About Me

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Los Gatos, California, United States
Kevin is currently the certified superintendent at La Rinconada Country Club. Kevin was the Director of Maintenance at Lahontan Golf Club for over 14 years. Some of the responsibilities over the expanse of his career include the daily upkeep of multiple golf courses, natural resources, environmental compliance, and roads and streets. The wide ranging expertise has come from a combination of education and experiences. Degrees in Meteorology (1987 University of Nebraska/Lincoln), and Horticulture (1992 Colorado State), complete the formal side of this important combination of qualifications. A lifetime of experience around golf courses, and the game of golf was provided by Kevin's father.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Annual Bluegrass Control Update

It has been one year since the turf conversion and overall it has been successful. Keeping the Poa annua and other weed grasses from coming back is impossible, however maintaining an acceptable population is a reasonable goal. 


The control of the Poa began as soon as the new seed emerged last year and now just 2 weeks ago the first fall application of an herbicide called prograss was made throughout the course. Prograss had been applied last spring, so this is not the first use on the new turf.

Poa December 2012 between the tree line 

The most successful strategy at our disposal for controlling annual bluegrass is consecutive applications of prograss. These applications are spaced 21 days apart and are done in the spring and the fall. No more than 5 applications can be done in a year so the number that are done consecutively are dependent upon weather conditions and how effective each application is.

Off color Poa annua 10 days after prograss


Our first application which was made October 28th was quite effective as you can seed from the photo. The decision to do another application was rather easy to make based on the first applications effectiveness and the dry mild weather we have been having. This second application will be done Monday, November 18th, and its effectiveness will be evaluated before making another application. Based on the time of year it is doubtful that a third application will be done in 2013, and if that is the case the next applications will be done in March.

Kevin

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Change of Season

Growing conditions have come together in the last few weeks for the course to be in good shape, in contrast to a few months ago when they contributed to poor conditions. It is remarkable to see the transformation that takes place when temperatures cool, and there is less dependence on the irrigation system.



17 green complex November 5th 2013
Take a look at some of the key indicators for plant growth from August and October records.

-----------------------August 15th-----------------October 20th
Soil Temperature        85                                     62
Soil salinity                 3-5ds                               <2ds
Gallons pumped         600,000                    150,000

Looking at these parameters you see drastic differences. Those differences are indicative of  the stresses on the plant and the associated difficulties of being a grower at different times of the year. Here at La Rinconada most of the year the things we cannot control are in our favor and for a few months they are not. Right now the stress level is relatively low and the course conditions reflect that.

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Kevin