Greens Nursery

Back in August we began a project to create a greens nursery from which we could pull plugs from in the event of damage to a green: vandalism, hydraulic leaks, the persistent squirrel etc.  Currently, we lack such an area and have to rely on using the back corner of the practice green for sod.  We chose to excavate the small tee area from the backside of the practice bunker.  Originally, I believe this area was intended to serve as the chipping area for the practice facility, but with the creation of the short-game chipping and pitching area this teeing ground became nothing more than an unused area.  

The first step was the removal of the 2 ash trees (already infected with Emerald Ash Borer), the one maple and one crabapple tree.  

Followed by, irrigation upgrades, excavation of the existing material, compaction and shaping, drainage installation and fill with a 7-2-1 mix of sand soil and peat that is a perfect growing medium and more closely resembles our greens mix after 25 years.

Final grading and seeing were done on 9/26/12.  We chose to go with Seed Research's 007 cultivar of creeping bentgrass and the 1000 sq. ft plot was seeded at 3 lbs per 1000. We chose 007 among several finalist due to its heat tolerance, disease resistance and its competitiveness with Poa annua.  We have covered the nursery with a turf blanket to keep the heat in during these cool nights and hopefully we will have some significant germination this week.  Ideally, we will be able to use this nursery late next year if needed.