Weeds

Many things this year have been extremely frustating and at times just flat out difficult to even stomach this year! One issue particularly for me is the weeds. Normally thorought the summer we are able to periodically touch up our spring weed control to keep weeds to a minimum. In the fall, the best time to approach weed control, we are able to make larger broadcast applications to cleanup any weeds going into winter.

This summer we have not been able to spray a drop of herbicide. Herbicides are classed in two categories, selective and non-selective. Non-selectives are easy, as the name says it all, they kill everything and anything they touch. Round-up is an example of this type. Selective herbicides are used to target a particular species of weed. These can be sprayed over tolerant species of turf and only eliminate your targeted weeds. However, the key words above are "tolerant species". During the weather nothing is tolerant to herbicides. We have had to cease all herbicide applications since June. Normally our turf acts as a natural "herbicide". With a nice thick healthy stand of turfgrass it makes it difficult for any weeds to germinate in the soil, to put it simply there just isn't room. This summer our turf has thinned, giving optimum growing conditions for summer annual broadleaf and grassy weeds.

Two weeds particular we are seeing become very aggressive in this weather, Nutsedge and Crabgrass. Nutsedge is the light lime collar grass we are seeing in the perimeter cuts around greens and in bunker faces. This sedge grows extremely fast. In the perimeter cut, this species stands out like a soar thumb because it can grow quickly to 5 and 6 inches, while the first cut remains at less than an inch. The other annual grassy weed we are seeing is crabgrass. In the spring we made a broadcast application on everything but the greens for crabgrass. The reason we are seeing breakthrough is because of the lack of rain in June. When a pre-emergent is applied, it creates a barrier on the soil surface that does not allow for annual grassy weeds like crabgrass to germinate. However, when the soil becomes very dry and cracks begin to form, the seeds now have an area to germinate through. Many of our hotter and drier areas of the course, like bunker faces, edges of cartpaths and roughs have a higher than usual population of crabgrass. Crabgrass is also classified as a warmseason grass, like bermuda grass. The weather we have been experiencing is perfect for crabgrass to thrive in. Simply, crabgrass is living the good life right now, however, it has no idea what it is about to face next week!

Forecasters are calling for a break in the weather. Temperatures are set to return to seasonable levels which will allow us to begin treating many of these weeds. Next week we will begin spot spraying for both crabgrass and nutsedge across the course. Once we make the application, you will see these grasses turn green, to yellow, then brown. I am very much looking forward to this fall for many many reasons, but one is certainly our broadcast application of herbicides.