Following last month’s tip regarding ball-mark repair, this month I have chosen a video on divot repair. Please play close attention to repairing the divot with sand/soil mix as it applies mopre to the type of turf that we have here at Naples Heritage. Click the link to view this month’s tip. DIVOT REPAIR
Recently, I have been battling several issues on several of the greens here. Late summer always proves to be a challenge in maintaining healthy greens. About two weeks ago I began noticing issues with turf health on several of the greens. Many, many factors contribute to declining turf health.
Stress to the turf in several forms can start a cycle of problems. Weather is probably the most significant factor in all of this. The common belief is that the hot summer days of South Florida provide ideal conditions in which to grow bermudagrass. While high soil temperatures are absolutely necessary, afternoon thunderstorms, high humidity and periods of extended cloud cover are also factors that put stress on the plant. One of the things that we try to do is to reduce the stresses that can occur. We generally raise the height of cut and refrain from any aggressive verti-cutting. Unforeseen factors such as irrigation issues may arise and that is what happened on a couple of the greens. Through several fungicide applications, I am confident that I have stopped the culprit which is referred to as Bermudagrass Decline. The areas that have been affected have become thin and weak. Now we have to do several things to bring the turf back to full health. These include frequent fertilizations of nitrogen sources, topdressing and spiking. We are also mowing the affected greens by hand at higher cutting heights. I have already seen improvements in these areas.
During the next few weeks I am going to be applying a rather aggressive herbicide application to some of the rough areas to try to eliminate our worst weed at this time, Tropical Signalgrass. Signalgrass looks somewhat like crabgrass, but is much, much more difficult to eradicate. The mixture that I will be using is a “hot” mixture. This will cause some injury and burning to the desirable bermudagrass and the turf will appear rather brown and dry looking. While I will be injuring the bremudagrass, it will bounce back withing 7 to 10 days. Those of you that are here and playing the golf course will undoubtedly notice this.
While the recent rains have certainly been a welcome sight, there is another sight at the golf course that is not so welcome. That is the sight of mole cricket damage to the turf. 
Mole crickets are the single biggest problem we face on the golf course during the summer months in Florida. There is no reason that I can think of where a mole cricket has a place on this planet other than apparently it makes a delicious snack called Camaru in Thailand I’ve read. Given the fact that I won’t be snacking on any of these guys in the near future, it is quite a battle to control them. They can and do cause significant damage to the turf.
In addition to the damage that the crickets produce, the armadillos, raccoons, and possums dig for these tasty treats as well. In June we applied a fertilizer that is coated with a long-lasting insecticide. Because of the expense, we only applied this product to the fairways, tees and greens. The areas that are left untreated are monitored weekly for infestations. It seems like we are treating for these insects constantly throughout the summer season. The crickets are most active during the full moon cycle. Mole crickets damage turf by feeding on the plant roots, stems and leaves and by tunneling through the soil.
