Ants in the Pants
Published March 31, 2006
The snow melts, the sun comes out and it's time for golf. Just two days into some decent weather and already the questions are forthcoming. When are you going to roll? When are you going to mow? Jeez guys, it's only March and you can bet your bottom dollar that there is going to be a lot of bad weather yet in the month of April. You know, it's still early up here on the hill.
Well, it seems that the courses along the lake shore are already mowing and we're a golf course too, so I guess we should be mowing as well. Even though our growing season is usually a week or so behind those courses down (lower elevation)on the lake shore, golf is a game played on greens and greens are best when they're smooth, so why not, let's mow them. So that's what we're doing. We're mowing and rolling the greens today.
Are there any repercussions from mowing too early? The answer to that is...maybe. Over the winter months the leaf blades become adjusted to winter and any cuts or wounds on the leaf surfaces are usually healed over. When turf is mowed the leaf blades are being sliced open. These cuts are like open wounds and provide entry points for pathogens. In a sense, by mowing, we are giving diseases a place to enter the plants to start their infection. Of course, this is all dependent on the weather. If the weather stays mild and nonconducive for disease development then more than likely, early mowing is not an issue. There are other issues, but we'll save that for another day. On the other hand, if the weather is wet and clammy the occurrence of Fusarium, a form of snow mold, as well as other diseases is more likely. If this happens, we will most likely have to apply a costly plant protectant to prevent the disease from spreading. It's the old "cause and effect" or "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario. If we don't mow, we'll most likely get complaints and if we do mow, we're increasing the chances of disease as well as additional expenses.
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"It is my theory that nature must precede the architect in the laying out of links. It is futile to attempt the transformation of wholly inadequate acres into an adequate course. Invariably the result is the inauguration of an earthquake. The site of a golf course should be there, not brought there."
Perry Maxwell
