Dew Patterns

During the summer months we check the dew patterns on the greens almost every morning. We do not have to check for a dew pattern if we run irrigation overnight or it rains a significant amount. Your probably wondering what a dew pattern is. The picture below will show you, but I will explain it in detail. Dew settles on the greens surface during the night and early morning. Dew is tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night. We ride our golf carts around all angles of the greens before they are mowed to determine where we will need to hand water that morning. When we look at the greens we are looking for weak spots in the dew pattern. This tells us where we need to take a core sample and check for moisture. If a certain spot looks weaker than the rest we will take a soil probe and stick it into the green 3-4 inches to test the soil moisture. If the soil is wet then no water will be added, if its moist or dry we will add water depending on how much we think we will need to get through the heat of the day. You probably have seen someone driving around the greens in the afternoons looking at them and either driving by or pulling out a hose to syringe the spot that is wilting. We are looking for purple spots that can turn to black spots if not syringed in time then causing the grass to die.