FROST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frost on #3 rough on the morning of 1/19/14

Frost on #17 on the morning of 1/19/14


The frost blanketed most of the golf course that morning with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. Some of you might be asking why a frost around 40 degrees. the only answer I can give you is that we were in the upper 30's for a couple of days prior to this frost. When you have upper 30 degree weather with no frost and then a 40 degree morning with heavy dew. It creates the perfect recipe for a heavy frost. At that particular moment that morning the ground temperature was colder than the air temperature, thus making it the perfect scenario for the frost.

As you may have noticed the tees and fairways had no significant impact due to the frost. the reason being for the lack of damage is associated directly to the size of the grass blade. The rough has a bigger grass blade resulting in more surface area for the dew to set on, which in turn allows for a higher chance for a good frost to set up on the grass blade.

Damage 4 days later after the frost around #7 tee box.

Poa Annua

Poa Annua on the #18th tee

Poa Annua is an invasive winter weed that causes many unsightly problems in the south during the winter months. If not taken care of in a timely manner, it could cause the weed to spread into other parts of the golf course.

We are currently spraying Poa Annua throughout the course as we see new areas pop up. They key to this is getting on it early before it has a chance to establish a stronghold in the turf.

In addition to us spot treating nuisance areas, we have applied another pre-emergent. to the turf to reinforce the one we put out in September. This should allow for us to gain control over future outbreaks before it spreads to other areas of the golf course.

Poa Annua in the rough #1

Since we had tremendous Poa Annua pressure last season, it will take some time to build up enough pre-emergent efficacy before we start to see a drastic change in outbreaks. To clarify, we will always have small pockets of Poa Annua no matter how much pre-emergent you apply. Controlling it from this standpoint makes it a task that is very attainable in the early stages of the germination process. Depending on the results of our control this year, we will look into other pre-emergent products for the winter months. In our industry we have many useful products at our disposal. The trick is finding the one that suits our facility the best.

Lake Bank Edges

You may have noticed the appearance of the lake bank edges throughout the golf course. We are allowing the edges to grow for a few reasons. As some of you may know, Toll Golf currently has a few Audubon international sanctioned clubs in various locations. Here at Jupiter CC we are in the early stages of Audubon and are trying to do our part in keeping the golf course nice while still being mindful of the natural habitats that surround us.

By allowing the lake edges to grow it allows for erosion control, potential habitat space, and best of all it provides a barrier between the lake and the golf course to prevent leaching of unwanted nutrients into the lake. Now, the team in GCM will keep a controlled edge on the lake banks with herbicides and the occasional trim to make sure things don't get out of control. With the laws changing in Florida and the potential for fertilizer restrictions, I believe we are headed in the right direction when it comes to being "Environmentally Friendly".

Sunrises Over Jupiter Country Club

This photo was taken over the 4th hole in early October. If only all the mornings were this pleasant!!

Fire Ant Application

Last week, after three weeks of rough weather, the skies finally cleared.  With the beautiful Florida weather returning, the maintenance team was able to get out and apply a granular insecticide on all of the fairways and approaches.  The product used was called TopChoice.  This insecticide is produced by Bayer and is an extremely safe and effective product.  

Heading out on the tractor with a Lely 1250 spreader attachment

 With TopChoice being a granular, we had our first opportunity to use the Lely spreader.  This spreader attaches to the back of a tractor and is driven by the tractor's PTO.  The Lely has a 1000 pound capacity and can throw fertilizer up to 60 feet.

The small particle size of TopChoice makes it an excellent option for fire ant control.  It is able to work its way into the canopy of the grass quickly and allows for an almost unnoticeable application.

It was a smooth application which took two afternoons to complete. Over the next couple weeks we should be able to see a decline in ant mounds around the course.  

Final Aerification of the year.

Our final aerification of the year was set to take place on September 9th and 10th.  With only two days allotted we decided to focus on the greens.  Due to the inclement weather we had to extend aerification by a day, which allowed us to complete everything that needed to be done in order for the greens to be healthy going into season.

The first step in the process was to veritcut all the greens.  We have done this same process the past two aerifications as well.  This time it was decided that we would verticut twice in the same direction in order to clear well defined channels in the turf's canopy.  The spacing between verticutter blades was closed down to 1/2" from 1" in our previous aerifications.  The verticutters were not set as deep this go around because cores were also pulled from the greens.

Verticutter blades set a 1/2" spacings

After verticutting we aerified the greens using a Toro Procore 648.  This aerification we decided to use a smaller tine and pull cores rather than just punching holes with a wider tine.  The greens were first topdressed with sterile topdressing sand.  We used 1/4" side eject tines mounted to the quad blocks of the 648.  Taking cores allowed us to pull thatch from deeper areas of the green than verticutting alone.  It also allows for more air and water flow through the green.

Three passes completed on #18 green.

The cores were then broken up using a steel drag mat.  This allows the soil and sand to break away from the grass and thatch.  A blower was then used to remove the grass and thatch from the putting surface, leaving only the sand and soil.

After blowing away debris we used a 2 ton roller to ensure there were no ruts in the greens from topdressing or aerifying.  When the roller was finished on each green a bunker rake fitted with a drag brush was used to work the sand into the surface of the green.  This process was done daily for the 4 days following aerification.

2 ton roller smoothing and firming #7 green.

Our final aerification, although wet, was very successful.  With these management practices the agronomy team here at Jupiter CC feel that the greens are in great shape and we are excited to keep them that way come season.

Tropical Signalgrass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the exceptionally warm months coming to an end here a Jupiter CC, we have continued our aggressive attack on Tropical Signalgrass.  Tropical Signalgrass is a very aggressive weed that if not controlled can overtake large areas of turf very quickly. Below is a close-up of a healthy area of signalgrass in a fairway.

Due to signalgrass' aggressive nature, the products we use tend to tinge, or "burn," the surrounding bermudagrass for a short time.  Above is a picture of a sprayed patch of signalgrass after approximately 3 days.  As you can see the patch has completely browned out, as well as the surrounding turf.

After a little over a week you can see that the surrounding bermudagrass has re-strengthened and is growing back into the area that was once populated by signalgrass.