The sprayer has been out and about on the course in the last couple of weeks,catching up with our spraying programme.The greens have been treated with a wetting agent,this aids water penetration into the root zone profile breaking down the waxy coating  in the soil caused by fungi that can inhibit water movement.This is known as an hydrophobic soil in that water is repelled from the soil rather than absorbed and this makes it unavailable to the plant roots .Dry patch areas on the greens appear in high temperatures when the grass plant does not have enough water to maintain plant function and therefore signs of drought stress occur,even irrigation does not always directly help so using these wetters allow the soil to become re wetted and water is then available to the plant.We also use wetting agent pellets when hand watering specific areas on the greens.
A liquid feed mixed with a growth regulator was applied to maintain plant health without excessive growth .We have continued with our maintenance  of regular brushing and sarel rolling the greens this helps with uniformity of the surface as well as aiding water and air into the surface.

In the roughs a mix of three similar products of selective weed control were applied giving a broad control of a wide variety of weeds(plants that are growing where we don't want them to) this keeps these areas clean  and aids finding your ball.
More areas of the the environmental rough have been cutting down which reduces the time spent looking for "lost balls" there by speeding up play, and giving those golfers who play more wayward shots an easier round and a better feel good factor and perhaps a desire to come and play South Essex again.

            Ornamental Poppies with a view to the 9th green vixen from the road into the carpark

I have a link to YouTube to see a video  I have put together of the bluebells taken this spring at south essex golf club .http://youtu.be/_sHBRxNVAeI

June is for me the time when the course is reaching its most colourful,with the trees now in full leaf and the grasses in the roughs standing tall and growing there seed heads.The maintenance work is very much focused on mowing and presentation.The greens have received a low nitrogen granular feed and recently sarel rolled to keep the surface  open.We have strimmed the edges of the bunkers and sprayed around the inner edges with a total weed control this has a blue dye added so its easier to see when applying.

Craig working on the 5th Vixen bunker

The paths have also been weed sprayed to keep them clean and better presented

The shrub beds on the 4th and 9th vixen have had wood chip spread over them this helps to suppress weeds and acts as a mulch as well as giving a clean managed appearance and the material was provide free as well from tree surgeons working near by .

The pond on by the 5th tee on the vixen is hard to distinguish at the moment ,this is due to a small   invasive foreign pond plant  called azolla,which under the right conditions spreads rapidly to colonise the surface and covering it completely .This cuts out light and air entering the pond.We have suffered this before in other ponds on the course but natural occurring fauna in the pond has previously controlled it so we hope this will happen in this pond

Certain areas of rough around the course are being cut down to help reduce slow play and improve scoring.

The flower beds around the clubhouse are now coming into there own and looking very colourful 

 the new bed that we created and called Raymond's triangle is also looking colourful see photo below

Work continues on the greens through April as we have mini solid tined them all.With the annual meadow grass now starting to seed,we brushed and cut them and a week later they were all lightly verticut to help in removing some  of the seed heads.A soluble fertiliser was applied along with seaweed and potassium products to  aid recovery from the stress this work adds to the sward.We hope to top dress them all next week to help smooth out the surface,once the sand has worked into the sward we can think about regrinding and sharpening  the greens cutting units as the sand is very abrasive to the blades.When this is done we can think about lowering the height of cut down from 5mm to nearer 4mm.
One of our recent summer staff has departed to Warley Park Golf Club,and we have Daniel Powell from Capel Manor college with us who is doing his work experience while working towards his NVQ2.
We sprayed the new wild flower area behind the 1st green Heron with a total weed killer and then scarified it before sowing the seed,also we have created a new flower bed near to the base of the steps of the veranda.

wildflower area sprayed

                                                                   scarifing the area

wild flower seed sown 

New flower bed area being planted

                                                             the last view of this years bluebells

golfers playing under a  grey sky

Spring has arrived at South Essex,with warm sunshine  making grass grow and bringing out the golfers to enjoy the course.The woodland floors are ablaze with that fantastic blue haze of the bluebells,and if you look carefully the odd white one as well.

