I have been out on the golf course almost daily over the course of the winter just keeping track of the conditions and changes. As of today we have had snow cover for 53 days . This may become an issue if the snow persists much longer. This is the time line for the most devastating winter disease Grey snow mold, I have attached the following link for your review of this disease,
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-101-W.pdf. The most interesting aspect of Grey Snow Mold is the longer you have snow cover the more devastating the disease. I do not see any of the snow melting any time soon and the last forecast that I saw more snow is on the way. I did apply a fungicide for the control of both Pink and Grey Snow Mold but with the prolonged snow cover and very wet soils that we had early in the winter I am sure that there has been some break down occurring. To be honest, I do not see any signs of any snow mold now and hopefully that will be the case for the future.
As for the ice on the golf course as of today, I am not too concerned with ice damage. In the picture you can see some ice, the ice is fairly granular (if you can open up the picture you will be able to see the air holes in the ice) and not very solid. Comparing this to years that I have had ice damage this ice on the greens is different. I believe air can be transferred out or in through this ice. The ice we had last year was so solid that it trapped the air and develop a anaerobic environment. This in turn ending up killing some spots on the greens.
This year we have done everything we could to prevent ice build up. Right before the snow fell in December, I cut out a few drainage pathways to help move any standing water off the green. I do not have any good pictures because we were doing this in the snow. In theory the water should move off the green much easier with these cutouts. I do my best to keep up with Mother Nature but she just keeps giving me more to deal with.
Thanks
Neil
