How bout this weather?

This week the beautiful spring weather has continued and we are still in winter!  The highs have been in the 70's with the lows in the 50's so our turf is beginning to emerge from dormancy. This is an exciting time of year when we begin to see green but the average last frost date is not until mid March so the potential of having cold temperatures is not over.  This time of year is when our bermudagrass is the most sensitive to severe temperature swings and I am hoping that mother nature will cooperate and not send us another cold blast that delays the transition.




13 green being prepped for play by our agronomic team.



We have spent this week focusing on the little details that have an impact on the overall playability and golfing experience of our customers. Prior to beginning our drainage projects this winter we leveled all irrigation heads  located around greens and in the fairways.  Most heads required leveling from the initial construction while others simply needed to be raised due to our topdressing applications and natural settling over time.    Level heads in the fairways maximizes the visibility of the yardage numbers located on the head covers for the customer while at the same time improves the efficiency of our irrigation system.  The yardage numbers on the heads are now being painted 'Safety Yellow' to maximize visibility.




 Team member Steven Rapossa adding new paint to the yardage indicators.



Now that the staff has leveled all heads around greens and in the fairways, we have begun leveling all heads located in the roughs and around our tee complexes.




Team member Jose' Martinez leveling a head located at 3 tee complex.


We have also been working to clean up and maintain the width of our playing corridors.  This is very important to ensure the visibility of the entire hole from our tee boxes and results in improved speed of play by  decreasing the rate of lost balls while increasing the golfers possibility of locating and playing errant shots.  Our goal is to maintain a 15-20 ft buffer  of lower vegetation in between our maintained turf and brush. 



Team members working along the right of hole 8.

View along 8 looking towards green.



Welcome to our new Interns!



From Left to Right
Tyler McCool and Trey Bowman

I would like to welcome our new interns and look forward to working with them during the 2011 season!

Tyler McCool is from Louisville, MS and is attending Mississippi State University.  He has worked internships at The Country Club of Birmingham in Birmingham, AL and Farmlinks in Sylacauga, AL.  Tyler will be with us until August and plans to graduate in December 2011 with a bachelors degree in Golf and Sports Turfgrass Management.

Trey is from Ackerman, MS and is currently working part time while attending Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.  He will be with us for this spring semester and plans to graduate in December 2011 with an associates degree in Golf and Sports Turfgrass Management.




Tyler hanging out in our Intern House/RV.



Time for our Spring Preemerge application

Believe it or not, it is time to start thinking about your spring preemerge application.  The recommended application window for our area is from the middle of February to around the first week in March.  With all preemerge applications, it is better to be early (prior to weed seed germination) than late!

Product label of  material used for February 14, 2011 application.

Here at The Preserve we like to apply our preemergent impregnated on a fertilizer carrier.  This allows us to be more efficient by feeding the soil along with the preemergent in one application.  The product of choice this year is a 22-0-22 impregnated with .75% oxadiazon. 

The bright blue color is the indicator color of our N source (Urea Formaldehyde).

 The first number in the analysis shows that our fertilizer product has a Nitrogen (N) content of 22%. The source of the N is derived from 100% Urea Formaldehyde.  Urea Formaldehyde is a synthetic organic N that is released throughout the year naturally based on the microbial activity of our soil.  This N source provides consistent growth throughout the year, reduces the need for frequent applications and is very safe for the environment. It has a very low potential for leaching into our lakes and the surrounding Old Fort Bayou drainage basin.  The second number in the analysis represents the % Phosphorous (P) contained in the fertilizer and based on our soil test reports no P is currently needed.  The last number in the analysis shows that our product has 22% Potassium (K).

Our preemergent of choice for this time of year is oxadiazon.  It has a unique chemistry in the fact that it does not inhibit new root growth during the spring like other chemistries and performs very well in controlling crabgrass, goosegrass and other hardy weeds in our area.  Due to an increase in weed pressure as our facility ages, we will make two 1.5 #'s a.i./acre applications of oxadiazon this year.  The first is being applied now and the other is schedule for June 6th.