Monday, June 30, 2014

Smoke Signals



MONTHLY UPDATE
Turf Talk, by Pete Stephens, CGCS, CNMP
The warmer temperatures have arrived and the golf course is in great shape.  Most of the winter damage to the bermudagrass has filled in and the staff has finished planting annual flowers and native plants around the clubhouse.  
For those folks who haven’t played or haven’t noticed, we have new white
tapered prism flag sticks.  The embedded prisms acts as a reflector to the
yardage range finders, which gives a faster and more accurate yardage reading, as opposed to standard flag sticks.  Thank you to the member whose donation made this enhancement possible.
As everyone is interested in the bay act and saving the Chesapeake Bay, I am proud to say that the Golf Maintenance program and staff does its part in making sure that we help preserve the bay.  Here are just a few things we do:

¨ Have an in-house developed certified nutrient management program
¨ Use organic fertilizers as a part of our fertilizer program
¨ Water conservation (a top priority) / Schedule fertilizer applications and chemical applications as best as we can around rain events 
¨ Schedule our irrigation programs to protect our natural resources and
conserve water with a proper irrigation schedule and during low demand times for power  consumption, reducing the chance of evaporation loss
¨ Return clippings to the turf which reduces our fertilizer input.  (Dried grass clippings contain 2-5% nitrogen equaling up to 2# Nitrogen per year as they decompose)
¨ Test our ponds for nutrients
¨ Have constructed wetlands which slows surface water runoff.  As the run off is slowed, groundwater is recharged and potential for downstream flooding is reduced
¨ Installation of native plants for landscaping
¨ Have reduced reliance on pesticides with sound turf management
¨ Maintain and calibrate all spray equipment and fertilizer spreaders
¨ Use less toxic, less mobile and less persistent chemicals compared to the past 40 years
¨ Have a comprehensive integrated pest management program in place
 
As always we look forward to seeing you out at the Club and I encourage you to check my turf blog to find the latest happenings on the course and grounds.

ON THE COURSE DAILY POSTS AND PICTURES TO COME!

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