March FAQs 2022

GDD Calculator

With some pleasant weather behind us attention turns to the Growth Degree Day Calculator and as always there are questions!

Should I start with Primo yet (Yes, if your growing, start low and use GDD to gauge next application)

What base temperature to use

https://greencastadvisory.com/2022/03/28/growing-degree-days-0c-or-6c/

The calculator is wrong (blog below)

https://greencastadvisory.com/2022/03/28/the-calculator-is-wrong/

Wetting agents penetrant or retentive

Spring is a time when Evapotranspiration usually begins to outstrip rainfall. We don't tend to see stress on the grass plant as there tends to be no other stresses about to compound the problem (Heat, High UV, Intense management, High traffic, etc) but the soils are still drying down and although we have no visual stress on occasions we could be reducing our opportunities to develop good root structure.

We are big fans of getting wetting agents down during this period as we often see a healthier plant throughout the summer.

We also think that using penetrant type wetting agents during this time also has potential to be detrimental. Sometimes this advice is challenged. That's fine every golf course is different and every situation is different but we like to support our beliefs with trial work to make sure we're giving the best advice.

Check out the review of a 2016 trial we did below.

https://greencastadvisory.com/2022/03/17/penetrant-wetting-agents-in-summer/

BTME

Thanks to all of those who came and visited us on the stand at BTME this year. As always it was a great event and a pleasure to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.

It felt very surreal walking around Harrogate with no coat and I particularly enjoyed the spring bulbs.

Whilst the workshops and talks I was involved with had lower numbers than we'd have seen in a normal year they all seemed to go down fairly well. Thanks for joining if you came along.

Thanks to all those who joined us on the Hicure early bird run, it was great to see you all and we were very happy to make our usual donation to the BIGGA benevolent fund.

Anthracnose

Now, not strictly a question more of a warning. The battle against Anthracnose starts now. In the month ahead you'll be undertaking all kind of operations to create a great putting surface. Those same operations will also induce a stress. A stressed plant is much more vulnerable to anthracnose. Whilst it feels painfully early to be mentioning this, now is the time to start planning you season.

https://greencastadvisory.com/2020/07/11/anthracnose-frequently-asked-questions/

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