Record Setting May Weather

Denver Weather Breaking Records 

It's official May went down as the 7th coldest May in 147 years and the wettest May in two years. The average temperature was 51.6 degrees. The normal average May temperature is usually around 57 degrees.  With this cold weather all plant life was slow to come out of winter, from trees, turf and agricultural crops like corn.  Normally corn should be ankle high by now but the corn has just germinated over the last week.  We are hoping for a warmer June but that may be unlikely because of a persistent  El Nino this year.

In addition our new tee and approach mowers arrived yesterday and the lake aeration equipment is on the way.   With the warmer weather we have had lately the turf is taking off finally and the flower pots  will be planted next week. 

Over the next few weeks we will be continuing our normal maintenance programs including spray weeds and our bulk organic fertilizer app will be applied.  45 yards of mulch was ordered and arrived yesterday we will start chipping away at that project around the club beds.

The entire Agronomy team is excited that summer is finally here!

Summer Heat Stress and Localized Dry Spot

This is a great educational video on some of the heat stress that we have been dealing with on the golf course over the last week. This turf stress was brought on by record high temperatures and high winds over  the last week as well as no measurable  rain in 22 days. I hope this educates our members on the problems of turf heat stress and the actions we take on a daily basis in the summer. 

Localized dry spot or (LDS) are found on all types of turf grasses and soil conditions all over the world. These LDS areas are characterized by non-wettable or hydrophobic soil conditions. These areas usually have excessive organic mater and a waxy fungus in the soil medium called mycelium. Controlling localized dry spots is an ongoing and some times difficult battle, especially if you let the areas severely dry out. If localized dry spot is present it is best to spike areas, apply a wetting agent and immediately water in . The wetting agent helps breaks up the waxy build up and allows the soil to take the water. Other practices to minimize the severity of localized dry spots include thatch removal, application of a fungicide or core aerification.

Audubon Recertification

Exciting news we just received our Audubon recertification earlier this month. Below is a press release

The Pinery Country Club Recognized for Environmental Excellence

PARKER, CO – The Pinery Country Club has retained its designation as a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary” through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, an Audubon International program.
Participation is designed to help course personnel plan, organize, implement, and document a comprehensive environmental management program and receive recognition for their efforts. To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of areas including: Environmental Planning, Wildlife & Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, and Water Quality Management.
"The Pinery Country Club has shown a strong commitment to its environmental program. They are to be commended for their efforts to provide a sanctuary for wildlife on the golf course property," said Tara Pepperman, Director of Cooperative Sanctuary Programs at Audubon International.
The Pinery Country Club is one of 47 courses in Colorado and 913 courses in the world to hold the honor. Golf courses from the United States, Africa, Australia, Central America, Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia have also achieved certification in the program. The golf course was designated as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 2012. After designation, courses go through a recertification process every three years.
This year the recertification process, coordinated by Steve Whiting, Superintendent, required a visit by a local community representative. Dan Hamman, Water Superintendent at Pinery Water, was given a tour of the course and sent his observations to Audubon International. “It’s great to know that we have a partner in serving our community and conservation of our greatest resource and protecting our environment,” Hamman reported.
“We see the site visit as an important component of a course’s recertification,” stated Pepperman. “It provides an objective verification of some of the more visible aspects of the course’s environmental management activities. In addition, it offers an opportunity for golf course representatives to share publicly some of the voluntary actions they have taken to protect and sustain the land, water, wildlife, and natural resources around them.” Of Pinery Country Club’s involvement with the program, Whiting wrote: “It has been an honor to represent the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary at the Pinery Country Club. I look forward to continuing to make a beneficial environmental impact in Colorado and around the world.

About Audubon International
Audubon International is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) environmental education organization dedicated to providing people with the education and assistance they need to practice responsible management of land, water, wildlife, and other natural resources. To meet this mission, the organization provides training, services, and a set of award-winning environmental education and certification programs for individuals, organizations, properties, new developments, and entire communities.
For more information, contact Audubon International at 120 Defreest Drive, Troy, NY 12180, (518) 767-9051, e-mail at acsp@auduboninternational.org, or visit the website at www.auduboninternational.org.

Butterfly Habitat

Another great area for butterfly's hole 13 in a area we seed with our custom wildflower mixture. Some great flowers this year because of all the rain. 

2015 Golf Operations Team

The Pinery's 2015 Golf Operations Team 

Busy as a Bee

 Honey bees almost have the entire first box full of comb. It has been two weeks since they arrived. I hope to add the next box later in the week. 

Mothers Day Freeze

A great link to Swingle  about to potential damage to our tree's and shrubs this mothers day.

Mothers Day Freeze

Arrival of the Bees !

Our Italian Honey bees and Queen arrived today for the Pinery Pollinators. 

We had a successful bee release into the new hive on Saturday evening. Below are some pictures of the event.  Keep checking the blog for some video. 

Signs mark the area where the hive is placed. 

East of #3 mountain and west of  #4 mountain green 

A 3 pound box of bees with Queen . About 10,000  honey bees!  

From Apis Hives in Grand Junction

Italian Honey bees are bred for there calm demeanor

Inserting  the bees in the hive.

The queen will remain in a small cage until the colony gets used to her in about 2-3 days. She will eat her way out of the small cage past a marshmallow.  

The next day from inside the hive.

Look like happy bees! 

Pinery Pollinator Signs

Below are some digital copy's of the signs being installed around our new Honey Bee and Butterfly habitats. These areas will be environmental sensitive so please limit exposure to these areas. 

Honey Bee Swarm

All over the news this weekend was a  story about a honey bee swarm during baseball spring training.

Notice they bring in a bee keeper to save and relocate  the honey bees.  He is spraying the bees with a sugar water mix to keep the honey bees calm.

Check out the link on USA Today

Spring Training Honey Bee Swarm

Planting a Future

Great article and video on the monarch butterfly from CBS Sunday Morning.

Check out the link below

CBS News

Double Jar Feeder

The picture above is our double jar feeder that we made. This feeder will be filled with a 50/50 mix of water and sugar for the bees to eat when they first arrive in the hive. The reason for the feeder is so the bees get acclimated to the new hive and queen.  Once the bees are comfortable in the hive the jar will be removed from the top box and the bees will roam for  their own for food.

Warre Honey Bee Hive

This is our First Warre Honey Bee hive. The Warre hive is known as the peoples hive for its easy upkeep and happy honey bees.  Happy bees make good honey!

Pinery Pollinators

                          Pinery Pollinators

                                                               Pinery Honey Bee/Butterfly Habitat, Tread Lightly

                                                                   www.pinerygcm@blogspot.com 

Come follow our adventure into the world of pollinators. This year we are creating new honey bee and butterfly habitats in the native areas on the golf course.  

Painted Bunkers?

What up with the painted bunkers? Well this winter we are doing some research with turf protectants on our bunker edges/noses. Throughout the winter even with timely snows and winter watering our southern exposed bunker faces desiccate. This winter we tried something new.  In late November we applied our first of a monthly application of  Turf Screen tank mixed with a anti-transparent on our bunker surrounds. The Turf Screen product is basically a sun screen for turf. With our higher than normal solar radiation  and our  higher altitude coupled with  dry winter air  the Turf Screen should limit the desiccation. The Turf Screen coupled with the anti-transparents,  wetting agents and hand watering  should limit our damage to our southern exposed bunkers.