The past few weeks have been hard on the grass courts and the crew. We have not had any significant rainfall since June 6, when we had 3/4 of an inch of rain.
This puts a lot of stress on the annual bluegrass with water management being crucial in keeping the courts playing well and alive. To achieve the balance between plant health and playability, hand watering is necessary throughout the day. We do have automatic irrigation, but if hand watering is not needed then the irrigation system is putting down too much water.
Click on the title to this entry to see a current update by Dave Oatis, the USGA northeast director of agronomy. The update accurately states the challenges we are going through here at Longwood. He mentions the effect the weather has had on bentgrass. In the picture above or when you are playing on the grass courts notice the difference in color between the dominant annual bluegrass and the patches of bentgrass.
1 comment:
Thank you Mike for the detailed explanation of the current turf status - and the potential for more mischief coming from the great climate mother in the sky.
Grass playing great today - hope that you can keep the courts in shape for the FS and FD tournaments - it will be tough, I'm sure.
XXXXOOO to grounds staff - plan on an ice cream extravaganza at the end of the year if all goes well.
Keep staff in shape for the end of summer tournament - no excuses from out of shape crew members.
Cheers
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