|
 
Converting 36 acres of Bentgrass to Iron
Cutter Bermudagrass with Floratine Products
|
|
| by Steve Brohawn, Golf Course Superintendent
River Marsh Golf Club/Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay |
|
| I was granted the opportunity to convert our River Marsh Golf Club’s tees, fairways, and approaches during the summer of 2024 in Cambridge, MD, to provide a better playing surface during our peak play season. Because we are located on a major tributary feeding into the Chesapeake Bay, my continued push for this conversion was based on three environmental and cost objectives: |
- Reduce water usage and cost
- Reduce pesticide applications
- Reduce fertilizer applications throughout the season
|
|
| The goal is to use the expense reductions in these line items and apply them towards labor.
I have known and trusted Floratine Products and Sean Fifer of GE Turf for over 20 years, and for the past two seasons, I have used the PREDICT N7 model for our putting greens (www.PredictN7.com). GE Turf’s philosophy with Floratine products and our PREDICT N7 results gave me confidence that there could be a better way to grow-in and maintain Bermudagrass on fairways, tees, and approaches. Even before the conversion was approved, Sean and I started to work on a successful plan to combat all my issues and concerns. He helped me develop what I would say is an “unconventional method” for bermudagrass conversion.
GE Turf team’s “outside of the box” way of thinking and their concept of balancing nitrogen, plant-made metabolites, and other nutrients to match plant utilization has been a game changer in my turf management program. This has also allowed us to greatly reduce granular fertilizer applications to none, and I have not applied a growth regulator for the past four years.
Using Ana-Lync and their estimated nitrogen release curve, we felt confident the bermudagrass would thrive and do what it was made to do. Our thought process quickly turned towards the issues on our property that would hinder the turf’s natural ability to grow in.
Pre-plant thoughts and concerns:
- Amount of poor-quality water to be used (pH 8.56, bicarbonates 398ppm, sodium 158ppm)
- Short grow-in window
- Organic material build up throughout 20+ years of bent (and not adding to it)
- Nitrogen utilization (natural release and applied)
- Soil dredged from local creek to shape fairways
- Building roots on new Bermudagrass to survive the first winter
|
|
Planting thoughts:
- App of SRN granular fertilizer to sprigs during the watering period, before root development
- App of Calcium Products 98G High Cal Limestone at planting to combat water issues and help build cell strength to promote growth
- Floratine’s Retain Pro to keep sprigs wet because of sandy knolls and sand-capped tee boxes
- Floratine’s CalpHlex to help loosen soil and combat water source negatives
|
|
Grow-in thoughts:
- Floratine’s Foliar applications to receive 99% nitrogen efficiency and uptake, build carbohydrates, and push roots
- Floratine’s Soil products Propel and Quad Cal for immediate calcium, aiding in soil release of nutrients, and to begin to push water through and dry down
|
|
|
|
Applications and Dates:
7/2 Spray glyphosate with oxadiazon on tees, fairways, approaches
7/8 *Course closed for conversion*
7/8 Aerate tees, fairways, approaches, leave plugs on top, and drag
7/9 Sprig at 1000bu/A
- Apply 98G on sprigs at 6lbs/m
- Spray sprigs with Retain at 2oz/m and CalpHlex at 3oz/m
7/15 Apply 15-0-15 (50%SRN) at 6lbs/m to sprigs
8/12 Spray sprigs with High Five (3oz/m), GlycoFuze (3oz/m), X-Factor 24-0-0 (5oz/m), 5.0 Cal (3oz/m)
8/16 Spray sprigs with High Five (3oz/m), GlycoFuze (3oz/m), X-Factor 24-0-0 (3oz/m), 5.0 Cal (3oz/m)
8/21 Spray sprigs with High Five (3oz/m), GlycoFuze (3oz/m), X-Factor 24-0-0 (6oz/m), 5.0 Cal (3oz/m)
8/27 Spray Sprigs with Propel (4oz/m), Quad Cal (7.5lbs/A)
8/29 *Open course for play*
9/4 Spray Sprigs with High Five (2oz/m), GlycoFuze (2oz/m), X-Factor 24-0-0 (2oz/m), 5.0 Cal (2oz/m)
| Thoughts after grow-in:
Applied a total of 1.21 lbsN/m during the conversion, knowing there was an estimated .717lbsN/m released in the soil during the July–September conversion time (See Ana-Lync’s Estimate Nitrogen Release and supporting test results below). Because we used far less nitrogen than traditional grow-ins, we did not increase the soil Organic Matter numbers. The post-grow-in soil test confirmed no significant change in organic matter, pH, or CEC after conversion. We believe that following this new philosophy, our fairways will play faster and firmer.
As of the first dormancy period, we see a very impressive root system extending to 7”.
We developed a program using multiple Floratine products along with a strategic application of 98G High Cal Limestone, and I’m happy to say that we were very successful. We shut the course down for a total of 7.5 weeks, and I felt confident enough to allow cart traffic on the first day we opened. |
|
|
9-Month Update After Extremely Cold First Winter
|
|
|
First Floratine Foliar App
April 23, 2025
|
|
|
5-Day Later Results
April 28, 2025
|
|
|
It’s been nine months since
The Iron Cutter sprigs hit the
ground, and I couldn’t be
happier with the results.
|
|
|
| We began this journey with the mantra “the Bermudagrass will do what it’s designed to do, we have to build roots”. This thought could not have been more on point! In less than six months after sprigging, we received a major winter storm on 1/6/25. We received 12” of snow and 23 days of course closure, with low temps in the teens and twenties and high temps barely above freezing. We saw that the Iron Cutter Bermudagrass with Floratine had produced a 7” root system just before it went dormant for the winter, so we felt pretty good when this storm hit.
The Iron Cutter Bermudagrass began green up this spring on 3/18/25 and was about 70% green on 4/1/25. Within the 36 acres of sprigged Iron Cutter, we may have 10,000 sq ft. in a winter shade line that is slow to recover. But even this area is showing signs of life, and I attribute its survival and regrowth to the Floratine combinations that built the deep root system.
We applied our first Floratine fairway app to the Bermudagrass, utilizing what we guessed the PREDICT N7 C4 Fairway Model would have recommended. The results were amazing, and therefore, we purchased their fairway model too. The Bermudagrass is moving, and we have used lower spray rates than we previously planned. The results this spring are impressive, considering we have had cool and cloudy weather with wind that feels like it blows for three weeks at a time, not to mention we are still in a moderate rate drought, which started last summer.
Looking back at the process, there are things I would have done differently, but using Floratine is not one of them. The combination of a dedicated staff, support from GE Turf, precise prescription from PREDICT N7, quality products from Floratine, and the support, knowledge, and care that “doctor” Fifer gave us truly made this a successful conversion! And it feels good to be an environmental steward in the process.
|
March 2024 – Pre Conversion
|
|
|
December 2024 – Post Conversion
|
|
|
|
|
|
