~~The following is the C.D.G.A. scouting report as posted by Derek Settle, PhD~~
July 20, 2012 Scouting Report
Record
Hot and Dry: Soil Temps Reach 85°, Highs +90°, Needed Rain Returns,
Peter says Tall Fescue & Tim's phrase is Drought Tolerance of
Bentgrass
Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle
July
began hot, then eased for about a day but once again was over-the-top
hot this week. Besides gaining an additional five days to tack onto that
Chicago record of 26 days with highs +90°, the biggest story this week
was what fell from the sky. It was rain, and in one evening and into the
next morning some suburbs would record 2+ inches. For example, Sunshine
Course in Lemont would total 2.3 inches of rain from July 18 to July
19. But in-between rare rain events our outdoor reality is that we've
begun to accept a different look. Brown lawns and leaf-scorched trees
are now common and has become our landscape look in 2012. The only
alleviation is through use of automatic irrigation systems or
alternative practices such as the labor intensive hand watering that
superintendents and staff must do to maintain sand-based golf greens. In
addition to the constant visual monitoring of midday wilt stress, today
we maintain plant health with newer technology. Soil probes that we use
to physically sample the root-zone to understand the below ground
dynamics of soil and roots are now supplemented with electronic sensors
used to generate maps of soil moisture across areas. This allows greater
accuracy of water management this season, very necessary when average
soil temperatures at a 2 inch depth touch 85 degrees or more (saw again
this week). When too wet, soils cannot adequately release heat at night
and roots can plain cook - just part of the story as oxygen is necessary
for root life and wet soils also work against us by trapping toxic gas
byproducts like CO2. The bottom line is summer 2012 has so far produced
some of the warmest and driest growing conditions ever recorded. Our
work continues as we advance through this record hot, dry summer and
boy, it's gotten real ugly.
With the return of rain, we thought
maybe just maybe we'll see the return of a normal summer? What we were
thinking until a super-hot forecast appeared for next week. In the
meantime, try and have a good weekend.
Click here to view the July 20, 2012 Scouting Report.
Derek Settle, PhD
Director of Turfgrass Program
