This week we received some concerned feedback from last Monday's Minute regarding the length of time it takes to spray and eradicate weeds. So I thought it could be helpful to follow up on our weed control process and progress.
Spraying any chemical on or around the golf course has to be sprayed with precision from both an application and timing standpoint. Timing, especially, is the most critical component of applying herbicides, especially when they are designed to kill any and all plants they come in contact with. Tracking of herbicides is the most common form of misapplication, and the results can be devastating. Tracking is when something or someone walks, drives, hits through an area that has recently been sprayed, tracking those chemicals onto the golf course, creating long lasting damage. Because of this, there are many areas of the golf course that have a very limited window to be sprayed- after the mowers finish the hole, but prior to golf playing through. This leaves about a 30-45 minute window each morning to spray these areas. Areas susceptible to tracking is the 10-15 yards adjacent to all turf. That said, our spray tech works incredibly efficiently, and is making his way through these susceptible areas as quickly and safely as possible in the window, before moving on to less susceptible, but still highly visible areas once the window closes each day.
The next limiting factor to all chemical, but especially herbicide, applications is the weather. Many of the herbicides we use need several hours to dry before rainfall or irrigation. Any sort of overhead water, can limit the herbicide efficacy, leaving it unable to perform the way it is supposed to, but it can also cause the herbicide to move on or in the soils and cause issues to the surrounding plants and turf. Rain was in the forecast much of March, this caused weeds to grow at a faster-than-usual rate, but also limited out ability to chemically eradicate weeds, which forced us to do much more manual eradication. This process is terribly inefficient, but kept us moving forward. The next weather factor that limits our ability to effectively and safely spray weeds is wind. The spring time is always windy, and this season hasn't been any different, but the combination of rain and the typical wind admittedly slowed our ability to spray weeds as quickly as we all would like.
As I said last week, we are working tirelessly towards cleaning up the weeds in the deserts. You will notice many dead weeds on holes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15. In addition, I'm sure you've noticed the hard edging that's taken place around tees and other turf edges. While I'll always wish we were further along, the progress we have made is a sign of what will continue.