Liming fairways

"Lime" is used in turfgrass management to raise the PH of soil. Lime is mined from the earth as limestone which is primarily composed of calcium carbonate. It is chemically altered and the product we use is calcium hydroxide. Due to the type of soil we have and the amount of rainfall each year the soil gets acidic over time. 7.0 is neutral on the PH scale, and ideal soil PH for growing turf in our area is between 6.0 and 7.0. We take soil tests each year and base our fertilizer program on the test results. We had not limed the fairways in several years and the PH had fallen to between 5.5 and 5.7 which is too acidic. Some nutrients including phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium get partially tied up and are not as readily available to plants at lower PH levels. To get the most bang for our buck with the fertilizer we apply, the soil PH ideally needs to be closer to 6.5. Last week was time to spread lime on fairways. We applied the lime at a rate of 20lbs/1000ft2, for a total 24,000 pounds or 12 tons. The lime is spread in the same topdressors that we use to spread sand on fairways.

The lime comes in one ton super sacks and is lifted into the topdressors with a loader.

It's a dusty job spreading the lime.

 

This is what the product looks like on the turf. It will take rainfall to dissolve the particles so the lime can move down into the soil. The process of raising soil PH is very slow and will take several months at least for any change to occur. We'll take soil tests in March of 2014 and I'll report back with the results of the PH change.

Coho salmon spawning at Glendale CC

Kelsey Creek and the West Tributary are the two streams that run through Glendale CC. They are both Chinook Salmon (King) spawning streams but we have not seen many in the last five years. The Muckleshoot Tribe with cooperation from the City of Bellevue, released 1,000 Coho Salmon (Silver) into Kelsey Creek and 500 into the West Tributary. The Coho were obtained from the Issaquah Hatchery and were waiting to spawn there. They were released into both streams in Kelsey Creek Park and many have moved upstream onto our golf course to spawn.

This is a Male Coho that has spawned in Kelsey Creek along the 11th hole. It is 23 inches long and weighs about 5 pounds. The Coho will live in the stream for almost one year before heading out to sea and will return in four years to spawn.

A pair of Coho ready to spawn in the West Tributary along #12 fairway.

The Coho returning to spawn has brought more wildlife out to Glendale for an easy meal. I saw several Coyotes and a Bald Eagle today pulling dead fish out of the stream for breakfast. It's nice to see fish on the golf course no matter how they got here.   

Irrigation system upgrades underway

The irrigation system at Glendale CC was installed in 1993. The pump station was part of that package and has worked pretty well for the past 20 years. It's time to upgrade the system and we are doing so over this coming winter. We have two 60 horsepower turbine pumps and one 5 hp pressure maintenance pump that were removed from the pump house yesterday. The two large pumps will be rebuilt, and the pressure maintenance pump is going to be replaced with a new pump. A section of the roof was removed so a crane could lift the two large pumps out of the wet well in the pump house.

 

This shows the lower part of the pump being removed from the wet well.

The pump out of the well ready to send off for rebuilding. The end that the guy is holding is where the 60 hp electric motor mounts to run the pump. The long shaft extends down into a concrete box that forms a well from where the pond water is taken.

This is the bottom of the pressure maintenance pump showing 20 years of corrosion and crud build up. The cost to rebuild the pumps is less than half of what it costs for new ones. The process will take a couple months and they will be put back into service in late January.