Punching Holes, Spreading Fertilizer,and Growing Up

It has been a wet spring so far at Harrison Bay this year but there is still work that we have to get done to get the course ready for when the sun does come out and the grass starts growing.  I have been assured that the sun will eventually come out and the rain will eventually stop.  Still keeping a look out for Noah though.  This week we performed our spring aerification to the greens which will help jump them out of their winter dormancy and provide them with the new juvenile growth they will need to get through the summer. We are very pleased with how the greens came out of the winter this year due in most part to a different chemical and fertilizer program that we used which kept the greens healthier during their winter nap.

As always I was very proud of our golf course maintenance staff for their dedicated work on Monday to get the greens completely topdressed, aerified, drug, rolled and blown off all the while dealing with a constant and aggravating light to moderate rain.  It is definitely not textbook by any means to aerify in a rain event but when you are only closed for a couple days you make sure you get it done.  We will continue to roll and add light amounts of topdressing to the greens over the remainder of this week to get the greens back in top notch form.

With the course being closed on Monday it was a perfect time to get our season long pre emerge and fertilizer spread on the course.  Based on our success over the past several years we continue to use Harrell's PolyON controlled release fertilizer on our course.  This year we chose to try a different pre emerge product from FMC called Echelon.  Changing the chemistry or product we use from time to time helps to reduce or eliminate the chance of weeds becoming resistant to the herbicides we use.  Thanks to Rusty who drives the spreader truck for Harrell's for doing a great job without any damage to the course even though it was rather wet out there.

We have also spent a good amount of time this spring watching HB7 and HB8 grow from little eaglets into the fish, turtle, and coot vacuums that they have become.  These two are really keeping Elliott busy keeping the pantry full and are really getting a personality that all our viewers love to watch.

www.harrisonbayeaglecam.org

Even HB7 at his/her young age already has an idea of where the furniture should go.  At this stage, two weeks old, they are beginning to get their pin feathers, moving out of the nest bowl to explore their new world, can focus on their parents without looking at a blur, and, of course, they are beginning to grow those hilarious "clown feet" that we all love so much.

Hopefully the rain will soon go away and we can start having several days or weeks of good growing and playing weather.  Soon the air will be filled with the sound of new eagles flying overhead and the sound of golfers enjoying the course we work so hard to provide.