Ice Removal Results

If you've been following our blog for long, you'll recall the ice issues we identified with some of our Poa annua greens in early January. We tried numerous mechanical removal techniques as well as a large scale melting technique to remove the ice from the turf surface. With temperatures peaking well into the mid 10s, the turf is becoming active, affording us an opportunity to evaluate the extent of the damage our turf suffered from the ice cover.

If you recall, we concentrated our efforts on three Poa annua greens (9, 11 and 18) that had >50% ice cover more than 3-4mm thick. These greens experienced ice cover before Christmas and the ice remained there through the extreme cold snap we had in early January before we attempted removal of the ice in mid- to late January. Although removing the ice was of paramount importance to even give the turf the chance at survival, Poa annua is extremely susceptible to ice damage and some studies show severe damage can occur in as little as 30 days. As we evaluate the results of our numerous removal strategies, we are seeing ice damage that likely occurred within the first 30 days of ice cover. We have seen turf loss in areas that we removed ice from as well as in areas that were left untouched as a control. We are also seeing damage on two other greens (3 and the practice green) that were left completely untouched from any ice removal at all due, in part, to their location and the access to our large scale ice melt strategies. We have monitored the condition of these greens very closely leading up to this week and have noticed very little progress. We removed a number of plugs from each green (3, 9, 11 and 18) and placed them inside to evaluate the turf after it has completely come out of dormancy and those plugs show very few signs of healthy turf. We also removed plugs from a Poa annua green (8) that remained snow covered for the entire winter and a bentgrass green (19) that has an almost identical location as one of the trouble Poa greens as a comparison. These two comparisons show obvious signs of healthy turf and very little, if any, winter injury. This is clearly shown in the picture by the two plugs that are obviously much greener in colour than the other eight plugs. This only fortifies the point that both the location and type of grass on our trouble greens are cause for worry not only this winter but in subsequent winters.

Given the circumstances and the amount of lost or severely damaged turf, the decision has been made to go ahead with the re-grassing of the four Poa annua greens (3, 9, 11 and 18) that experienced ice cover. We view this as a perfect opportunity to alleviate one of the factors that influence spring conditions at the EPGCC and re-grass these Poa greens with bentgrass, a much hardier cool-season turf species. We are fortunate enough to be able to use our nursery for more than 50% of the sod. The recent winter storm event has delayed the sodding by a couple of days, but the maintenance department continues to work through the snow and into this week ensuring that we stay on schedule and complete the process as soon as possible. Please stay tuned for updates from the sodding crew this week. We will post pictures and updates on our blog next week but for instant and more frequent updates, please look at our Twitter account.

Questions concerning any of the information here can be directed to the EPGCC Maintenance Department through our Twitter account, our Facebook page, or contact us directly at the shop.