Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/46524
UNROLLING AND PLACING BUBBLE ROLL the greens area in general was designed to shed moisture. Trouble was that these non-permeable tarps that were supposed to protect the plant also had the same adverse effect that the insulators did in creating an ice damage condition the moment one has some form of heavy snow cover. Along the same lines as pink snow mold doesn't need snow cover, Ice damage is caused by a cover, and not always ice. Any cover that doesn't allow a proper gaseous exchange to permeate away from the crown level will see a toxic build up of gasses at the crown level. Ice damage is most severe at moderate soil temperatures where the crown environment is around 0 C degrees. Develop some ice in early December add a few months of snow cover and one is asking for dead turf, with or without tarps. Toss some poa in there and hang on, its going to be a rough spring. Well then....... it seems that each tarping method has its advantages and some times severe dis-advantages. Each seems to protect one , possibly two of the 4 main winter damaging problems. Are there any methods of tarping that have proven their worth, year after year despite each winter being different... Yes, most definitely. I have used two of them with great success. I'll first discuss what some consider a full proof method that protects from most all the 4 above mentioned "winter kills" a.k.a. forced job transfer damage. The straw method, or mess everywhere method (I hear your groans) is being utilized across the country less the lower mainland of B.C., and is quite popular because it works. For the most part it uses a breathable or permeable tarp, to allow gaseous exchange and make clean up much easier. It is applied to the turf with staples once hardening off occurs and the last round of preventative fungicides are applied. Some also apply a rodenticide to prevent critters from over wintering in the next layer. The next step in this method sees 6 inches to 1 foot of straw put down. The straw acts as an insulator but most importantly acts as a gaseous exchange layer that 3 feet of ice and snow on top of it won't compress completely hence protecting from ice damage. The last step is to put an impermeable tarp over the whole thing to protect from crown hydration, ice formation at crown level and to act as a buffer from freezing temperatures. This last step is oh so critical in encompassing all of the 4 winter damaging scenarios' other wise one is just covering desiccation and minor low temp kill. So...looks like we have a winning method! It covers the 4 winter injury triggers and ask anyone using this method, it really works, year after year despite each winters differing conditions. How about the drawbacks? There is cost of course. The cost associated with 2 Tarps at roughly 19 cents a square foot, lets see, 6000 x .19 = $1100, per tarp, times 2 = roughly 2200 for tarps for each green we want to cover. Lets shoot for the moon here and say that after last winter's wrath, we would like 18 holes be done. $39,000.00 for tarps. A tractor-trailer load of straw usually suffices for 18 holes and typical costs are $1000.00. So for $40,000 we can tarp our 18 holes over the next 5 years. (5 years COVERING THE SYSTEM WITH IMPERMEABLE TARP being typical the life of the tarps.) We also have a labour factor to add in. This method usually requires 4 people as a minimum and can see 3 tarps per day being put down by an experienced crew. Keep a full 2 weeks open if one has all 18 holes planned. Running around the course during the fall may not seem too terrible but as usual, if given the option, we want to try and put them down just prior to snowfall,. Frost and other factors can limit the ability to get on the course during the late fall so two weeks is a fair estimate. There is a spring component to this operation as well. Picking the straw up after it has been sitting all winter is a very laborious task to say the least. It is also very difficult to go and collect the straw from the green sites as the tractor and trailer are the last things we like to let out on the course during a wet, soft spring melt. Those nice tight bundles of straw that took up a flat bed tractor-trailer have now had the twine removed and magically expanded to 4 times their original size. There is a good chance that the straw will have to sit by the side of the green sites for a week or more and be slowly taken away by smaller work vehicles. In year's prior I have put 4 labourors on for a month for the tarp and straw removal task alone. The other down side of this is getting all of the straw up and away. It is all but impossible to get all the straw that is right down in the grass blades so count on seeing it around in the rough till May or June. It can be raked up of course, but again, is labour intensive and most focuses are on the course opening process in the spring. The golfers are banging on the door in April, bunkers need attention, verti- cutting, hardware placement, spray, fertilize, on and on. The straw does make decent compost but one needs a designated area to let it break down as well. And you need to turn it over....And you need space to do this.... And it can stink.... And take a year or more to break down, .And....And... This method does work though, and will provide quality protection from the most severe of winters. Any one who has had the opportunity to grow grass in the Maritimes can attest to the fact that they have undoubtedly the most variable degrees of winter in the country. This method worked very well and continues to do so despite 5 feet of snow and countless rainstorms in between each snowfall. My last winter there saw a November 15th tarp date, and we had to shovel them off in May due to an incredible amount of late snow. Came through as clean as we put 'em to bed though, despite almost 6 months sleep! The other tarping method that I have had the fortune to help modify and refine envelopes all the same winter injury scenarios but is much less labour intensive, cheaper, cleaner and faster to put down and take up. I have been using it for almost a decade and haven't had a bad spring opening. The sandwich method or "bubble" method uses two different tarp systems and not one as some seem to have been mislead. I have seen some tarps that sew in small packaging bubble wrap material to aid in insulating. Buyers beware that with snow cover one is very much creating an ice damage condition from the onset on Continued On Next Page