how successful our nutritional plans are. Little and often nutrition provides a steady supply of the nutrients required, minimising peaks and troughs in growth and assisting in providing excellent surfaces. However, changes in the weather which brings heavy downpours impacts on the effectiveness of this method. It essential that plans are proactive and reactive to the day to day conditions and not simply what was drafted out at the start of the season. Granular fertiliser with a portion of high-quality slow release technology offers a base nutrition which can be topped by liquids as required. Calcium and Potassium are both key nutrients when considering biotic and abiotic stress, due to their role in cell walls and water regulation. Therefore, looking out for these when selecting your fertiliser is recommended.
Renovations
This can be a key time of year for renovations, with weather conditions ideal for getting recovery and establishment of seed. Practices will vary across the different surfaces, however having objectives planned out will increase the probability of having a successful renovation. If over-seeding, consideration should be given to selecting the right cultivars for the intended usage. Organic matter removal can be a major component of renovation work, and ensuring that the maximum amount is removed with minimal disruption is recommended. Carefully selecting the most suitable method of removal to ensure the desired outcome is achieved efficiently is important.
Planning work out in advance, at this time in the season, allows for a full recovery of the plant and establishment of new seed in time for autumn and winter. Utilising biostimulants, such as liquid seaweed and humic acids, will further promote seed germination and establishment in combination with the usual renovation fertilisers.
Disease
Later in the month, the cooler nights will increase the probability of dew occurrence. The increase in leaf wetness will undoubtedly increase disease pressure. At a time when growth potential is still high and cutting is still regular, utilising dew dispersant technology to reduce leaf wetness is only going to be effective for short periods of time, due to the growth rate of the plant. This isn’t to say that this is not an effective management tool for reducing leaf wetness, as long as expectations on product performance in these conditions is taken into consideration. The amount of time that they do last can just be enough to see you through a high-pressure period, and thus can be invaluable.
Pests
The purchase window for chafer grubs control expires on 4th August and the storage and application window ends on the 31th August 2021. A separate authorisation is awaiting approval for Leatherjackets, but this is yet to be approved. As with previous years, all applications must be approved by a BASIS qualified advisor.
For anyone not able to apply Acelepryn, cultural and biological controls in the form of Entomopathogenic nematodes are the only legally authorised controls available. As with the specific restrictions of application for Acelepryn, these are in line with best practice Integrated Pest Management. This biological control method requires warmth and moisture in the soil to be most effective, and as such this time of year provides an ideal window. Targeting larvae when they are small and susceptible gives the nematodes the best chance of success.
- Keep your machinery in tip top condition
- Grease where you find a grease nipple, oil where you see a metallic moving part, check the oil, check the water
- Clean it when you've finished
For all your training requirements, please contact our preferred training provider - Grounds Training.
Visit the website: Groundstraining.com or email info@groundstraining.com