Avila Turf Maintenance : Good Weather and Good Progress!

The weather this week has been very cooperative, and has allowed us to continue making progress throughout the course. Fresh sprigs have been planted on the fairways of holes 11, 12, and 15 along with the Driving Range tees and the tees on #15. The sprigging will continue next week with the next batch coming on Tuesday.

The greens which have been stripped, tilled, and floated were fumigated yesterday. This process will eliminate any nematodes or other plant pathogens in the greens providing a sterile growth medium for the new plants. The covers on the greens will remain on for five days, and then they will be left open for five days to air out before planting. Once the greens are ready to be planted the surrounds will be re-sodded, and the approaches will be sprigged allowing us to water the remaining areas together.

Hole #3 has also seen a great deal of progress this week. Irrigation heads are being installed in anticipation of planting, the drainage is nearly complete, and the drainage stone and soil mix have been added to the green! The greens mix is now being graded and compacted before being fumigated on Friday so that it will be ready for grass along with the rest of the course. While the green gets fumigated, the rest of the hole will be prepared for sprigs as well. With the drainage and irrigation completed, the bunkers can be repaired and prepped for sod and sand. The rest of the hole will be smoothed out with bulldozers and box blades to remove tire ruts and prepare for planting.

In addition to the progress being made elsewhere, the first set of holes that were planted have now been mowed once and are filling in nicely. The first cut on newly planted grass stimulates lateral growth, so the thin areas will continue filling in as we periodically reduce the mowing heights.