Forum Groups

 

Forums / Talking Turf / Deep Water push up greens?

Deep Water push up greens?

7 posts
  1. Luebben Darin
    Luebben Darin avatar
    6/9/2013 7:06 PM
    Anyone out there deep watering push up bentgrass greens? If so. are you using a wetting agent also? Any downside?



  2. Becwar Benjamin G
    Becwar Benjamin G avatar
    6/11/2013 10:06 AM
    If your talking about trying to flush a push up green then Yes, and I use Florantine's Prevade. Best wetting agent out there in my opinion.
    There is no down side to attempting to flush any type of green.



  3. Luebben Darin
    Luebben Darin avatar
    6/12/2013 10:06 AM
    I'm actually talking about deep watering instead of watering daily.



  4. Rosenthal Gregg
    Rosenthal Gregg avatar
    6/12/2013 5:06 PM
    Darin,

    We have very old push up greens, clay soil with many years of sand topdressing. I can tell you this year here in the Chicago area we have had to water little at all, as it has rained alto on a regular basis, although a few times I have gone out and hit a few dry spots with some wetting agent tabs. Last years very dry weather we watered nightly and had to hand water dry spots. Deep watering does not work so well on our greens as the clay has a tendency to not absorb the water well enough when they get too dry. It can just run off sometimes making it difficult to get the water down into the soil. Also late summer the roots tend to be in the top of the sand/soil, not deep into the clay base original mix of the greens. This years as things have tended to stay moist, temperatures kept mild, all is good so far, our roots are deep and all is green and growing fast. In Fact we have growth regulation in effect, Greens, tees, fairways, rough growing out of the world! Its a good year here in the Chicago area for turf!

    GreggR



  5. Verdun Scott M
    Verdun Scott M avatar
    6/13/2013 10:06 AM
    We have 1922 push-ups and I try to put a deep water on every 3 weeks when I apply a penetrant along with some additional soil products and a gypsum app. I am just north of Chicago and we too have had very regular rains and these deep water cycles have been the only irrigation applied this season. The inclusion of a penetrant is critical in my opinion as it not only moves the water deeper into the profile but also helps lateral movement of the water, this has all but eliminated lds with the exception of late last season when during a drought we had a build-up of bi-carbs that clogged up a few spots.

    Water deep and let it go as long as possible before you do it again. Deep doesn't mean 20 minutes either, when I water deep ideally it's near a rain event but I generally put an hour of irrigation down to really get the water deep into the profile. Deep roots, healthier turf.

    Scott



  6. Luebben Darin
    Luebben Darin avatar
    6/14/2013 5:06 PM
    Thanks everyone.



  7. Nowakowski Michael J
    Nowakowski Michael J avatar
    6/15/2013 7:06 AM
    We do not have a very good irrigation system here so I regularly water greens as deeply as possible every time we irrigate. This might mean 1-2 hours on a green depending on the particular green. The majority of the greens are old push up soil greens so they take the water well. The only problem greens we have are ones that were rebuilt before I got here and were capped with about 4" of sand then resodded, the roots have a hard time getting past this layer and the water leaves the sand quickly and heads for the soil. We have 4 greens like this. I do not use wetting agent as I don't like becoming a slave to always having to apply. We deep tine aerate with solid or coring tines but do not topdress after, just roll and within 3 days the holes are covered over. I find these channels remain open until we aerate again and allow excessive water to drain through the profile but still leaves plenty of water behind for the turf.



View or change your forums profile here.