History repeating itself?

[LobWedge]

The weather over the last few days brings back memories of late December 2008, and as a result, the winter-kill that plagued a large part of the 2009 season...

Let's hope we don't see the same problems again in 2011, but with a lack of snow cover and mild temperatures, followed by a quick freeze...

Fingers crossed...

[BC MIST]

The weather over the last few days brings back memories of late December 2008, and as a result, the winter-kill that plagued a large part of the 2009 season...
Let's hope we don't see the same problems again in 2011, but with a lack of snow cover and mild temperatures, followed by a quick freeze...

Walked our course on NYD and took several pictures of the greens, two of which are included below. The ice is solid and was formed not by the recent mild spell, but the previous one in early December. Does not look good for the spring.

[Marcos]

Lyle, does it matter that the greens are not covered?

[BC MIST]

Lyle, does it matter that the greens are not covered?

Unfortunately, yes.

[jeffc]

why wouldn't they cover them?

[BC MIST]

why wouldn't they cover them?

36, ten thousand square foot greens = mega $$$$$$

In all other years where there has been a similar ice accumulation, the greens survived without damage. Time will tell.

[Kiwi]

I've heard over the years that the problem is not the ice on the greens or even bare greens, but rather the freeze-thaw cycle. Like many other plants in nature the frequent stop-start of growth will kill or at least damage them. Hopefully we will get enough snow before a "thaw" that will insulate the ground and protect from the damaging cycle. Will also let me get out and play with my new snow-blower.

[Kilroy]

Also, besides the greens, with a thaw that removes all the snow, when it re-freezes the frost will go deeper into the ground without the snow to insulate it. That can burst some irrigation pipes and it take longer for the frost to come out of the ground.

[Kiwi]

Interesting point Dan. I would have thought the golf courses would take the same precautions as a home owner with underground piping, that is to "blow" it in the late fall and even put some anti-freeze in, at least in some of the trouble spots. I guess with the cost involved they may just pray for snow and take what they get.

[Kilroy]

Despite their best efforts, stuff happens.

[headcase]

Our greenskeeper always clears the greens every late January. This helps promote better air circulation and it also helps with the removal of any ice which is the real culprit. By late March and into early April the snow that has fallen since late January is no problem. Grass only lives 90 days under ice until it dies. A December ice storm followed by snow is absolute death if the greens have no covers.

[solstrum]

So many wrong points in here.

First "Covering Greens with Tarps" are not necessarily a money issue. Many Supers and Agronomists don't believe in tarps. There are many reasons not to use them. They limit the potential for you to blow your greens off in January. A snow blower would make a mess of a tarp. 2, tarps (permeable or not) limit the air movement on the greens and in some cases promote the build up of gas. If snow comes first then a tarp is good but if ice comes first (as in this year) then a tarp will act as a barrier and cause more damage.

Another wrong point made, was that Grass survives for 90 days under ice. Grass doesn't just die instantly. The soil and grass create methane gas, if there is a layer of ice, this gass builds up. POA Greens will start to show damage from this gass after 45 days and Bent after 90 days. However keep in mind that gass levels vary and that damage starts to appear after these periods and doesn't necessarily mean instant death.

Now there is a catch to all of this. So many variables. In the fall we saw large amounts of rain. The grounds were saturated. Mid November we saw a lot of cold temperatures causing the ground to freeze. the top few inches of soil became rock solid ice. then the snow came, insulating that rock solid soil. This will limit the amount of gas that the soil/grass creates. which is good news. As for the pics of solid ice. Not good, but at least the soil underneath is frozen and most of that ice just came near christmas, we had snow before that, so fingers crossed. The most damage would occur if the soil was still warm with no frost, sitting under a large layer of surface ice. A warm fall followed by a quick drop in temperature with freezing rain would be worst case scenario. In this case the warm soil would produce the largest levels of gass.

Blowing out the system. Frost doesn't break water systems for the most part. Golf courses blow out their water systems so cold doesn't break them. You Do NOT put anti freeze in a system for 2 reasons one... can you imagine how much you would need? and second, anti freeze would kill your grass when you re started your system. All of your greens would have to be fired up and the anti freeze would be on your grass (not good). Systems break mostly because the wrong compressor was used or not enough time was given to chasing the water out. Most people think its about pressure but its not. Its about cfm's. If you have a pipe in a low spot and you apply air with a low cfm then the water fills the bottom half of the pipe, the air fills the top half and a false pressure is created. A high cfm actually pushes all of the water out and fills the entire pipe. CFM being Cubic Feet per meter. so you need a compressor with a large out put not a large pressure. Chasing water- when you blow out a system, water tends to be pushed in several directions generally because water systems are loops. You don't want dead ends in water systems it causes to much hammer effects when the water hits the dead end. So water tends to sit in some spots due to the fact that pressure is pushing on it from two directions. so you have to chase it around. the more times you open low spots and then high spots the more likely you are to get all of the water out of the system.

