Mother Nature on the rampage!
T
The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive private members club in Fulham, South West London. It is situated on the banks of the River Thames between Putney and Wandsworth
Grounds Manager, Peter Craig, explains some of the methods used to combat a couple of ‘natural’ problems encountered this year
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he variety of challenges offered to the incumbent Grounds Manager at Hurlingham are many and varied. It
really is a fascinating post and one that I enjoy immensely. From time-to-time, fresh challenges
crop up that have not been seen before and, currently, there are two such challenges that have led to more than a little head scratching.
bridges, just ten-minutes from the heart of the West End.
Managing the fine turf surfaces here means an ongoing sequence of feeding, cutting, watering, rolling and the recognition and treatment of various pests and diseases. We have dealt with diseases such as fusarium and ophiobolus patch, and pests such as leatherjackets, frit fly, St Marks fly and the good old earthworm. However, the latest problem, in the form of nematodes, has been our greatest challenge yet. Nematodes are slender, worm-like animals, typically less than 2.5 millimetres (0.10 in) long. The smallest nematodes, such as we are dealing with at Hurlingham, are microscopic and, therefore, the only way to ascertain their presence is by sending soil samples away for labarotary analysis.
The type of nematode that has caused major problems on our croquet and bowls surfaces is called a root-gall nematode. It lives in the the roots of the
grass, feeding off the soft tissue inside the root. At regular intervals, the nematodes literally burst out of the root where they breed frenetically. The offspring then burrow their way back in to any available roots, where the whole cycle starts again.
Dealing with this type of pest presents two uniquely significant problems. The first is that, as the nematode lives most of the time inside the plant root, it is protected from outside threats such as chemicals. Secondly, as this problem is relatively new, there has been little research done on combatting it, and there are no treatments available at present that can guarantee success. With the help of our consultant
agronomist, David Whittaker, who was Course Manager at Wisley Golf Club for many years, we have put together a programme of treatment which we are very hopeful will control the problem. Whilst the nematodes, by themselves, will not kill the grass plant, they do weaken it considerably. This combination of stress, caused by the pest, very low cutting heights and summer dryness will, inevtitably, lead to the eventual death of the grass.
Our two-pronged attack was to firstly,
through cultural methods such as nutrition and aeration, ensure that the
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