Winter Watering

Up until Tuesday February 4th the winter has been warm, windy, and dry.  Which is the perfect ingredient for desiccation damage in cool-season turf (Putting Greens and Rough).  Desiccation occurs when the roots cannot supply enough water to the semi-dormant/dormant plant to keep up with the amount of water lost through the leaves and crowns.  All of our putting greens are 90% sand, and sandy soils have a very low water holding capacity.  Because, the irrigation system is blown out in the winter to prevent pipes from freezing we cannot simply turn on the sprinklers. So, in attempt to prevent our greens from desiccating we were able to rig a hose to the end of our sprayer and pump water to the putting greens 150 gallons at a time.  We successfully watered all the greens just in time for 10" of insulation (snow).  Hopefully, if Spring ever comes we will have some healthy Greens to putt on.