Blog Update

With the official turnover of the club to the Members here at Mediterra, our blog postings are going to significantly increase. We find this as a great means of communication between the Maintenance department and each member here at Mediterra. We plan on posting very relevant topics on this site that will help better inform and educate those who follow our blog.

I wanted to start by talking about the USGA Regional Updates that were posted. These are updates that our Regional USGA Agronomists post on a frequent basis that discuss things that are happening currently on golf courses throughout Florida. Our Agronomists here in Floria are John Foy and Todd Lowe. Both individuals post very helpful information that they gather throughout their visits in Florida.

One important topic is El Nino. This weather pattern is supposedly in effect this winter, and John Foy's update about El Nino is very informative about what we may expect. El Nino calls for cooler and wetter conditions that normal in SW Florida during the winter months.

Bermudagrass thrives under warm temperatures and full sunlight. El Nino brings exact opposite conditions of cool, cloudy, and more moisture. These conditions are not favorable for optimum bermudagrass growth, and can encourage disease development.

We have had a couple incidences of disease outbreak on the greens already this fall with the above normal rainfall we've experience over the past couple weeks. The disease is a leaf spot disease that will spread rapidly in moist conditions, but is fairly easy to control with fungicides. The disease is rarely threatening to the turfgrass plant, but does not look good aesthetically. Typical recovery time is determined by growth rate of the grass, but normally 4-7 days all evidence of the disease will be gone.

Please take the time to read John Foy's entire update, it is very informative about what we may experience this winter with El Nino.