It seems strange to have such a dry year, followed by what so far has been such a wet one. But it is great for a rainfall graph if nothing else!
I guess most turf mangers would choose an overly wet July over an overly dry one?
But perhaps not if you had a big tournament coming up. Like lets say the 151st Open…
The graph above is really a testament to the surfaces James Bledge and the team at Royal Liverpool managed to present last month, and to the pre work they put in to the course before the tournament prep even began.
Congratulations to the Royal Liverpool team and all the volunteers who made the event a success.
I’m not sure what the actual rain gauge figures were for Royal Liverpool, but the Syngenta weather modelling for Hoylake logged 22mm rain for the month of July 2022, and a whopping 82mm 2023!
Awkwardly much of the months rain fell during the tournament. With the 21st – 24th seeing a pretty unrelenting torrent (the sharp rise on the graph below).
It highlights how challenging greenkeeping can be when the weather turns against you, and also how important it is to have a plan.
You can see from the graphic below that Hoylake was not alone, with many areas of the UK logging very high rainfall.
It’s going to be interesting to see the effects Julys weather will have on conditions going forward, good for rooting and growth but possibly leaching some nutrition and encouraging some disease pressure.
We’ve seen some of this show it’s self already, with higher dollar spot pressure and red thread happy about washed out fertility and raised leaf wetness.
Rain isn’t a bad thing as we’ll remember from last years drought, but all good things in moderation!
Fingers crossed for a better August!
I’ve written a blog all about dealing with Dollar Spot (NB – it is our Turf Disease of the Year 2023) – just tap here to read that.
Also, if you want to know more about Red Thread, tap here. It’s all the questions I’ve been asked about it, answered.
