Monitoring Greens Health Under The Snow

I went out yesterday and dug down to the green surface at #17.  The snow depth was about 3 feet, which is about 3 feet more than it was in mid February.  The green was draining, the temperature 38 degrees, crowns were healthy and emerging, and no snow mold present.  Very good news.

The health of the grass in spring is dependant upon what we did last fall.  Proper aerification that assures drainage, wetting agent application that enhances drainage, the proper depth of sand topdressing that protects the crown but does not hold moisture around the leaf blade causing crown hydration, limited nitrogen fertilizer applications that allow dormancy under snow and for the plant to store carbohydrates, and a good fungicide application are critical to keeping the greens alive under 5 months of snow cover.  Our snow cover came November 23, 2010, and I anticipate we will be out of the snow in mid April, making for one of the longest prolonged snow cover winters since the course was opened.

Kevin