By now most have seen the misfortune that we suffered from the sprayer pump malfunction. Several greens were burned and now the leaf tissue is dying off and causing brown areas in the greens. Currently we are giving the plants everything they need to recover and regrow. We have seen in a lot of areas with new plants germinating. Our root system was still strong when the sprayer broke and the roots are still showing good signs of life.
#1 Green in Sprayer Burned Area
With the temperatures reaching 90 plus, the recovery process will be a slow and painful trip. We will be constantly keeping the turf canopies cool by hand watering, applying nutrients to recover, venting when needed, and topdressing areas to prevent algae from forming that will inhibit the turf from recovering.
Plug Puled Out of Burned Area #1 Green with White Roots in Bottom
From the photo that was taken in a sprayer burnt area, you can see there are still several inches of roots that are viable. Typically healthy roots are white and dying out roots are brown or black. You can see in the bottom of the plug there are still good white roots, which gives us a good indication they are still healthy and have the ability to recover. Basically I could say “their feet are still underneath them standing up, but they just don’t have a lot of hair.”
The heat has softened the greens up and due to less leaf tissue the ball is holding on the greens now versus bouncing off. With that being said it is imperative to repair all ball marks correctly to assist in the healing process.
A couple of places we have set up directional roping to help golfers avoid areas of the greens that will benefit from less foot traffic. Don’t step over the ropes. Walk around the roping to an area that is better able to withstand more foot traffic.