Willow Ridge Country Club Turfgrass Chronicles: Managing Greens with Highly Variable Weather Patterns

The warm weather over the past week has melted most of the snow, exposing much of the grass on the course. The remaining snow on the greens has softened giving us the opportunity to remove it (via snow blower and shovels), exposing the layer of ice covering the surface of the greens. Topdressing sand was spread on the ice to accelerate melting. The darker sand absorbs the suns rays increasing temperatures at the ice surface, accelerating the melting. In low lying areas where water pools on the greens, we removed a strip of sod to allow the surface water to drain from the green. Removing the water eliminates freezing and thawing cycles which can lead to turf injury or death. That's not the only means turf can be damaged from winter conditions. It is subject to direct temperature kill due to very cold temperatures, desiccation due to cold persistent winds if there's no snow cover, or through annoxia (oxygen deficiencies) due to prolonged ice cover. Winter weather, depending on the severity, can prove to be a very trying time with numerous challenges and obstacles to overcome. In the months leading up to winter we take an active approach to strengthen the turf to help prevent winter injury. Some of the practices we implement going into winter are sand topdressing to protect susceptible plant tissue, increasing the height of cut to provide a greater surface area to photosynthesize, providing adequate fertility to help with nutrient storage, as well as keeping plant growth restricted with plant growth regulators. While there's no silver bullet in dealing with winter injury, especially with the winter we've had, you do your best to stack the cards in your favor to reduce if not eliminate any potential damage.