Successful reestablishment of golf greens following winter damages – Final Report

Abstract

A number of factors such as low soil temperature, desiccation and thatch can be serious limiting factors for the successful reestablishment of golf greens following winter damages. The rate of germination and seedling root growth have important implications for competition between species on a golf green. This research project has shown that P. annua is a very competitive species, due to quicker germination at lower temperatures, especially compared to A. stolonifera and F. rubra ssp communtata. Root growth of P.annua was also significantly quicker than of the Agrostis species tested. Seedlings of Agrostis species and F.rubra ssp commutata that germinate in close proximity to P. annua seedlings stand a large chance of being choked out. In order to reduce competition with P.annua, early seeding should be avoided. In this study, no difference in turfgrass establishment wasobserved when seedlings were grown using soil water extracts or soil from an ice-encased green,compared to a control. However, further investigations regarding reestablishment following iceencasement are warrant, and should be investigated on older greens with a higher organic mattercontent. The results from the demonstration trials emphasize the importance of using a sowingtechnique that ensures proper seed – soil contact. This is of particular importance for theestablishment of turfgrass species on golf greens, due to the high risk of desiccation.