The last couple of days we have been able to get the thatch master out on the golf course and breakup the organic layer on the surface of the bare areas that has been causing us issues with having the runners "tack" down ... by tacking I mean where the stolons extend roots into the ground.
These organic areas are not like the organic matter that you place into your potted plants to aid in their growth; this organic matter has NOT decomposed yet and creates a layer the is hydrophobic (difficult to wet) and dries too quickly during the days we have in the desert. Thus, as the stolons try to root into these areas those roots have difficultly finding available water.
As you can tell by the picture above this layer is on average about 1.5 - 2.0" thick in the areas where it found. It is a combination of under-decomposed dead ryegrass and root mass mainly. This is the main objective of the aerification around the course ... to remove cores of this material, providing a route for the roots to make "true" soil contact and become viable, and lastly to allow water & air movement. In addition, the ryegrass has to be removed soon as possible to allow the bermudagrass to fill in these areas in the first place.
The picture above shows the area sprayed out compared to the area not sprayed. The lighter green "corner" is the bermudagrass that without competition's is filling in the area while the darker non sprayed areas contains so much ryegrass that the "specks" of light green bermudagrass has not filled back in ... and yes that ryegrass will die on its own as shown in the pictures at the top of this article.
There is a meeting with the personnel of JC Resorts from San Diego, the JC Resorts personnel here such as Brandon, Shaun and myself, and the members on the upcoming Tuesday. Please attend and ask questions.
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