Frost becomes a problem in two key areas. 1 around the heads on greens and tees. the frost will actually force the heads up out of the ground a few inches by causing the ground to expand and the heads rise. Golfers see this and step on them trying to push them back thus breaking the swing joints (pipes) underneath. The second area is on a course built mostly out of clay. Sand is porous and allows water to pass through it is hard to freeze a section of sand, however clay is very silty and holds water, when clay freezes it expands. If a the water content in clay is high and frost gets deep it may expand the clay enough to squeeze the pipes and cause a stress fracture. this is evident if the pipe has a long crack down the middle of the pipe with hearing bone pattern fractures running along side of it.

One last thing to keep in mind. If greens go to bed healthy they will survive ice and winter much more successfully. If they go to bed stressed, even a perfect winter could still cause damage. that is why you see many courses airify going into winter, it helps promote longer roots and when done late in the fall it helps let the water pass through the greens and may limit the amount sitting on the surface.

Hope this clears up a few things.

[Kilroy]

Thanks for thet solstrum. Great info.

[BC MIST]

Very informative, Solstrum. Obviously destroyed some of the myths.

Would it be advantageous to blow the snow off the ice on the greens in mid winter and spread a layer of sand on top? Would the heating of the sand by the sun melt holes through the ice, giving the gas a chance to percolate upward?

[TLB]

Some years ago, Hylands changed their winter green preparation. One tarp over the green, then a healthy layer of straw over the tarp, and then a second tarp over the straw. The greens were in great shape after this routine - almost no winter kill at all. I have heard that a few other area courses are doing this now.

[solstrum]

Some years ago, Hylands changed their winter green preparation. One tarp over the green, then a healthy layer of straw over the tarp, and then a second tarp over the straw. The greens were in great shape after this routine - almost no winter kill at all. I have heard that a few other area courses are doing this now.

Agreed a few are, however the problem with this is you can not remove the snow. over the last few years we have not had a huge amount of snow in march. If this system is in place and a late heavy snowfall comes then you are in no position to remove it and are at the mercy of mother nature. The straw creates an area that allows for air flow and allows the gas that is produced a larger area to collect and circulate. Basically this doesn't eliminate the gas, it diffuses it, making the concentration less lethal to the grass. (less ppm in a foot of space over the green compared to an inch of space).

With regards to the Snowblow and Topdress question. Always a big supporter of this. the quicker you remove the snow, the quicker any ice build up would melt. A little prep work has to be done for this to happen only because it is hard to get around a golf course when it is under snow. The easiest way is to have a tractor that can actually blow its way around. A trick in the industry is to blow and when you top dress mix in or spread after a good dose of Turkey Urea Fertilizer. This has so many benefits. 1. It is black and attracts the sun. 2 it is organic and heats up holding the heat longer into the evening, resulting in quicker melting and 3 it is a great way to help green up the putting surface in the spring being a fertilizer.

Another trick for problem areas on a course or low areas on a green is a roll of tar paper from roofing! This is black, heats up extremely well, the Tar holds the heat so you get melting even after the sun goes down and is easy to move and remove from the greens. If a green has a side that is heavily shaded or has a false front, where ice seems to build up annually this is a great way to help reduce damage.

One other trick, In the fall most courses slow up the greens. Basically they are letting the grass plants grow larger, causing longer roots. While growing out the plant they will also fertilize with a product generally loaded with phosphorus, because it is loaded with enzymes and proteins that promote root growth. The better the roots the better the chance of survival over winter.

[quinner]

WOW...who knew?!! Thanks for all of the information.

[headcase]

Hey Solstrum, are you a greenskeeper or golfer or both?.

[solstrum]

Hey Solstrum, are you a greenskeeper or golfer or both?.

Grew up in the business went to school for it. Now I just bang it around and try to keep it on the short stuff.

Deep River eh? Fun Gordon

[headcase]

Yep, Deep River GC, 325 members, no debt, Stanley Thompson design, and our pro was player of the year in the Ottawa zone 2010, and he was also a finalist for pro of the year 2010. Cannot think of too many clubs with no mortgage or significant debt. Can You?.

[solstrum]

Yep, Deep River GC, 325 members, no debt, Stanley Thompson design, and our pro was player of the year in the Ottawa zone 2010, and he was also a finalist for pro of the year 2010. Cannot think of too many clubs with no mortgage or significant debt. Can You?.

Not at all, I enjoyed it there this summer! To bad Chris is so short off the tee!
are you a gordon cupper?

[headcase]

Nope, just missed out, which sucked since as you know we hosted last year. Arnprior played great, Mcgee played awesome the last day. We are looking for a new greenskeeper, our ad is in the OVTA website. We have had a few bites. Do you know of anybody?.

[solstrum]

Have you figured out who I am yet? One of the longest hitters at our club and yeah I missed last year too but made a great caddie! I will do some digging and see who is doing what, I have a couple of guys who might be interested.

[headcase]

Our Pro/GM is handling the resumes. His name is Chris Learmonth, he resides in Montreal during the winter. He can be reached via his email at cjl1966@sympatico.ca. The job closes at the end of the month. It would be a great position for a younger guy or gal, not alot of pressure and sand based soil to work with. I am new to the club and the area working at AECL, we probably have not met. Maybe i can make the Gordon Cup next year. I understand it is being played at Mississippi. What kind of course is it?.