Pesticide and Herbicide Applications

Here at St. James, we routinely apply fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to help provide you with the best possible playing conditions on your courses.  The most important point that we want to communicate with our members is that all of our applications are made by trained professionals.  All of our superintendents on staff are licensed pesticide applicators in the state of North Carolina.  In addition to this, all of our licensed operators go through many hours of continuing education classes throughout the year to stay informed of new products and restrictions as it pertains to pesticide and herbicide use.  All of the courses at St. James keep detailed records of when and how our pesticides and herbicides are applied.  All pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers at St. James are stored in accordance with the laws of the state of North Carolina.  We are routinely checked by state officials and have had no issues with compliance to all of the regulations set forth by the state.

We take pride in the fact that we are careful when it comes to the surrounding environment.  All of the courses at St. James are certified by Audubon International for being environmental sanctuaries.  We strive to take care of our surroundings.  Please take the time to watch the video that is linked below to understand better what we do when we spray our products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp9C-SEqTDU&feature=youtu.be

PC Conversion Update 6/16/12

      Another week, another battle with Mother Nature. The rain this week slowed us down, but did not stop us from achieving our goals. We were able to apply our RoundUp to the greens this week. We juggled our application timing around the weather to accommodate our application. The effect of the herbicide was noticeable in the latter part of the week. This insured us that we achieved successful uptake. That being said, we now move on to our biggest week of preparation before the arrival of the MiniVerde sprigs on June 26th.
      Below is a brief recap of last week and a look ahead to next week.

Last Week 6/10-6/16

• Poured concrete pad for sand storage. The new pad will store our MiniVerde topdressing sand. This sand is designed for MiniVerde putting surfaces.
• Spot sprayed bermudagrass encroachment on the interior of the greens. This application was done Monday and Wednesday mornings.
• Sprayed all putting greens surfaces with RoundUp herbicide. This was done Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. The effects of this application will be noticeable over the weekend.
• Scalped down reclaimed putting surfaces around the perimeters of the greens.
• Ordered equipment needed to effectively manage MiniVerde greens.
• Verified temporary labor for Monday, June 18th.
• Organized split work schedule with the Members Club. We will be assisting the MC in the mornings to help with their 7 A.M. triple tee start. In return they will provide assistance to us in the afternoon.

Next Week 6/17-6/23

• Finish preparation of nursery green (final grade, install irrigation)
• Remove all cups, flags, tees, 150yd poles, etc.. from the golf course.
• Prepare putting surfaces for sprigs. In the following order.
• Scalp greens - mow at .090", two directions, 100% overlap
• Verticut greens - two directions, 100% overlap
• Clean surfaces from scalping and verticutting
• Aerify greens - one time using 1/2" tines
• Clean aerification cores from putting surfaces
• Apply organic fertilizer to the greens
• Topdress greens - a heavy application of sand and peat mix
• Apply multiple fertilizers on top of the topdressed surface
• Wait "patiently" for sprigs on Tuesday, June 26th
• Level mounded collars. Here is a video describing that process.

      The coming week promises to be very busy. Preparing the surfaces for sprigs is the most crucial step in this entire process. We plan to work diligently, sun up to sun down to insure that we obtain the best possible sprig planting bed. Keep following the blog for updates and pictures throughout the week.

Edges

Here is a new video illustrating how we find the original green's perimeter.