Poa Control Measures

Today was the first full day of work on the Straits course, and with the present weather conditions we have been relegated to removing Poa annua from the greens. Poa is quite dense in the fairways ranging in populations from 30 to 60 percent depending on the fairway. What is believed to take place is that golfers track seed from the fairway onto the greens where Poa will take advantage of weak or diseased turf in it's opportunistic nature. The program for controlling Poa is primarily physical removal via knives. Paclobutrazol is sprayed thoughout the summer every two weeks to aid in suppressing it, however actual removal seems to have greater results. Poa removal is done prior to aerification, in which case the greens are double aerified. They are double aerified due to the nature of the course; it's a resort style course thus revenue is very dependent on the number of rounds played, and with aerified greens in the fall, rounds will drop and cost the course revenue. Thus we double aerify prior to opening the course, and do not aerify in the fall. Picking Poa is done green by green, and there are anywhere from 12 to 15 employees on their hands and knees plucking Poa. Typically Poa can be differentiated from bent by its vernation, it is folded where as bent is rolled. However in this case, following looking at vernation, the Poa is quite distinct from the bent. Being cold and very windy, the poa is either flourishing with adequate moisture as a lime green, otherwise it can be identified by it's flat blades that are much whiter/tan in color than the bent. After the poa is removed the holes created are smoothed by any means necessary, foot, knife, etc. This was done for a few greens and will continue to be conducted until all greens are completed. Until then...think Poa control.