Irrigation frequency on ultra dwarfs Cancel The title field is required!

1. Dru Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   11/24/2013 5:11 AM

   Keith Wood said: Drew
   Unless you guys changed the contours or rebuilt the greens when converting from bent to Bermuda, your going to struggle with water management. Those greens were the most uneven mixes I've ever managed. Some areas had around 6 inches of mix and others had over 20. On top of that, some of the mix seemed to be riverbed sand and some was your typical mix contained peat. This makes for a Very Uneven water table. I was managing bent there so my plan was to use a penetrant with with LDS corrective qualities (Cascade 4 oz + Duplex 1oz) over the entire green and then hand water with a tablet that contained an agent with holding qualities (Magnus tabs). We very rarely used the heads and managed with hoses. It worked well for the turf but, it was tough on us. Of course this is before the new irrigation system was installed. You have to remember that those greens were built for bentgrass and to move water out, hence the river bed sand and deep mixes. Anything you can do to slow water down the better with bermudagrass. Also, ID the areas with not enough mix (behind bunker on 5 right side), and those ares with too much mix (front of 3). When hand watering use tablets and be sure to keep those deep mixes wet during the winter. Good luck and feel free to call if you want to go hole by hole for the messed up mixes that I can remember.
   Keith

   
   
   Good info Keith! I know the profile composition of most all of our bad areas from doing some deep probing myself. We do a lot of hand watering and its on all the same places that showed stress on Bent. With the contouring we have as well as poor construction uniformity would you be willing to say ultradwarfs are a bit easier to manage in terms of moisture at other facilities such as yours? I am pretty comfortable with our greens at this point. After the past two seasons I feel a lot more confident in my management strategies. I can say that moisture meters are a life saver, especially on these greens. I will call you soon to pick your brain. Thank You!

   
   
   
   
2. Keith Wood

   

   0 posts
   
   11/26/2013 11:11 AM

   Drew
   To answer your origin question, I water 2 to 3 minutes every night and then check with the meter and hand water when necessary throughout out the season. We start the cycle at different times depending on the weather that day. Humid summer months start up at 3:00 am and then the dryer spring and fall months start up as soon as the sun is down and everyone off of the course. I found that watering frequently and shallow, (I know this is backasswards) stopped any kind of scalping or nipping when mowing. I think it helps compact the stolons and tighten the surface. I've also noticed that dry cuts in the afternoon are very bad, but as soon as the surface is lubricated with a minute or two, the cut is perfect. That's another UDB subject... As far as wetting agents go, we used Exalt last season for everyday management at 32 oz/A. For the tournament it was cascade duplex, 4 and 1, to really move the water down. I wouldn't recommend cascade duplex for normal maintenance unless you have two guys dedicated to dragging hose twice a day to maintain adequate %'s. They really dry out. I've been on the Oars Hs for the last 2 months and it seems to be working great so far. What I've noticed is that they seem to be more uniform, 2-3% different after irrigation or rainfall over the entire surface high and low spots. Also, we use the Fieldscout TDR with 1.5 inch probes.
   Keith

   
   
   
   
3. Larry Allan

   

   0 posts
   
   11/27/2013 8:11 AM

   Not that I know anything about growing ultradwarfs but I like to follow so that when I retire and move south I can criticize my superintendent appropriately.
   The fact that you guys find that just keeping the surface inches moist seems to negate the principle behind the USGA Greens Specs. Would you not be further ahead with a less expensive type of construction say a 7 inch rootzone instead of 12 ? or some other type of construction altogether.
   It seems a waist when the USGA was really designed to do the opposite of what you guys feel works best.

   
   
   
   
4. Anthony Nysse

   

   1 posts
   
   11/27/2013 9:11 AM

   Keith Wood said: Drew
   To answer your origin question, I water 2 to 3 minutes every night and then check with the meter and hand water when necessary throughout out the season. We start the cycle at different times depending on the weather that day. Humid summer months start up at 3:00 am and then the dryer spring and fall months start up as soon as the sun is down and everyone off of the course. I found that watering frequently and shallow, (I know this is backasswards) stopped any kind of scalping or nipping when mowing. I think it helps compact the stolons and tighten the surface. I've also noticed that dry cuts in the afternoon are very bad, but as soon as the surface is lubricated with a minute or two, the cut is perfect. That's another UDB subject... As far as wetting agents go, we used Exalt last season for everyday management at 32 oz/A. For the tournament it was cascade duplex, 4 and 1, to really move the water down. I wouldn't recommend cascade duplex for normal maintenance unless you have two guys dedicated to dragging hose twice a day to maintain adequate %'s. They really dry out. I've been on the Oars Hs for the last 2 months and it seems to be working great so far. What I've noticed is that they seem to be more uniform, 2-3% different after irrigation or rainfall over the entire surface high and low spots. Also, we use the Fieldscout TDR with 1.5 inch probes.
   Keith

   
   
   Interesting. We have been on the Cascade/Duplex combo for 6 months and have been hand water LESS, but keeping our percentages in the 15-17% range all day. We used to have to send checkers out in the afternoon to touch up. Now, we don't have a problem making it through the day. Keep in mind, we only overhead water when we water in the Cascade/Duplex, also.