Golf
New bunker revetting
was a lot of thatch in them, and any rain that fell could not penetrate it. I started in the summer with brown fairways and, when the rain did come, they turned black and slimy. Any more than about 6 or 7mm of rain would result in flooding!” “The first items of machinery I purchased
here were a Sisis Megaslit and a Sisis Veemo. The first autumn we scarified, hollow cored, overseeded with dwarf rye/fescue and topdressed with green waste compost. Through the winter, we verti-drained and slit tined. The following year, we had another drought - sixteen weeks with no rain - and things turned brown again. We repeated the same maintenance that year, in year three we went dry again, but we maintained grass cover, and, when the rain came, they greened up much more quickly.” “We still carry a lot of aeration, we hollow
core annually, scarify twice a year, verti-drain three times a year and slit tine three or four times. Any weak areas are overseeded with fescue and dressed with a 70/30 divot mix. We use wetting agent, organic liquid fertilisers, water soluble fertilisers and Primo Maxx on all fairways.” Mike goes on to explain that pests and
diseases are treated as needed. “We spray around five times a year for fusarium. I don’t
Small, but beautifully maintained - conifers are on their way out!
use fungicides for red thread or anthracnose, I just give it a little feed and grow it out.” “We do all our own spraying. We try to
spray preventively for turf disease, using different chemicals each time and always mixing to the recommended rates. I always check the weather and disease sites for any upcoming disease pressure and try to time our applications for when we need them.” “The only pests we spray for are worms
and leather jackets. Carbendazim is used for worms, and now, of course, we have nothing for leatherjackets. The last couple of years have been really bad for them, so I’m a bit anxious to see what happens this winter now that product has been withdrawn. The best advice I have had so far is to try and encourage starlings!” “The biggest animal problem we have is
with young humans, who come through the course late at night after drinking on the beach. They then consider it okay to carve phallic symbols into the greens and pinch flags and bunker rakes! If I were to catch them at it, I would think a stern telling off might do the trick,” suggests Mike, somewhat tongue in cheek! “We used to use temporary greens for
frost, but we stopped four years ago. I’ve never liked using temporary greens for frost,
Double delivery!
The new Overseeder 1830 delivers seed to the soil via two rows of coulters burying it safely up to 30mm (1¼”) deep in the ground and 1830 uses individually mounted coulters that allow the machine to continue working in undulating conditions.
Find out more about the new Overseeder 1830 today. Designed for durability
www.charterhouse-tm.co.uk | 01428 661222 PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 I 29 Verti-draining is a regular operation
and the members do nothing but moan about it. So, I informed the greens committee that we would have a trial winter of not coming off main greens for frost. I was an instant hero! We had an average winter and, come the spring, there was absolutely no negative outcome.” Mike explains that the soil is generally
quite sandy, with a subsoil of gravel. “We do have quite a bit of clay in some areas and
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