April Fools
Mother nature is playing a cruel joke! As I write this it is 27 degrees with some light flurries. This is no way to start the month of April!
The course will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The upcoming forecast features warmer days with a chance of some rain. This weather combination should relieve the remaining frost in the ground and will help the grass break dormancy. I feel we are a week behind a "normal" spring here in northwest Connecticut. To put in a better perspective I will use Growing Degree Days(GDD) to compare last year and this year.
In early spring I use (GDD) to decide when to apply plant growth regulators to the greens. On 4/3/12 we accumulated 83 GDD. As of today we have accumulated 3 GDD. That's quite a departure from last year and really illustrates how cold it has been since Mar 1st.
The good news is that the crew cleaned up half the course and we continue to make good progress preparing the course for opening day. We are slowly getting caught up on all our preventive maintenance so our equipment will be ready for the season. We are also cleaning and reorganizing the shop with the goal of being more productive.
The new 5th tee did not root as well as I hoped this winter. We covered the tee last week with our semi permeable blanket. This will slightly raise the soil temperature and help the roots grow deeper. It will remain covered for at least the next two weeks.
Next week I will post an update on the course and try to forecast possible dates for opening day.
The course will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The upcoming forecast features warmer days with a chance of some rain. This weather combination should relieve the remaining frost in the ground and will help the grass break dormancy. I feel we are a week behind a "normal" spring here in northwest Connecticut. To put in a better perspective I will use Growing Degree Days(GDD) to compare last year and this year.
In early spring I use (GDD) to decide when to apply plant growth regulators to the greens. On 4/3/12 we accumulated 83 GDD. As of today we have accumulated 3 GDD. That's quite a departure from last year and really illustrates how cold it has been since Mar 1st.
The good news is that the crew cleaned up half the course and we continue to make good progress preparing the course for opening day. We are slowly getting caught up on all our preventive maintenance so our equipment will be ready for the season. We are also cleaning and reorganizing the shop with the goal of being more productive.
The new 5th tee did not root as well as I hoped this winter. We covered the tee last week with our semi permeable blanket. This will slightly raise the soil temperature and help the roots grow deeper. It will remain covered for at least the next two weeks.
Next week I will post an update on the course and try to forecast possible dates for opening day.
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