2012 Home Lawn Fertilizer Program

Below is a fertilizer program for a bluegrass lawn that is in the sun and in south eastern Michigan.
Tri-Turf a local distributor of lawn care products, services golf courses state wide. With a  knowledgeable sales staff, Dan Sheman and John Stewart your turf and plant questions can be answered. Tri-Turf has agreed to take $ 1.00 off each bag if you mention Meadowbrook Country Club. Tri-Turf is located at 24800 N. Industrial Farmington Hills, 248-474-7474.

Early April

19-0-5 25% PCSCU with .10 Dimension (crab grass control)

Water in within a few days of application

$ 22.95 per bag

Mid May

22-0-5 30% PCSCU with Trimec (weed & feed)

Apply when turf is wet and do not water for 24 hours

$ 23.95 per bag

Mid June

22-0-11 50% UFLEXX

Water in if possible

$ 21.95 per bag

Or

21-0-8 50% PCSCU, .20 Imidacloprid

For crub control, needs to be watered in.

$ 32.25 per bag

End of July

22-0-11 50% UFLEXX

Water in especially if tempertures are 80 or higher

$ 21.95 per bag

Early September

22-0-11 50% UFLEXX

Water in if possible

$ 21.95 per bag

Or

22-0-5 30% PCSCU with Trimec (weed and feed)

Apply when turf is wet and do not water for 24 hours

$ 23.95 per bag

Each bag will cover approximately 11,000 square feet

Always read and follow label directions

First Day of Spring... or is it Summer??

The golf course is open for play and carts are allowed at this time.  The course has rarely looked this good in March and we encourage the members to come out and enjoy the record breaking temperatures.  Michigan has a affinity towards wacky weather and the crew hopes that the typical late-March snow storms decide not to come this year (positive thinking from the members would be nice too).  The greens are rolling, the weather is nice...its time for golf season.  Enjoy.

Golf Supers Tool for the Home Owner? Growing Degree Days.

The key for any chemical application is timing.  Weeds and insects are most susceptible at specific stages in their life, and to effectively benefit from a chemical application, superintendents have to know when those stages occur.  Natural plant functions, such as going to seed, are more effectively controlled if the application of the chemical regulator is timed accurately.

 Besides experience and instinct, superintendents refer to a model developed by Michigan State; The Growing Degree Day Tracker.  Growing degree days are based on temperature and other environmental factors to produce a model that will accurately tell you when to apply your chemicals for each specific pest.  The majority of spring chemical applications are based off the GDD Tracker.

This resource is open to homeowners as well.  While some of the events tracked do not apply to home lawns, their are others that could prove quite useful.  Crabgrass is an annual weed that is quick to develop in the spring and hard to control once it established itself.  The GDD Tracker shows the best time to apply pre-emergent herbicides to combat crabgrass before the seed even germinates  Other aspects that homeowners could find useful include the tracker for weed flowering, spring broadleaf weeds and insect emergence. 

The GDD Tracker (available from this link: MSU GDD Tracker) will show visitors the optimum time to apply chemicals for that specific pest.  Most of the herbicides and insecticides that are sufficient for home lawns can be found off the shelf at Home Depot or similar stores. 

One of the best preventative measures to combating weeds and pests in your lawn are simple cultural methods.  By this we mean maintaining your lawn at an appropriate height (3"-4") and irrigating the turf.  During the summer, 1 inch of water per week is a good standard for irrigation. 

Combining these practices with the GDD Tracker information will enable you to maintain a healthy, aesthetically pleasing homelawn. Enjoy. 

Other links of interest:

Weed ID tool

Disease ID tool

Golf Course Opening

The golf course will open Thursday March 15 to walkers only, and the course will be evaluated daily for cart usage. 

 Welcome back to the 2012 golf season

Golf Course Update; Late Winter

All weather patterns are difficult to predict, but Michigan weather takes the cake.  Supposedly one of the colder states, Michigan just endured a very mild winter with below normal snowfall.  In fact, the previous 12 months have seen record breaking weather as well. 

Rainfall events by month are well over the average, along with temperatures.  The winter of 2011-12 was the 6th warmest on record and the 4th out of 111 recorded that did not see consistent frost.  We hope that this pattern does not continue, golf course playability and agronomic health suffer when high temperatures, humidity and rain combine.  A cool to warm season with average rainfall would be a welcomed relief. 

Unpredictable weather is as certain as life, death and taxes.  Not as certain, was the general health of the covered greens.  The winter covers are designed to protect the turf from extreme cold temperatures, ice and heavy snowfall.  The concern being that the mild winter would lead to intensive microbe activity.  Decomposition releases toxic gases, that if contained by say...a cover, could lead to turf injury.  However, the "bubble wrap" kept air flowing near the green surface and the covers themselves actually insulated the turf and soil from warming up to the point of concern. 

Late fall aerification, a cultural practice implemented for the first time last year, seems to be yielding promising results.  No spring aerfication will be necessary (we hope the members are as excited about that as we are) and besides a small amount of recovery time and slight bumpiness, the greens are in good shape and health.  The crew also installed drain tiles on the 14th green (over 1800 feet of tile) and re-grassed 8 different green complexes.  The new grass will benefit both playability and aesthetics.

Out of an odd 125 acres at Meadowbrook, 122.3 of them are not greens.  While those 2.7 acres see the most action, other parts of the course sought our attention as well.  The pond off the 1st fairway was cleaned and the remaining geo-bag full of pond muck and silt will be shaped and seeded this spring.  The extensively damaged Austrian pines between the 12th green and 13th tee were removed and replaced with 25 foot white pines, beautiful specimens.

I walked the entire 18 the other day and was very impressed.  From tee to green, I saw little evidence of turf injury, a great way to start the 2012 golf season, I rate the golf course coming out of winter with an A- .

Green Committee

The Green Committee is an integral part of golf course management at any country club.  Under chairman Tom Doyle, the committee will continue its work on golf course improvements in regards to architectural design as well as other aspects of general course management.  The new committee is listed below.

Tom Doyle-Chairman
Frank Uller-Managing Director
Jeff Mills
Ron Bonatz, Jr.
Randy Holloway
Jim Kohl
Barb Maibach
Joe Ruicci
Mike Anderson
Jim Eathorne
Jeff Johnson
Tom Guy

Special thanks to Bill Vandermass and Brian Mills for their service on the Green Committee in previous years.