Greens Update

The "Polar Vortex" has come and gone and we are all glad for that!  We have experienced some of the coldest temperatures I can  recall and more than likely near record lows.  Not only did we hit single digits but the wind chill was in negative numbers.  We covered greens last Thursday and plan to remove tomorrow 1/9.  This puts us at 13 nights overall of being covered, which is more than the last 3 winters combined. Although we could have removed covers Saturday for play I am glad we left them on.  If removed it is possible that any warm up in the soil temperature could have been lost.  This will be a real test for the Ultra dwarf  Bermuda greens out there.  We have not experienced temps like this and I(as well as many of my peers) are concerned.  What concerns me most is the amount of time below freezing--over 60 hours!  Many greens are still frozen.  Another concern is Winterkill,  which is the loss of turf during the winter months.  It has many causes such as crown hydration and low temperatures. 

We know from cold-chamber studies that plant death will occur at a soil temperature

below 20°F. These trials also demonstrated that exposure to soil temperatures down to

25°F for less than one week does not cause great harm.


We definitely experienced soil temps in the low 20's.  As crazy as the weather of 2013 was we can only hope the start to 2014 is better.  Rain welcomed us and this Saturday we are looking at more rain and 65 degrees. Strange!