Scalping in Mini-Verde Greens Cancel The title field is required!

1. Chad Libby

   

   2 posts
   
   7/17/2018 7:07 AM

   I've recently been having a issue with several of my Mini-Verde greens becoming puffy and being scalped by our greens mower. Fertilization is currently N - 1.18lbs/1000sqft/month (with a little less than half of that being a granular 14-2-14 with 50%SRN application, and the remainder being spoon fed foliar applications). P- .57lbs/1000sqft/month and K - 1.23lbs/1000sqft/month. We verti-cut and topdress greens bi-weekly. We grind triplexes once per month religiously, with additional grinding as needed based on daily review. HOC is currently .150" I don't see it being an issue with the mower, but rather with the turf. The only pattern i've noticed is that the scalping seems to occur exclusively on greens that have several mutated spots in them, but it appears over the whole green, not just over the mutated areas. We have (4) Tif-dwarf, (1) 328, and (14) Mini-Verde greens. I'm currently having this problem with (8) greens total. Does anybody have any suggestions on what i can do differently to try and solve this problem? Should i move v-cutting and light topdressing to weekly rather than bi-weekly? should i try bumping K and lowering N in these particular greens? Any feedback would be appreciated as i am kind of stuck on this one.
   
   Thank you!
   
   Chad Libby
   Golf Course Superintendent
   Water Oak Country Club
   
   ABM | Business & Industry
   212 Orange Blvd.
   Lady Lake, Florida 32159
   352-391-0898 (Cell)
   chad.libby@abm.com | abm.com/golf
   
   ABM. Building Value.

   
   
   
   
2. Ronald Hibbard

   

   0 posts
   
   7/17/2018 11:07 AM

   I would look at the mower setup. See if its set to aggressive. Meaning bedknife pitch. I have had this before with Jacobson equipment. Are you using tournament bedknives? Maybe try a thinner one.
   
   Also would look at verticutting more aggressively and sanding more regularly. Alot of your Ultra dwarfs when fertilized on the heavy side will require being more aggressive. Are you using a growth regulator? Maybe back off the water slightly.
   
   Hope this helps,
   
   Ron Hibbard,CGCS

   
   
   
   
3. Roland McPhearson

   

   9 posts
   
   7/18/2018 12:07 PM

   I can only provide input from an equipment perspective. What mowers? What bedknives? Is the scalping with the grain? Have the reels been checked for a cone? Rollers parallel?
   
   -Roland

   
   
   
   
4. Scott Tolar

   

   0 posts
   
   7/18/2018 12:07 PM

   I had same issue several years ago. Solved almost completely but cutting inputs DRASTICALLY. Went from spraying greens twice a week to bi weekly and only as needed. Total N was around 6 lbs/1000/year. Cut that down to about 2.80 lbs/1000 last year, and a third of that was granular at aerification events. Dropped Primo rates to almost nothing and the greens have never been more consistent.

   
   
   
   
5. Matt Plosila

   

   0 posts
   
   7/18/2018 6:07 PM

   I grow northern grass but I'd agree with the above post. Seems like a lot of N...may want to look at MLSN...may help.

   
   
   
   
6. David Stout

   

   0 posts
   
   7/19/2018 6:07 PM

   Scott said it best....N tends to be the worst enemy of UD greens

   
   
   
   
7. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   7/20/2018 6:07 AM

   David Stout said: Scott said it best....N tends to be the worst enemy of UD greens

   
   
   We're around 3.8#N/m/year on TifDwarf and 4.2#/m/year on TifEagle right now. And lots of Primo.

   
   
   
   
8. Chad Libby

   

   2 posts
   
   7/24/2018 8:07 AM

   Thanks for the feedback everyone, Right now i'm actually trying an aggressive verticut (down one pass, back up the same pass) followed by, believe it or not, a tight circle pattern cut with the greens mower at .150" and a heavy topdress, drag in, and roll rather than mow for about 2 days. I tried it on one green and am about 4 days out from mowing, seems to have helped a lot, although there is some sand left. Also going to try and cut back N and just feed as needed.

   
   
   
   
9. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   9/11/2018 10:09 AM

   Any updates to what you did with the rest of them?
   
   I have had these issue in the past with Tif Eagle, one year really bad. So bad I stopped verticutting in August and raised my HOC to .160". members were telling me how fast they putted after that. I got on a more aggressive verticutting program the following year and tried to stay ahead of it with less fertility. Mutated spots are the worse.