Who's the Boss of the Moss?

One of the hot topics (as well as hollow coring) this summer has been moss. In particular moss on greens. I've visited lots of courses this season, speaking with many turf managers and a very high percentage have had a huge battle with moss this season with silver thread moss being the chief culprit. However, my own course, a wet, clay based parkland course surrounded by trees, has been totally free of any type of moss for the last five seasons. Why? By rights, my course should be perfect for moss to invade. I do the same as most other greenkeepers. I aerate and sand dress as much as other guys, but the two things that some greenkeepers may not be as aggressive with are my very tight height of cut (2mm) and weekly spoon feeds. Could this be it?

My key for a top greens' surface, or any playing surface to think of it is density. Creating tight, firm swards is crucial to producing top quality playing surfaces. To achieve this, on top of good cultural practises, I believe in a low cutting height and frequent spoon feeds at very low rates, just keeping the plant ticking along nicely. The tightest swards that I have seen with the greatest shoot density have been the modern creeping bents and the good old fashioned perennial poa (which incidentally is seen as a weed by certain traditionalists). Cut low, the swards get so tight on these surfaces that sometimes you have to verti-cut just to get a granular feed in to the canopy. Moss doesn't stand a chance of breaking into these swards.

We all now accept that the excessive fertility inputs of the past have no place in a modern maintenance programme as they produce soft, spongy, disease ridden surfaces that are terrible to putt on. But have today's turf managers gone too far the other way? In certain circumstances, I believe so. The heavy ammonia granular feeds of yesteryear may have produced carpet like swards and because they were so dense they did keep out the moss. However, to help gain speed on longer heights of cuts, fertility has been heavily reduced in certain turf programmes. This has produced weaker swards ideal for pests like moss to gain an advantage. This is where I think frequent spoon feeding has a place in a modern turf programme.

With frequent, light rates, spoon feeding can give you a sward that is growing at a controlled rate. The advantages of this are increased speed and smoother ball roll as growth is controlled but, more importantly for moss control, a stronger sward that helps to suffocate this pest out.

I don't assume that I have the total answer to the question of moss, but having thought about it over the past few months I ask you to consider that there may be a link between cutting heights and fertility. What goes without question is that the greater the sward density, the more chance you have of keeping moss at bay. If you have reduced your fertility over the last few years and seen a dramatic increase in moss, try upping the fertility levels again. It may be as simple as that!

Greens Performance - Are You Measuring It?

One of the biggest complaints from golfers is that their greenkeeper does all this work to their greens and the greens never seem to improve. A greenkeeper can be out there spiking to their heart's content, but if the surfaces don't improve, make no mistake, they will be under pressure.

Smooth putting surfaces are crucial to getting the golfers on your side!

Golf course maintenance in my opinion, is a trade off between good agronomic practises and playability. You have to sit right in the middle of these two as leaning too much to either side will mean you are bound to fail. But how do you measure it? Do you keep saying that the greens are getting better when the golfers view is the contrary? The greenkeeper works his balls off (excuse the pun) only to walk in to the 19th hole and be set upon by angry golfers; very disheartening. No matter where you are in the world, this seems to be a common theme for greenkeepers but what can we do about this?

I always encourage greenkeepers to conduct their own trials and tests. Why rely on outside agencies such as consultants or sales agents to come in and do their tests when, with minimal investment and a little time set aside, you can perform your own. There are two areas to analyse with your testing, as follows:

1) Agronomy

In my last blog I talked about the need to conduct tests before you start an aggressive aeration programme. How do you know where you want to go, if you don't know where you are starting from? Its the same with measuring. Before you bamboozle golfers with scientific talk, make sure you know how the results are going.
Below is a list of tests that should be conducted throughout the year:

• Soil and tissue analysis
  


• Soil moisture content
  


• Percolation rate
  


• Organic matter content
  


• Compaction levels



• Shoot density



• Bulk density
  


• Height of cut - Bench setting v actual height on the green

Some of these tests will have to be completed by a certified laboratory, but most can be performed by you with just a little investment in items such as a petrometer to measure compaction, a moisture probe for soil moisture and an infiltration meter for percolation rate.

2) Performance

For a golfer, the performance of the green is the most important consideration. Turf managers may get excited about how we have reduced our thatch percentage in the top 25mm or how the greens are draining 2mm per hour faster than last year but this information just goes over the heads of the golfers! However, tell them that the greens are stimping at 11 instead of 10, or that the smoothness has gone up from 8 to 9 this week and you will have their attention. A lot of managers get scared about giving them this type of information, but why should you if you are confident of producing the results?

For performance, the criteria should be:

• Speed


• Ball roll


• Firmness

We all know how to measure speed, it is universally measured with a stimp meter, but what about ball roll and firmness? The STRI have brought out devices to measure these which is great. The only problem is cost. The trueness meter currently costs around £12,000 to buy, but what turf manager can afford to slip that into their course budget? However, over the last few years I have been collating data using a method that you may find acceptable, using only your own time and good eyesight.

I will explain all in my next blog!

Aeration - Who needs it?

During August and September, all I hear about from course managers/superintendents is the size tines they have used to hollow core their greens, or the size of their Graden blades. But this has made me think. Are these guys aerating their greens because they discovered that they need too through scientific tests, or are they doing it because they have always done and the course up the road always does too?

Like many turf managers, over the years I have always believed that to produce good greens, aeration is a crucial tool. It provides oxygen for the soil and roots, degrades organic matter build up and improves drainage capabilities. But my eyes were opened several years ago by an American agronomist. At a seminar, he said that if you built a new green, had no golfers play on it and diluted any OM build up thorough dressings, then you would not have to aerate that green at all. Now the golfers would love that (not that they would be allowed on it of course!).

Some data tools available today.

Now this is an unrealistic situation as of course golfers will always play on the greens, but the fact is still there, no golfers potentially means no aeration! If we think of aeration like this then we can start to see that greenkeepers may have over-aerated in the past. I'm starting to believe that as much as certain greenkeepers have under-aerated their greens through the years, some may have over-aerated as well. But how do we know when and how much aeration we should apply?

So, when you plan your next aeration schedule, will you know why you are doing it? Will you be going with a hollow tine set at 75mm (3 inches) because your latest OM results said that around this level there is a high OM percentage? Or, will you be going with a tine that is deeper than the 200mm (8 inch) pan that you have just found in your green with the help of the petrometer? Decisions, decisions. But that's why we are employed, to make the right calls at the right time.

Good luck, I'm off to order my next set of tines!