Pictures from this week

Watering #12 green early Saturday morning

The "Whopper" Begonias looking good next to the white regular begonias

Wave Petunia's mixed in with new gold Lantana

Bianca mowing 17 green.  Dave checking moisture, Paul cutting collars and approaches

Getting some air

This past Wednesday and Thursday we punched little 1/4" cores on all the greens. This was a scheduled event and will allow air/water to get into the root system. We did not put any sand on them and only rolled them and set the flags before play. They have been mowed everyday since Friday and are hardly noticeable now.

This picture was taken right after 1/4" cores, blowing, rolling, fertilizing and watering.  Most of the holes have covered over now.

Moisture Meters

The use of moisture meters have gained popularity over the past few years and we at Bear's Best Atlanta have also adopted the process. We have used a meter, the TDR 300 from Spectrum Technologies the past four years. They give us a specific number or volumetric water content (VMC) for us to use. In conjunction with checking dew patterns, we take anywhere from 20-40+ readings per green in the morning and then monitor throughout the day. Watering then is based on weather conditions for the day. On low humidity days, the number we use is higher than on more humid days. We have greatly reduced the use of overhead sprinklers by hand watering the areas of the greens that need it. We keep much more consistent moisture in the soil this way. We have reduced our wilt in the afternoon, but also have been able to keep the surface healthier and firmer with drier conditions. These are the same meters that they use each week on the PGA Tour to dial in the moisture levels.

The readout we see on the screen when taking readings.  On this green, 33 readings were taken with an average VMC of 14.5%.  This spot was 14.4% 

Putting the probes in the greens