Green to Green: Uniform Transition to Warm Season Turf

Don’t look now but we’re half-way through February.  And for those who overseeded this winter, that means just one thing: transition back to warm season turf is right around the corner.

However, going from the green of a cool season grass to the green of a warm season grass isn’t always easy or smooth. The use of proven soil wetting agents can help to make this critical transition period less stressful for you and your turf.

Two main drivers of transition are water and soil temperature. Warm season turf begins to break dormancy when soil temperatures start to rise above 55 to 60 degrees. But we know that soil temperatures do not always rise uniformly. That would be too easy.

Varied soil temperatures are one of the main reasons golf courses see irregular green-up in the early spring.

If you were to take a soil thermometer and probe soils in the green areas, you would find a much higher soil temperature than in areas where the turf isn’t as green. By the same token, if you were to probe the soils with a moisture meter, you would find that the warmer soils were also the moister soils. This is because water conducts heat.

Uniform Moisture = Uniform Transition

Turf managers who are able to keep their soils uniformly moist will see a much smoother transition this spring.

Using proven soil wetting agents like Revolution on greens and Dispatch on fairways can help to create more uniformly moist soils before, during and after this critical transition period.

As moisture levels even out, soils will warm up more uniformly, leading to a more consistent green-up course-wide.

For more information on how wetting agents can assist in warm season turf transition, contact your local Aquatrols distributor or E-mail info@aquatrols.com.

Special thanks to Aquatrols Territory Manager Ken Mauser for his input on this Blog post!