River Flows – September Update

Lots of talk around the country amongst turf managers about how dry a season it's been. I find the easiest and quickest way to assess the rainfall in comparison to previous years is by using the Met Office anomaly maps.

The below summary images show the rainfall in that area of the country compared to the average rainfall.

Another useful resource is the Environment Agency's riverflow reports which again I've summarised in the below GIF.

Whilst rainfall is essential to short term turf quality. River flows represent the increasing pressure on our water resources. This is the first year I've taken the time to study these, I'll keep logging and posting them to look for trends.

Looking at the patterns of the last two years though - if you're in the South or the East and your club aspires to have high quality fairways through the main playing season then it's seriously worth budgeting for a wetting agent program such as Qualibra, a PGR such as Primo Maxx II to increase rootmass during the spring, as well as good cultural practices such as coring and verti draining.

If you're situated in the drier areas of the country and you don't have absolute control over your water source as a club it's probably worth think where securing that water fits in your longer term business plan.

More about Plant Growth Regulator, Primo Maxx here.

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