Mike Daugherty said: I primarily walk mow the greens at my club 95% of the time. Of course this past Sunday, due to a limited staff, I break out I the old triplex greensmower and have a leak on 4 greens. I have the nice lovely 1/2 to 1 inch strip across the green on every pass. I don't think the strips are worthy of sodding, and we all know how fun blending in bent cut at .125 can be. Other than the obvious of increasing fertility, top-dressing, etc., does anyone have any words of wisdom for dealing with this issue. Of course I just want to make this go away as soon as possible. According to some of my members, "My operator must be a blithering idiot, not to notice this while mowing". I however, know from first hand experience that some of these leaks, drips, etc. cannot not always be seen right away by even a trained professional. Anyone have any luck with dyes or different hydraulic fluids? It's just both amazing and frustrating how you can go from being a hero with a beautiful golf course to a moron with a hydraulic leak in the matter of hours! Anyway, just looking for any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance.
Mike Daugherty
Sunset Hills C.C.
Edwardsville, IL.
Mike, we had one 3 weeks ago on Tifeagle greens and are seeing some great recovery. Also happened on a Sunday morning and had some of the same comments from members.
Here is what we did:
1. Wash strips down with dawn Monday morning to help breakdown oil
2. Aerate green and top-dress with sand
3. Apply granular humic acid and Mycorrhizae to help breakdown oil
4. Raised HOC
5. Increased fertility
6. Applied product Oil Aabsorb, instructions say to apply immediately but we did not have on hand. This product will encapsulate the oil so that it can be washed off the green.
Some of my members think we should re plant the entire green! I have seen a lot of recovery in the 21 days since it happened and think we will be fine in 3-4 weeks. We put a practice hole in play and closed this one off for the time being. This week we began taking a cup cutter and cutting plugs and turning them 180 degrees so that we have healthy turf in the desiccated areas. It make ugly look better and give you small areas to grow in vs large strips. Good luck
Also, see my post
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