Ice, Is it A Problem?

It is hard to believe a year ago we had the range open and the grass was green and we were 4 days from opening the golf course. Last March was the warmest March on record and actually on average was warmer than April. Unless we have a sudden heat wave that will not happen as the golf course is still covered in 1-3 feet of snow with deeper drifts. Yes that is feet!

Even this year it is hard to believe the golf course was clear of snow in early January with temperatures in the 50's. This was followed by rain and snow and rain and snow and snow and rain and more snow. I could go on but I think you get the picture.

The best winter for the grass you play golf on is mild like last year or cold and stays cold. Frozen, dormant and under snow is the best way for greens, tees and fairways to go through winter with no damage.

We do have some dreaded ice on the surface throughout the course but especially on greens and fairways. In the low pockets it formed during the January rains but most of the water drained away from that storm. The 1-1.5" layer of ice formed in mid February when rain on top of snow was followed by cold temperatures.

Ice can be a problem as we found out a few years ago when we had substantial damage from ice. But ice is not always a problem but just a natural part of winter. When ice kills grass it is usually in two main ways.

Suffocation - A solid clear ice over turf can kill poa annua in as few as 45 days through suffocation and bentgrass in 60 to 120 days depending on the level of dormancy. The greener the grass the quicker it dies under ice. Brown grass is good grass in winter!

Crown Hydration - Any damage we have in Fond du Lac is usually caused by crown hydration where the plant is green and full of moisture due to winter rains or melting snow followed by a sudden cold snap before the plant can get rid of the water in its cells. This actually causes the cells in the plant to burst and kills the plant.

This can also occur when the turf is covered by ice and the ice actually magnifies the suns rays causing a greenhouse effect. The grass starts to come out of dormancy and takes up water. At night the water under the ice freezes and the grass is weakened. If this happens day ofter day the grass will die. It is referred to as freeze thaw damage.

This year we have a layer of white ice across most of the golf course. So far it is nothing to worry about but a quick meltdown will help us get through spring without damage.

To speed up the process we started removing the snow off the greens last week so the ice would melt faster and this weekends rains would run off the putting surface without being held up by the snow. This late in the winter we would prefer the grass was exposed rather than covered in snow.

The greens I cleared this week had an average of 12" of snow but any swails where we need the water to run had 24 - 36" of snow that would have stopped water from running away and cause ponding and solid ice puddles as we go through the freeze thaw cycles.

Finding key drains allows water from melting snow or rain to reach the drains.

This one on hole 11 was under 2' of soft snow and 2' of hard packed snow that

would have stopped drainage.

Toro 3280 with Erskine Snowblower.

The heat doesn't work but it gets the job done.

 

The snow on the middle of 5 green is almost to the top of the blower.

 

 

Removing snow this deep is a slow process and often it takes a hour to get from one green to the next due to the ice under the snow. This week we cleared our problem greens 5, 7, 10, 16, 19, 21 and 24 where we no the snow would stop water from running off. The forecast yesterday was saying 1 to 1.5" of rain for tonight so time will tell what the golf course will look like tomorrow. That much rain should melt a lot of snow if we can keep temperatures above 40.

Think spring and we hope to see you on the links soon!