1/19/2015 5:01 PM
Hi Aaron,
I went through the same situation last winter, while we (northern IL) didn't have anywhere near the ice accumulation that the guys in Michigan had, my little bit of ice worried me. I toyed with the idea of removal, as it seemed everyone was doing it. In the end I didn't touch the Greens. When March rolled around and we were entering the severe death-zone for days with ice on poa and nearing that point for bent, I went out and cut 3 plugs from 3 Greens and did a plug test with them. They all grew perfectly, and in the end we experienced zero turf damage on our Greens. The same can't be said for everyone in our area however. In my opinion, while I'm sure that a lot of the end result has to do with winter prep and snow mold application, the biggest determining factor is probably pure luck. Where your Greens are located, slopes, basins, sunlight, wind, tree cover, soil/air temperature fluctuations, etc, etc, etc. I don't think there is a perfect answer to the question of whether or not to remove ice. Just like in everything else in our industry, go with your gut, you'll win some and you'll lose some. The important thing is to learn from experiences and use that knowledge going forward. Sorry that this answer isn't very helpful!