Bermuda grass weed spray

This blog post is coming out late because we spent the entire morning making our herbicide application to fairways. We had a small window of opportunity of dry weather and calm or light wind conditions that we seized. Now all the fairways have been sprayed with a chemical to kill the weeds as well as a small amount of fertilizer to help the Bermuda grass get going.

This is one of the hardest tasks we do on the course. The precision and focus required makes it a very difficult application. The chemical we use kills nearly everything except Bermuda grass. It is a very useful and effective tool for killing weeds in the fairways. However, if there is one slip in concentration and the chemical gets in the rough or collars or anything besides Bermuda grass and that spot is dead. In addition, we strive to never close the course for any reason and close 9 holes only for aeration, so this weed killer application must be made ahead of play but be dry before any golfers walk through it. This is also a difficult balancing act that requires a lot of communication between the Grounds department and the Proshop. Finally, once the spray is complete, the last, difficult aspect is cleaning the sprayer thoroughly. Any residue left in the tank could potentially harm the greens or rough next time we spray. This could be catastrophic. So there is a great deal of time spent running a chemical cleaning solution through the tank repeatedly.

Overall, the application went well and we expect to see results very soon. It is also a relief for our department to be done with this particularly big hurdle.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please remember to remove any bunker sand that may be stuck to your spikes before walking on the greens.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org