{"id":13352,"date":"2022-01-25T12:08:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T17:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aquatrolscompany.com\/consistency-is-king-in-the-desert\/"},"modified":"2022-01-25T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T17:08:10","slug":"consistency-is-king-in-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aquatrolscompany.com\/en-in\/consistency-is-king-in-the-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Consistency is King in the Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Aquatrols<\/strong> | In the surprisingly complex world of Arizona turf management, it’s a vicious and year-round cycle of continuously preparing for the next thing. Superintendent, Mike Molton says the key to staying on top of it all is creating a program that ensures consistency and playability for his members during various conditions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to oversimplify golf in Arizona as two seasons: a wintertime crammed with a zillion snowbirds and a summertime when it\u2019s too hot to touch a club. The truth, of course, is somewhere in between and far more complicated than most of the rest of the country might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mike Molton and his crew at Alta Mesa Golf Club, it\u2019s a vicious cycle and a year-round process of preparing for the next thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mike Molton, Superintendent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe transition is always tough and then there\u2019s nail-biter overseeds,\u201d says Molton. \u201cIt could go either way depending on what Mother Nature wants to throw at us. Then, there comes a ton of play. There\u2019s not much downtime in Arizona and we have to squeeze in all of our projects and aerification in the summer and then overseeding starts so you repeat the whole cycle again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molton grew up in a little town in Georgia called Augusta and earned a turf degree from Clemson, and now he has been growing grass in the desert for over a decade. At Alta Mesa he has private membership clientele at the golf-only club so he uses science and constant improvement to keep the place on point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His greens are exceptional 20-year-old MiniVerde surfaces that have seen almost no segmentation. The fairways are kind of a Heinz 57 of bermudagrasses, but he\u2019s looking to change that by introducing TifTuf, assuming it performs well in trials he\u2019s currently running in his first fairway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His two biggest challenges?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOverseeding and expectations. We\u2019re constantly adjusting our overseeding and painting based on circumstances. Most of the courses out here are painting more, overseeding less acreage and reducing rates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s even an interesting hybrid approach he uses: \u201cA lot of guys are going with a lighter overseed and a little painting over the top,\u201d says Mike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They stopped overseeding greens about five years ago and it made a big difference in the performance of the MiniVerde. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten a lot more aggressive with our cultural practices to reduce organic matter and increase infiltration.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They do twice-a-year ISTRC tests to help stay on top of the physical properties. \u201cThose tests are also a great tool for us, for the membership, and for the board to see what we\u2019re doing. Trying to schedule a second or even third aerification is really hard so the membership likes to see that report. It helps them understand the long-term health needs even when the greens are excellent at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the desert so moisture management is obviously at the core of his program, and he uses a monthly Zipline\u00ae<\/sup> program on his greens. \u201cIt\u2019s really, really helped with the moisture consistency. We have moisture sensors under our greens and it\u2019s amazing how consistent the wetting of the soil is. We only see maybe 5% difference between mounds and low spots. It\u2019s really done a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does he like it so much on greens? \u201cI like the consistency between irrigation cycles. I\u2019m not drying out or having spot problems. We have very, very little hand-watering in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molton normally uses a full rate and always strives for a deep-watering program. \u201cZipline lets me do that when it\u2019s 110 degrees. We\u2019re not out there fighting LDS and there\u2019s great consistency between the monthly apps. With some of these products they start to fade about week three. Zipline makes it through the full month.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, consistency is first, but what it adds to playability also matters. \u201cIt\u2019s such a nice, firm surface similar to what I\u2019d seen with Revolution\u00ae<\/sup> in the past.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molton says Zipline fits right in with the rest of his greens program. He does three apps per month: two of them with foliars and PGRs and one focused on soils that includes Zipline. \u201cMy fertilizer program is more of a carbon-based thing and I try to avoid granulars,\u201d he says. His goal is to free up the valuable stuff tied up in the soil so he largely sticks with a liquid, carbon-based approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of Zipline\u2019s ability to help unlock those locked-up nutrients, it works really well with my carbon-based program. We get very, very consistent growth with it and Zipline falls right in with the mix. We\u2019ve never had tank-mixing issues and we\u2019ve had zero issues with burn. Plus, you can water it in or, if you get in a pinch, skip watering it in and get some irrigation on it that night and you\u2019ll still be good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also noticed a big impact on the disease front. \u201cAnother good thing is the lack of fairy ring. When you get locked into this program with Zipline, I find that it\u2019s rare to see any type of fairy ring or localized dry spot. I haven\u2019t had to treat fairy ring on greens since I started using it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those fairway trials looking at TifTuf as a potential water-saver for the club? Zipline\u2019s helping there too by establishing and maintaining a consistent moisture baseline to allow Molton to assess how well the species might perform and whether it\u2019s the future turf for Alta Mesa\u2019s fairways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, in the end, it\u2019s all about consistent putting surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZipline\u2019s been good. If consistency is what you\u2019re going after, it\u2019s a really good product to put in the mix. It keeps that surface firm and fast like the members want it. And you get some peace of mind when a head doesn\u2019t come on or the irrigation doesn\u2019t run, I know that I have a good baseline and it handles stuff like that with no problem. There are cheaper products out there, but I think this is one that pays for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aquatrols | In the surprisingly complex world of Arizona turf management, it’s a vicious and year-round cycle of continuously preparing for the next thing. Superintendent, Mike Molton says the key to staying on top of it all is creating a program that ensures consistency and playability for his members during various conditions. It\u2019s easy […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from Consistency is King in the Desert<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-success-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nConsistency is King in the Desert | Aquatrols Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Superintendent, Mike Molton says the key to staying on top of desert conditions is creating a program that ensures consistency and playability.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aquatrolscompany.com\/en-in\/consistency-is-king-in-the-desert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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