6th tee heron with lesser celandine in the foreground

The greens have all been top dressed and fed and after Easter we hope to repeat the process to restore the surface smoothness.
The Pond on the 9th Vixen has been cleaned out around the edges and the drainage pipes exposed to improve there flow into the pond from the 4th Fairway

Its at this time of the year that we check over the irrigation system to ensure all is well when we need it and carry out any remedial repairs

Sean investigating a solonoid valve problem 9th Heron

You may have noticed in the mornings on some greens grubs  moving over the surface.These are the grubs of the crane fly which is seen flying in September.We did apply an insecticide in the autumn,but some grubs have survived ,why they decided to come to the surface  is a mystery  but I collected this hand full on the 9th Vixen,these grubs spend there life (1-2 Yrs) in the soil eating grass roots which can have a detrimental effect on the plants to take in nutrients and water and so inhibit the grass to resist other stresses like pest, diseases and environmental factors .

leather jackets

We are preparing a couple of new wildflower areas,one on the carpark mounding and the other behind the 1st green Heron

                                                   watering the wildflower area in carpark

                                                Sam sowing at 2grams/mtr

mowing off the grass for new wildflower area

raking off the cut grass

This area was then sprayed with a total weed control

We recently suffered mayhem out on the course when some so called golfers hired golf carts to go joy riding,damaging,greens,braking flag pins,posts and rails,driving through the blue bell woods and damaging the carts as well,The green staff worked quickly to carry out the necessary repairs over the two days that these incidents occurred

The honey bees are working hard now as are the bumble bees out on the course

The last couple of weeks has seen an increase in our agronomic activity on the course as the weather has been kinder to us. We have been able to take our mowers out and start presenting the course, which has given it a fresh manicured appearance after so many wet months.

 

Work on green aeration has been intensified to relieve the compaction and prolonged water flow. We have slit tined to 150mm,solid tined with 12mm tines to 75mm,and then after a couple of weeks we deep tined them.

 

We have just scarified all the greens to 10mm to remove moss, dead grass, and thatch from the surfaces and then apply sand dressing with the heron and hawk to finish soon.

 scarifying and mowing

 blowing off the debris

 switching the green after

 the scarify lines

and the scarify unit

 

Now that the tee mats and winter tees are not in use we have seeded and dressed the winter tees  to restore the surfaces after very intense play. A slow release fertiliser has been applied to all the tees to encourage steady growth recovery.

Moss has been very invasive this winter due to the very wet conditions so we will be using our quadraplay  on the fairways soon to help remove this .

4th rough Hawk

 

The new Raymonds triangle has been planted up with perennials and ornamental grasses which are bee friendly 

 

The daffodils are now in full glory and we are pleased with the showing around the clubhouse environs giving a good spring like feel to these areas

 

As mentioned in the previous blogs we have not replace two permanent staff members but we have taken on two summer staff, Mike Bartlett and David Morgan who have worked on other golf courses who will be helping us to present and maintain South Essex for you.

As with all good things that happen on the course there are downsides, and poor golfer etiquette

 is very frustrating to other golfers and greenstaff as well see examples below.

 

5th Hawk even though the area was roped off!!!!!

 

reminder  of those foggy mornings, thanks for your patience waiting  to go out to play ,it keeps my staff safe until conditions for playimprove.

A few drier days toward the end of February allowed us to complete some much need work on the course. We applied a granular feed with low nitrogen and potassium to  encourage and harden up the plant without any excessive growth ,and the product also had a high iron sulphate content which has given the greens a darkened colour, was used to help control the moss invasion due to all the wetness and lack of aeration.
 The greens were in much need of aeration after the constant rain and wet surfaces, so  they were slit tined and then we followed this with solid tining with close spacing to a depth of 75mm.All the tees were given there first cut of the year and even some fairways were cut ,although some remained to wet to put a mower across. Just as we got excited about doing some real green keeping the rain came back .

applying fertiliser

Our New ecological triple greens mower has arrived and was being evaluated and tested out on the course on the vixen 8th green ,this new idea? of mowing is unlikely to catch on as its virtually impossible to mow a straight live or get strips in the green.

On the 6th hole of the Hawk we investigated what we thought was a drainage issue in the  right bunker but as we dug  holes and poked and prodded around  we found the problem to be fibrous roots from the willow tree. These had grown in the pipe and blocked it in the last few metres where the drainage pipe exited into the pond. After much hand work it was cleared and repaired.

The crocus bulbs planted on the clubhouse lawn in the autumn have been giving there first display and looking very effective, as is the display outside our maintenance building. I also saw my first queen buff tailed bumblebee looking for a nest sight in february on our crocus .

 

The Daffidils planted on the banks of the 1st tee vixen, putting green and car park are  nearly ready to flower so spring is coming I don't know if that means less rain though!

clubhouse on a rare day of early morning sunlight inbetween rain showers