Demonstration trials with winter cover protection

Project outcome

In Finland the winter covers that were in accordance with the original experimental plan were put in place on the first and ninth greens of Lepaa Golf course. The new trial winter covers were placed on the practice green of Lepaa Golf course.  The material consists of three different GreenJacket covers, GJ-Foam Insulation, GJ-AFS Insulation and GreenJacket Cover, and a control area.

The first and the ninth green were covered on 11 December 2009 and the practice green on 10 December 2009. The winter covers were removed from the practice green and the ninth green on 6 April 2010 and from the first green on 9 April 2010.

For the first time during the winter cover experiment, the covers could be installed in close to optimal conditions in the autumn of 2009. The ground was lightly frozen, air temperature sank permanently below 0°C immediately after installation of the covers, and a fungicide application had been carried out immediately before the covers were installed. On the first and ninth greens, the plastic film that had been spread out on top of three covers was not attached as tightly as in the previous year. In spite of all that, snow mould was widespread and turf condition was poor in the spring of 2010.

In Sweden the greens were covered between 2 Nov. 2009 and 16 April 2010 at Timrå GK and 4 Nov. 2009 and 4 May 2010 at Bodens GK. In the annual report for 2009, changes from the original trial plan are described. In this winter too, some dead areas occurred in low spots and some grass died in areas caused by leaking water. Only small differences in the snow mould situation were seen between sprayed and non-sprayed areas at Timrå GK. Compared with ‘usual’ winter (ice and thaw periods), fairly good survival occurred in the whole trial (including no covered area) at Timrå GK. At Bodens GK, the best survival occurred in areas with impermeable cover, but the area with permeable cover also survived fairly well. At both places the winter was long and with a lot of snow but no ice. Probably due to that, the differences were small between different covering materials and between covers and no covers.

The most difficult problem with covering is to cover as late as possible, but before first snowfall.  Another problem is to create enough ‘air space’ between ground and cover, which is especially important in areas with long periods of snow and/or ice. Finally, it is very important to avoid all possibilities of watering leak under the covers.

Below find reports and articles in PDF format