​Hi Charlie

I am president of Georgina Lawn Bowling Club and our town currently does our greens. On the mornings that they aren't doing our green, we sometimes have dew on the green and we don't have members in our club who can comfortably wick the dew off the greens. A long term member advised me today that dew causes dollar spots and I can't find anything on the internet that supports what he has said. Does dew cause the dollar spots?

If our grant application is accepted, we  are hoping to get a roller that will remove the dew.

In Florida, we sometimes use the large mats to remove moisture from the green. Do you know of any firm in Ontario where we can purchase the large mats? I understand that the firm where most clubs purchased their mats is no longer making them. If the wick is too hard on our members, is there anything else you could recommend to remove the dew?

Thanks for your time, we would appreciate your help.
Regards
Judy Anderson

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Hi Terry,

No, dew by itself doesn’t created dollar spots. Dollar spots is a disease that is in your soil. All it needs to hit the turf is high temperature with high humidity. When the temperature stays above 75 degrees during the night with high humidity and your green has not been treated for dollar spots, you will get them.

A couple of things you can do to help yourself is remove the thatch in your green and remove the dew in early morning before the sun has a chance to dry it off.

One way to check for dollar spots is when your green is covered with dew, walk the green and look for some cobweb-y small areas the size of a loonie. If you don’t remove the dew and you have some of these spots, in a couple of days you will see that the spots will have turned brown and you are stuck with dead turf for the rest of the season.

Dew removal is very important. That is why the golf courses do it every morning. At my club I have two people coming every morning that we don’t mow, to remove the dew starting in May until the end of the season. We use a broom that I made, I got 2 brooms 36 inches wide with soft bristles and screwed them together to form a 6 feet wide brush. We used to have a mat but the brush does a better job. Any way you take the dew off is good, but remember to remove thatch and remove the dew and you should be okay.

If I can be of any more help let me know.
Charles

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Hi Charles,

Thank you for your good advice, I will share the information with our team and see what we can do to get the green fixed up.

Regards
Judy

For your reference, I have attached a reply from evergreens sales agent that discusses cost. 

Their website indicates it warms the greens (for golf) and allows the golf clubs to open much earlier. I think Goulbourn has used all its available grant money for this and next year so I am not sure they will buy it.

At least two clubs here in Ottawa had severe winter damage this year. Goulbourn has recovered a lot but still has a large number of 'holes'. I understand Almonte is still in very bad shape.


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Chris Sheppard <chris@allturf.ca>

Jun. 29 at 8:06 a.m.
Thanks Wayne 
Assuming these are breathable covers ? 
10 year pro rated warranty    .31cents per sq / ft 
12 year pro rated warranty    .32 cents per sq/ft 
This cover radiates 25 % more heat 

120 x120 x.32 = $4608
120 x 120 x .31 = $4464 

Thank you 
Chris

Do you have any position on the use of winter sport field covers for greens such as those made by Evergreen http://evergreenturfcovers.com/

Wayne


Hi Wayne.

Good question. I don’t know of any lawn bowling club that has covered their greens for the winter. I know that one fall at Burlington they reseeded a large patch on their south green and covered it with a piece of cover they got from a local golf course. The part that was covered was more advanced than the rest of the green in early spring.

Some golf courses use them and some don’t. Hidden Lake covers their greens every fall. They are the only one around here. I will ask around and let you know.

If you can afford to buy the cover and have the manpower to install it, I am sure it would work well but it is not cheap to buy and not easy to lay down on your green. It has to be well- secured to last the whole winter. If not, then with the first wind storm it will be gone.

Hope this helps.
Charles

Do you have localized dry spots on your green? These areas appear blueish and water beads off the surface. If you take a core sample the ground underneath will be dry even after watering.

You may want to try a wetting agent to resolve the problem.

You can use a product called RootZone eXel Pellet RX 0-2-1 (pictured below) sold by Ontario Seed Corporation. For small areas it can be applied with a watering can. At room temperature the product is solid but for these small applications a 3-5 second cook in a microwave produces liquid. Add 5 ml of product to two gallons of water and soak the area of concern.

For large areas a water filter housing (pictured below) containing the whole solid puck is needed. The housing is interconnected by garden hoses to a water tap and lawn sprinkler. The wetting agent is applied by watering. Unless you have a self-propelled lawn sprinkler, it needs to be moved manually. Some clubs may be able to install the filter housing directly into their green irrigation system.

The cost is around $230 for 6 containers, which will treat 11,000 m2. Water filter housings start around $45.
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You will also need fittings to connect the filter housing to garden hoses.

The second turf seminar was held on Sunday, June 23, at University of Guelph.

Forty people attended the seminar and had lots of good comments about the session

The photo below shows the attendees learning how to use plugs for patching bare patches

We are devising a plan of attack for a lawn that hasn't had a knowledgeable greenskeeper for a number of years. We have a high percentage (99% ?) of soil and almost no sand. We're getting ready to aerate and top dress.

Should we buy straight sand from one of the two suppliers in Ontario or should we consider an 80/20 mix with peat or something else?

Don

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Thank you for using the greens forum. Since your green is 99 percent soil, you should use pure wash sand. Never use an 80/20 mixture because if you do use that mixture you probably will have compaction at the end of your green.

I get my sand from Hutchinson Sand and Mixes and I order Bunker B sand. That's what most good golf courses use for the top dressing. Ask your local golf course greens keeper. He should be able to tell you where he gets his sand. I know some greens keepers are using a mixture, but I don't recommend anything but pure sand for the top dressing.

Hope this helps.
​Charles

NEW DATE: Sunday, June 23, 2019
10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Guelph Turf Institute
328 Victoria Road South
Guelph Ont.

Bring your brown-bag lunch.

Subjects

• turf grass diseases and management
• irrigation fundamentals
• outdoor workshop
• spot repair tricks and tips

​Register: roach@olba.ca

Thank you Ken for using the greens keeper forum.

I don’t know of any greens in Ontario that are using that type of mower. The only one I have seen was at Pinehurst NC. When I discussed this with the greens keeper he said the biggest problem was getting into the corners. He still had to use the walk-behind mower to cut the corners.

I don’t know what the cost would be for a riding mower but In my estimation it is not worth the money to buy one.

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions let me know (or post a comment).

​Charles