Rebound effect and aerifying

As we close out the summer and approach aerifying season we will once again try to time our growth regulation to create a flush of growth. You start the season suppressing seedheads for a smoother putting surface. This transitions into regular applications of a chemical class we refer to as growth regulators. These chemicals work to inhibit growth or to force the plant to grow thicker instead of taller. They reduce clipping yield which gives a more consistent ball roll for the entire day. If you are trying to give bentgrass an advantage over Poa Annua these also help by slowing down the Poa while the bentgrass creeps right over it. When you stop using the chemical you will usually get a big surge in growth referred to as the rebound effect. All the stored energy the plant has built up is released and this translates to a lot of leaf tissue. Not a good idea if green speed is an issue but if trying to recover from aerifying quickly it can help tremendously. So hopefully the timing is perfect for our Tuesday September 2nd Greens Aerifying. If early the greens will get a bit poky and you will be tempted to use hybrids to putt but that is the cost of tinkering with the natural processes of things.

Turf Maint. staff party before all the kids left

Murph testing the screen he built 

Art the welder adding new sign brackets to beach gates

received lots of attention when posted on Twitter. Fog rolling in on sunrise

You may remember me getting a visit last year from one of the TurfNet guys Jon Kiger. He spent a day shooting some tips and tricks videos as well as a vacation spoof for Randy Wilson that he turned into another Rock Bottum GC classic. Well they launched another of the tips videos today and my friends are giving me a hard time as usual. Of course everyone is loving Bert's antics as he goofs around in the background essentially photo bombing the entire video. See it here:    Bert video bomb