The Calm Before the Storm
Now that Spring has finally sprung, it's time to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions and get your golf course amped up for the inevitable summer stress headed your way. June, July and August are the three most demanding months in the growing season that test even the best superintendents with the most available resources.
At the very core of managing upcoming summer stress is maintaining a well thought out fertility program that keeps the turf growing at the proper pace. A growing plant will be less affected by diseases and insect damage while continuing to reproduce new plants. The last thing you want is to have a deficiency in any nutritional area. This is where utilizing a good soil and plant tissue lab is worth its weight in gold. Without these critical tools that help provide you with the crucial insight with what's actually happening in the soil and plant, you're really only guessing what your course needs to thrive. Make the investment in testing multiple areas throughout your course.
One of the most effective tools to help prepare your course for heat and drought stress is the use of biostimulants. The right biostimulants, in the proper amounts, will assist the turfgrass plant in triggering internal self-defense mechanisms that allow it to maintain its health and effectively buffer the stresses. While there's no shortage of biostimulants on the market today, you should test which ones work most effectively on your course. I would also encourage you to do some homework on each biostimulant you test; they are all not the same. Just because you're spraying on your turf doesn't mean it's getting into the plant.
A key element to always remember about biostimulants is that they operate very similar to a flu shot. They need time to enter the plant and activate the mechanisms in the plant before the stresses are present. Biostimulants will not solve any stress damage that the turf is experiencing. You certainly wouldn't get a flu shot after you already have the flu. The same philosophy applies to biostimulants.
As professional turf managers, everyone is trying to do the same thing; provide excellent playing surfaces for our members and customers. The next 30 days will go a long way in achieving that ultimate goal. Because when the storm begins, it's much more difficult to deal with. Take advantage of the time you have now.
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