Here is a closeup of the pigment condition I described in the last post. I pulled this one off of the University of Connecticut Turfgrass Disease website by following a link supplied by one of our followers, John Kaminski, Ph.D.

Notice the purple tips on most blades of grass. This is an accumulation of anthocyanin due to cold temperatures that limits translocation of sugars produced during photosynthesis.

Wow, I have become a real nerd because I find this stuff fascinating. If you are also intrigued by this seasonal abnormality, then here is a few links that will dive a little deeper into this subject.

The first link is from Wikipedia, always a good place to start. The second is a Google preview of a great book by Peter Dernoeden called Creeping Bentgrass Management.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin

http://books.google.com/books?id=N7HoRiWxG2kC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=anthocyanin+bentgrass&source=bl&ots=cAWm--MX15&sig=MkYaEJ5cU6OP4ZaAqVsS2B0Ph1w&hl=en&ei=6ahHS-WuG4SkswPr_t31Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=anthocyanin%20bentgrass&f=false

Happy reading.

If you've played golf in the last month, I'm sure you've noticed the purple blotches all over the greens. Whenever strange patterns and patches occur on a green, disease is the first suspect to blame. In this instance, the mottled appearance is just part of the winter season and will fade back to green when temperatures begin to climb.

The bentgrass on our greens is predominantly Crenshaw which, like many older varieties, turns purple quite easily. Bentgrass, just like the leaves of trees, changes color when mild days are mixed with cold nights. Basically, the sugar produced during photosynthesis is trapped in the leaf and expresses itself with a different color. As temperatures rise, the sugars can be moved more effectively into the roots and the chlorophyll can make the plant green around the clock.

This year the course is showing more purple than it had over the last five years and that is a good thing. Since October, we've been using a plant growth regulator called Trimmit which gives bentgrass a competitive advantage over annual bluegrass. This time of the year, bentgrass is barely growing so there is little hope in out growing the poa annua. However, we have limited poa's spread and all these new purple spots are proof of that.

The last few winters have ended with the greens nearly covered in light green poa annua. Heading into summer, some of the poa would back off and the bent would take charge and return the green to 50/50, poa/bent. This season, the poa is being kept in check and we should have greater than 50% bentgrass when we hit summer. Hopefully this is a reversal of fortunes and we can look towards the turf maintenance holy grail: poa-free greens.

Going from 50/50 to solid bent might be a pipe dream in all honesty, but with the proper maintenance practices, the greens will be rolling just fine. Perhaps we knock out 2-3% of the poa each year and keep plugging along.

First off, let me tell you that this has nothing to do with golf course maintenance. Instead, I want to share with you my source of pain relief after my wisdom teeth were removed. The extraction was performed last Tuesday and went very well. I had very little pain or swelling until Friday, January 1st. This is when a condition called 'dry socket' first reared its ugly head.

This malady is referred to as a phenomenon that involves inflammation of the bone where the tooth was extracted. It is not an infection and simply goes away over time. Waiting for it to go away is excruciating and probably the worst pain I have felt. The pain relievers the doctor provided were not helping by Sunday so I went to the Internet to find a cure.

Many of you probably know this, but for me, it was the very first time I'd seen this remedy. Clove oil is very good for toothaches and for treating dry socket. A couple drops and the most incredible pain I've ever known subsided within two minutes.

This is way off topic for this blog, but I wasted three days of a brand new year dealing with this condition when a natural remedy was sitting at Walgreen's. Hopefully, somebody with tooth pain will find this useful and can get on with their lives as well.

OK, now back to growing grass.