New Greens Seeding with Creeping Bentgrass: Bentgrass Collars Dying?
Suggestions for minimizing damage to young bengrass collars on newly seeded greens:
1. Use what you seed on the greens to seed the collars and approaches. I do not see an advantage to use a Penncross, Pennlinks, Penn Trio or any other bent in the collars and approaches. I disagree with those who say the new varieties are too dense for collars and approaches.
2. Grow in a newly seeded bentgrass green to putting green height - including the collar. I would recommend mowing the newly seeded green out to the edge of the green cavity - all of the bentgrass seeded area - to putting green height.
For example if you seed your new greens in late summer or early fall, I recommend mowing the green at greens height up to two weeks before the scheduled opening day - late spring or summer after a fall seeding.
Two weeks before the planned opening of the greens, mark the desired collar width with a spot of paint then, and only then, allow the collar to grow to a higher height of cut.
The point is to allow the turf to mature at green height prior to creating a collar.
Following this advice will help to reduce the wear and tear typically found on newly seeded collars and approaches.
After a bentgrass green matures and mechanical injury starts to appear in collars:
1. Reduce mowing frequency of collars and or approaches to only one or two days a week.
2. When mowing a green reduce the clean up cut to only two days a week.
3. Eliminate the excessive turning and twisting of mowers that converge at the front of a green site - approach and fairway mowers turning at the same location where the collar mower travels.
4. Switch to walk mowers with "floating heads."
5. During the cooler months of the year, plan on scheduling additional hollow tine aerification and light verticutting to reduce "stemminess" and excessive "stolon" growth of the higher cut bentgrass collar.