Voice of a Greenkeeper: July 2019 Tips

Well, here we are in July already, the season is going so quick.

Most of the country has seen over 200mm of rain fall in a short period of time during the middle of the month with temperatures lower than normal.

Although it caused a few problems with some clubs losing some events at this busy time of the year a lot of clubs are seeing the benefits of the moisture with the rise in temperatures now and more summer-like conditions.

This is creating excellent playing surface on the greens, and eventually recovery on fairways.

As we move into summer, maintaining a healthy sward during these conditions is key, balancing moisture and nutrition management to avoid diseases and excessive stress, heat or drought.

Keep nutrition balanced to maintain a healthy plant but remember with the heavy rains in June some of your nutrition applied before may have been diluted or leached.

As we move forward with some dry conditions you may be watering more regular so this could also affect some of the nutrition applications, you may need to increase with ‘little and often’ applications to keep the plant healthy.

A light summer organic granular with natural slow release, or if you prefer liquid applications, spray a light feed more regularly with some seaweed and a good wetting agent program during these conditions.

Keep an eye on disease symptoms.

With irrigation water being used and the weather conditions, this can sometimes spark a bit of disease activity. Dry patch and Anthracnose are common now.

You can do a great deal to avoid some diseases simply by avoiding stress.

Your nutrition and irrigation programme are very important for this, but so too are other aspects of maintenance, mowing height in particular.
This could be raised, as cutting too low for a long period can be very stressful in these conditions.

Try using a Roller or Vibro Roller every other day to reduce the cutting.

Good light aeration using Sarel Rollers, Star Slitters or Dyna-Spikers to help relive surface tension, and improve moisture absorption from the irrigation, combined with a good moisture management program.

The most important thing to remember at this time of year is your cap and some good sun cream.

Being exposed to the sun for long hours can give you a good tan, but seriously, think of the harm you can cause to your skin.

Insist that the club supplies a good sun cream or block, and plenty of water.