Where is the rain?
Where is the rain? Every week I find myself looking at a forecast that shows that there is a whole bunch of rain predicted and as the week go by – so does the rain. The course, however, is in great condition and with April around the corner, we should be past the high temperatures and heavy winds soon.
It is the time of the year where golf courses battle to keep ahead with fungal activity, grubs and worms on the courses and of course the lack of water. Here at the Links we have had our fair share of the aforementioned. We have had the course almost taken over by ants, but have managed to get rid of them. Then we had a problem with white grubs; and what looked like heat stress on the fairways, was in fact the grubs eating the turf’s roots. With the grubs obviously comes the bush pigs that love digging up the fairways searching for this delicatessen (in bush pig terms though). Luckily we have not had a problem with water this season and I am sure that when you get around the golf course you will not even think that we are caught in the middle of a drought.
So how did we rectify all these problems? In this tough economical climate we are always searching for better, cheaper ways of managing a golf course without showing it in a negative way on the golf course. Preventative programs are stretched so far that we only react in a curative manner. Ridding the course of the ants and the grubs had to be timed to the tee, as the same product used eradicates both species. The dollar spot fungus that we had on the course is caused by hot days and cooler evenings. Throw in a couple of hot and humid days, and you have the perfect recipe for fungal activity. Most people will go out and spend a lot of money to rectify the situation through spraying expensive fungicides that could kill your annual budget in one application.
Taking the above in consideration, I combined the spraying for insects and grubs, fertilising the fairways and eradicating the dollar spot in one big operation. A lot of money was saved and the result is a golf course that is in great condition. Furthermore, we are also busy with a big scale attack on kikuyu. We started on the tee complexes and will now be moving onto the green surrounds. All fairways have also been sprayed.
If you found the above interesting and would like to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Andre Gerber
0824514158
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
It is the time of the year where golf courses battle to keep ahead with fungal activity, grubs and worms on the courses and of course the lack of water. Here at the Links we have had our fair share of the aforementioned. We have had the course almost taken over by ants, but have managed to get rid of them. Then we had a problem with white grubs; and what looked like heat stress on the fairways, was in fact the grubs eating the turf’s roots. With the grubs obviously comes the bush pigs that love digging up the fairways searching for this delicatessen (in bush pig terms though). Luckily we have not had a problem with water this season and I am sure that when you get around the golf course you will not even think that we are caught in the middle of a drought.
So how did we rectify all these problems? In this tough economical climate we are always searching for better, cheaper ways of managing a golf course without showing it in a negative way on the golf course. Preventative programs are stretched so far that we only react in a curative manner. Ridding the course of the ants and the grubs had to be timed to the tee, as the same product used eradicates both species. The dollar spot fungus that we had on the course is caused by hot days and cooler evenings. Throw in a couple of hot and humid days, and you have the perfect recipe for fungal activity. Most people will go out and spend a lot of money to rectify the situation through spraying expensive fungicides that could kill your annual budget in one application.
Taking the above in consideration, I combined the spraying for insects and grubs, fertilising the fairways and eradicating the dollar spot in one big operation. A lot of money was saved and the result is a golf course that is in great condition. Furthermore, we are also busy with a big scale attack on kikuyu. We started on the tee complexes and will now be moving onto the green surrounds. All fairways have also been sprayed.
If you found the above interesting and would like to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Andre Gerber
0824514158
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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