Greens winterization Cancel The title field is required!

1. Taylor J Benjamin

   
   9/24/2011 8:09 AM

   Cool mornings have my mind drifting off to mornings of plowing snow and weekends spent @ my HOUSE, and not at the course!! Also has me curious, for those of you who 'winterize greens' each season (the 'one last heavy topdressing method'), could you describe your procedure? I'm in northwest Ohio and will be closed generally from the first week of December thru the first week of March (public course).
   
   -What are some issues encountered with sand on greens all winter? (heavy rains, etc...)
   
   -How heavy is heavy for this procedure? (still see grass or completely buried?)
   
   Any/all thoughts or concerns would be helpful and appreciated.
   
   Ben Taylor
   GCS Red Hawk Run GC

   
   
   
   
2. Ronald Conard

   

   4 posts
   
   9/24/2011 10:09 AM

   Ben,
   
   We apply a liberal amount of topdressing to cover the crown in an effort to minimize winter desiccation, which is a major concern in our area. However, we never have dumped the sand on during one final topdressing. Rather we start in early October with weekly topdressings instead of our in-season every two week program. We bump the rate up a bit too.
   
   This is done in conjunction with our practice of curtailing mowing at this time. The net effect is by November some of the leaf is showing so the plant is still photosynthesizing and yet the crown is buried. I imagine, in your growing environment, winter is about a month or so behind ours. We are at 6100 feet. So you might start the process in late October/early November??? The fact that you will not have play is a major plus as the abrasion from the foot traffic and sand can be an issue.
   
   This method may also help with the washout issues you seem to be indicating from heavy rains.

   
   
   
   
3. David Brandenburg

   

   3 posts
   
   9/24/2011 12:09 PM

   We apply until just some leaves are showing but from a distance they look like all sand. The pain is we stay open until the weather is going to turn bad so we rush that last day to apply sand before it snows or freezes hard. To help out we apply a medium topdressing when we think the end of the season is coming but we do get a lot of complaints from the morning players because the sand sticks to their balls.
   
   We use a spinner type spreader to improve the consistency over a drop type.
   
   Winter rains has never moved the sand but it does work it in some. In spring we might roll the first couple times and then use old reels to mow until the turf grows through most of it.