Phoenix Golf Club

Dry patch and Wetting agents

What is dry patch?

This an area of turf normally on the Green which is showing sings of drought stress.

Causes

Dry patch can be Biotic or Abiotic, that is to say caused by living organisms or non living causes such as poor construction.

Biotic causes

Fauna and flora can both have a dramatic effect, insects that eat grass roots such as leather jackets (tipula paludosa) or daddy long legs.

Another Biotic cause is fungal activity or thatch fungus and fairy rings, these fungi live in the thatch that is produced by the growing turf which is a normal process, however it needs to be controlled and our verti-cutting and topdressing program will over time reduce the thatch levels.

Fungi produce a waxy substance that coats the sand particles and causes a hydrophobic environment that gives the visual appearance of dry patch.

Abiotic causes

Poor construction, bad irrigation practices and inappropriate irrigation installation can and will have a major effect on the moisture levels within the rootzone.

Remedies

Biotic

Many insects live their life within the soil and only emerge as flying critters to find a mate and breed, daddy long legs lay their eggs in late summer and hatch in early Autumn, at this point we apply an insecticide to the turf which should severely diminish populations and minimize damage.

As mentioned earlier thatch is being reduced and also thatch fungus, as the thatch reduces so will the dry patch associated with it.

Abiotic

With regards to irrigation I have been replacing some of our old sprinklers with new low pressure Rainbird sprinklers, these give a much better quality/even application of water, I have also been repairing/servicing some of the old ones. With regards to construction, not much can be done except to identify the problem and act accordingly.

Wetting agents

In the meantime we need to apply a product that will facilitate the re-wetting of the hydrophobic turf.
We use a product call Breaker advance by Rigby Taylor which is a general wetter, however next year at the beginning of spring we will apply Breaker Curative to strip off the waxy coating and then follow up with Breaker Advance.