Making History!

This morning the LA Times reported the high temperature yesterday, according to the National Weather Service weather stations, for the 48 continental states was in Santa Clarita. It was reported as 95 degrees!! We have a weather station at the golf course which is located adjacent to the Maintenance facility. Yesterday our weather station reported a high temperature of 94.6 degrees and a low temperature of 39.4. Yep that is right 39.4! Pretty darn close to temperatures where we will start having frost delays. We tend to have cooler temperatures due to the fact that we are located at one of the lowest points in the valley. It goes back to the concept wher warm air rises and cool air settles. Degree changes that exceed 55 degrees in one day are pretty extreme. Typically weather like this is good for growing grapes, but in the mean time we will continue to try and grow quality turfgrass.
So we are left with the question: is this global warming or global cooling?
One more weather related topic. Long range forecast, meaning the next 7 to 10 days shows a chance of rain. This would be great for the golf course as over the past week we have fertilized everything and reseeded areas that were thin. Let's keep are fingers crossed that mother nature will give our area of the country some much needed rain.

Pea Soup Lake

If you have played the front nine recently, you have noticed that the lake that borders #6 and #7 looks a lot like pea soup. The cause of this green color is Planktonic Algae. Planktonic algae are single-celled plants or small colonies of cells that attach to each other and float freely in or on the surface of the water. Most planktonic algae are beneficial, because they convert nutrients into food for fish and other organisms, forming the base of the food chain. And, like all plants, they produce oxygen through photosynthesis.

However, excessive growth, like we are seeing now can be undesirable. This excessive growth is called a bloom. Blooms are caused by excessive nutrients being introduced to the aquatic system. During overseeding we had a wind storm that blew an excessive amount of grass clippings. Now that the grass clippings have had time to break down and release nutrients the algae is now consuming the nutrients. Fortunately, Planktonic Algae completes its life cyle in 24 hours. So, soon the Planktonic Algae will consume the excess nutrients in the lake and ecosystem will so return to a normal balanced state.

Wet Winter??

Every year we head into winter wonder how much it is going to rain. And every year the National Weather service tries to predict this. Bottomline is: we need to conserve water and get a couple years in a row of high quantity rainfall. Our rainfall season is short compare to other parts of the country. Our most desired scenerio would start with a rain storm in the early fall, then a final rainstorm in May with wet and dry periods through out the entire winter. Well so far that is not the prediction, but the weather forecasters have been wrong before. The following text was from a newsletter that I subscribe to :
The US National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center recently posted their ENSO forecast (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) for the next quarter. Based upon the water temperature of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, in combination with weather patterns in that region, meteorologists have declared an "ENSO neutral" condition. With some exceptions, this is good news for almost everyone.
During an ENSO neutral condition, Pacific Ocean water temperatures and weather patterns are roughly normal, which means that weather patterns in most of the world will also be normal for the next 3 to 6 months (at this point in time, ENSO neutral conditions are predicted through the first half of 2009). In contrast, an El Nino condition, which occurs when Pacific Ocean temperatures are warmer than normal, results in more storms than normal in the southern U.S., and overall milder and drier weather than usual in the northern U.S. The inverse of an El Nino is the La Nina condition, which is characterized by colder than normal temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. During a La Nina, the northern U.S. is colder and stormier than usual, and the southern U.S. is warmer, and drier than normal. For more detailed information on El Nino and La Nina, see this very good website, Frequently asked questions about El Nino and La Nina. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensofaq.shtml#PREDICTION
The only bad news comes for the southern U.S., which has suffered from drought conditions over the past few years. In these dry regions, an El Nino, even with its more extreme weather patterns, would have been welcome.

Go away wind!

Just a quick update as we head into this very critical week in the world of growing grass at VCC. A couple things happen this week that are key to the success of our new crop of ryegrass.

1. We are still germinating seed that was stubborn and slow to germinate. Typically areas that are a drier or more exposed take longer to germinate. In order to make sure we get good germination in those areas we will be scouting for them during the day and applying supplemental irrigation.
2. Our first mowing of the tees and fairways will be taking place this week. Mowing the turf causes a physiologically change within the plant. It promotes the ryegrass seedling to start tillering. Tillering is when the plant produces more shoots from the crown area of the plant and creates a denser turf canopy.
3. We will make our first fertilizer application to the tees and fairways. The nutrients that will be applied are designed to encourage tillering and production of a dense root system.

The problem that this week brings is the wind. The wind creates havoc for us in a couple ways. First, it just makes a mess and detracts from the beauty of the course. On a more practical level it creates a mess that must be cleaned up prior to us mowing and fertilizing. The dilemma that we face due to the tenderness of the juvenile rygrass seedlings is we cannot utilize some of our heavy equipment to pick up the debris. Therefore, we have to pick up the all of those branches, leaves and twigs by hand. Secondly, the wind dries out the surface of the ground. The tender ryegrass seedlings have a very small and inefficient root system at this stage. In order for the seedlings to survive in the dessiciating winds we must judicously apply water on a frequent basis.

At this stage in the game I am optimistic about the results of our overseeding. The cool night time temps and high winds over the past 4 days have slowed the progress, but the weather forecast for the rest of week is perfect for establishment of our winter time turf.

10,827,900,000 !!!!

No that is not a number from the financial bail out plan. 10,827,900,000 is the approximate number of seeds that we have put down on the golf course over the past four days. This number is derived from the fact that there is typically 240,620 seeds per pound of perennial ryegrass and we put down 45,000 lbs of seed. As of noon on Friday all the grass seed is on the ground. What remains in to work the seed into the turf canopy and some clean up of seed that was thrown into bunkers and on cart paths.
The good news is that the possibility of rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. A 1/2" of rain would do wonders for helping the seed start its process towards germination.
The overseeding process went similar to years past and on an efficient schedule. The only modification that was made was fairways #8 and #9 were seeded at a slightly lower rate. All our fairways are typically seeded at 600 lbs of seed per acre. Fairways #8 and #9 were seeded this year at 400 lbs per acre. Over the course of the winter we will be looking at the difference in playability and turfgrass density. Then next summer we will compare rate of transition to bermuda grass versus the fairways that are seeded at a higher rate.