R.H. Hurley, LLC

Turfgrass Specialist: Golf, Sports, Landscape

ph: 570-350-8906
fax: 570-588-7743
hurlrich@aol.com

New Greens Seeding: Bentgrass Collars Dying?

New Greens Seeding with Creeping Bentgrass: Bentgrass Collars Dying?

Suggestions for minimizing damage to young bengrass collars on newly seeded greens:

1. Use what you seed on the greens to seed the collars and approaches. I do not see an advantage to use a Penncross, Pennlinks, Penn Trio or any other bent in the collars and approaches. I disagree with those who say the new varieties are too dense for collars and approaches.

2. Grow in a newly seeded bentgrass green to putting green height - including the collar. I would recommend mowing the newly seeded green out to the edge of the green cavity - all of the bentgrass seeded area - to putting green height.

For example if you seed your new greens in late summer or early fall, I recommend mowing the green at greens height up to two weeks before the scheduled opening day - late spring or summer after a fall seeding.

Two weeks before the planned opening of the greens, mark the desired collar width with a spot of paint then, and only then, allow the collar to grow to a higher height of cut.

The point is to allow the turf to mature at green height prior to creating a collar.

Following this advice will help to reduce the wear and tear typically found on newly seeded collars and approaches.

After a bentgrass green matures and mechanical injury starts to appear in collars:

1. Reduce mowing frequency of collars and or approaches to only one or two days a week.

2. When mowing a green reduce the clean up cut to only two days a week.

3. Eliminate the excessive turning and twisting of mowers that converge at the front of a green site - approach and fairway mowers turning at the same location where the collar mower travels.

4. Switch to walk mowers with "floating heads."

5. During the cooler months of the year, plan on scheduling additional hollow tine aerification and light verticutting to reduce "stemminess" and excessive "stolon" growth of the higher cut bentgrass collar.

It is common for a newly seeded green to grow in well, with bentgrass collars showing thinning and turf damage.

Collars are commonly more susceptible to mechanical damage from mowers. The twisting and turning of mowers causes a rolling action to bentgrass stolons (horizontal stems with longer leaves) that develop at the higher cut turf in collars and greens approaches.

The higher height of cut of collars also means more leaf surface area for mowers to damage leaves and stolons of the young and tender bentgrass.

Bentgrass growing at greens height of cut -- compared to a higher collar height -- develop, when mature, into finer leaved, more dense turf.

A fully developed bentgrass putting green will have no obvious leafy stolons, when maintained under a close height of cut, and will be less susceptible to mower mechanical turf damage.

In collars, it is the young, leafy, long stolons that are more prone to mechanical damage.

Additionally, great care should be taken when mowing a young, newly seeded bentgrass green. Train operators to mow in straight lines across a green and turn the mower after it has moved completely off of the bentgrass turf.

ph: 570-350-8906
fax: 570-588-7743
hurlrich@aol.com