An Experiment in Ice Removal

Sorry for the length and delay of this post.  It has been a busy time at the golf course.  Yes, we do get busy in winter!  There are only three of us on staff through the winter and there is a lot to do.  While writing this I also discovered there is need for a few other blog posts relating to why we aerate late in the season, why ice build up on greens is worrisome, and what keeps the Turfcare Department busy in the winter.  But in order to shorten an already long blog post, I will try to get around to these topics in the New Year.

Ice formation on the surface of greens is never good and my collective experience with ice at Greywolf has not been positive.  As I reported previously, we have a thin layer of ice that has formed on our untarped greens (8 of our 19 greens).  The ice layer formed as the result of two rain events in late November and early December.  The ice varies between 3mm and 6mm in thickness.  Although not very thick, I believed ice covers most of the surfaces on our untarped greens.  I believed this because after each rain event we went out and dug snow pits on the greens in order to examine the turf.  We also pulled out a few turf samples to measure the thickness of the ice (See my last two posts).

On December 7^th we undertook an experiment to see if we could clear the ice from the surface of the 10^th green. The goal was to clear the ice and not cause any damage to the turf.  Another goal was to see if our sampling program was correct in predicting the amount of ice coverage on the untarped greens.    

Assistant Superintendent Colin Matheson starting snow removal

Snow Removal on 10

More Rain = More Ice

More rain equals more ice.  Not the most earth shattering statement.

More rain fell on the golf course on Sunday and Monday.  The rain resulted in an ice layer covering the surface of all eight untarped greens.   When I wrote my last post a week ago there were only three greens with an ice layer. 

The ice on the greens varies in thickness from 3mm (.11”) to 5mm (.19”).  The grass crowns are completely covered on all eight greens and only 20% of the leaf tips are protruding through the ice.  The ice on the greens is clear and very difficult to visually detect.   When the snow is removed, we can still see the aeration holes on the greens and the surface appears to have very little ice accumulation.  It is not until you place your hand on the surface of the greens or take a sample out of the greens, that the ice layer can be detected.  We took samples out of three greens so we could measure ice thickness at the shop.  I have included a video update and a few pictures.

3 mm Ice Thickness #4 Green

Ice Sample from #15 Green

The question is -- how should we deal with the ice?  There are two choices - remove the ice now or monitor turf health and ice levels and remove the ice in early spring.  None of the choices are good.