Friday, 25 May 2018

 The Craighead course greens have recovered well from the major aeration work 4 weeks ago to reduce our thatch levels and to improving our surfaces
 We applied another top-dressing of sand to aid the recovery of the Craighead course greens this week
 We are at our full cutting program over both courses due to the dry warm weather
 Staff busy trying to keep up with the growth of all areas
 We have been having our irrigation system on every night due to the dry weather for the last 3 weeks, which operates from 10pm to about 5.30am so it wont interfere with play plus lower temperatures at night so not too scorch the grass plant

 We have applied our wetting agent and seaweed to the Balcomie course greens this week
 An application of selective herbicide was applied to the Craighead course tees to reduce daises
We have been noticing slight damage and hatching from leather jackets which turn into daddy long legs, I'm sure most courses are having the same issue as we have no insecticides to spray to control them now on the market

Monday, 14 May 2018

 May this weather continue
 The Craighead course greens are recovering well from the major aeration work that was carried out to reduce thatch levels, improve drainage and air movement through the soil structure, which will result in firmer surfaces
 We are hoping the greens will be fully recovered in another 2 weeks
 It's that time of year that we spray for weeds, mostly daises we suffer from so we applied a selective herbicide to all the fairways on both courses
 With us using the irrigation systems more with irrigating to keep the plant moisture levels up, watering in fert and washing in sand, we have been having bursts on the old Balcomie course system
 The old PVC pipe work coming to the end of it's life expectancy plus the glued joints

 Another issue we are having is the old electric cabling for the irrigation system needing repairs
It's great to see all the wildflowers in bloom round both our courses

Friday, 4 May 2018

 The courses are really taking shape now and going into the season in good condition despite the bad winter
 We have completed our wildflower area on the driving range, which consisted of cutting and collecting the area
 rotovate the area 2 ways to prepare the surface and bury the left over vegetation
 light rake and firmed up then seeded
 light rake and firmed up again to bury the seed
 We have levelled and seeded the old drain line at the 15th semi-rough on the Balcomie course
The guys did a great job cutting back the flowerbed at the Clubhouse putting green area