Winter's Woes

The blog has been quiet, thought about taking the winter off, but I'm not so sure this is winter any more.  I was optimistic that rain would come in January.  The Farmer's Almanac is usually right, somehow, but here is the January forecast for Northern California:

JANUARY 2014: temperature 53° (1° below avg.); precipitation 8" (5" above avg.); Jan 1-3: Clouds and occasional drizzle, cool; Jan 4-10: Heavy rain, then sunny, chilly; Jan 11-14: Heavy rain, mild; Jan 15-16: Showers;Jan 17-19: Heavy rain, mild; Jan 20-24: Rainy periods, cold;Jan 25-27: Sunny, cool; Jan 28-31: Rainy, cool.

Unfortunately, not a drop of rain has fallen this entire month.  I've been getting a lot of questions about the impact to the course concerning the lack of rain and higher than normal temperatures.  We like the rain to flush out salts, take some pressure off the irrigation system, and get some deep watering to the trees and landscape.

The sodium content in the soil has not piled up too badly and we are managing like we would in the summer months with no real problem.  Our irrigation system is running as normal and we are staying below our budget with no issues.  Most locations only need a weekly watering.  The trees and plant material on the slope could certainly use some irrigation so we are working to repair those stations that have been out of use for a few years.

 We normally do not have to worry about checking moisture throughout the course or even turning on the irrigation more than a few times a month during a normal winter.  This year, we are seeing signs of summer even though it's six months away.  To the left, the fifth fairway has some severe signs of hydrophobic soil.  This is all bermuda grass and some of it is dormant and brown while the rest is still green.  The green portion has some water in the soil, the brown part is bone dry.  Tomorrow, we will spray a wetting agent to correct the problem and reduce surface tension to help the soil accept water again.










Just as unusual, we normally don't need to use wetting agents on the greens this time of year because regular rains keep the soil hydrated.  Number 18 green this morning was showing some dry patterns and will need a treatment tomorrow as well along with the rest of the greens.

As far as the temperatures, the warmer than normal weather has been a good thing.  The roots in the greens are as good as we could expect this time of year and I'm sure the lack of frost and warm days have helped that cause.  Many bermuda locations are still semi-green and others are greening up early.  This is not a problem as long as we don't get hit by a heavy frost.  We don't want the bermuda to go in and out of dormancy and waste it's carbohydrate reserves, much like you don't want trees blooming too soon.

More updates coming soon, thanks for reading.