Approaches to Managing Golf Course Irrigation Water

Review: Why you need to manage irrigation waters

Now as we discussed in the first episode, there's three main reasons why you need to manage golf course irrigation waters. First, aesthetics. Next, functionality. And finally, overall water quality.

New insights: Irrigation management approaches

In this blog, we're going to go more in depth about both proactive and reactive approaches to managing golf course irrigation waters. We’ll give you strategies for improving your overall water quality and keeping your irrigation water clean, usable, and healthy.

We're also going to talk about ways to control those nuisance weeds and algae that are often the culprit in these irrigation waters.

Best place to start: Be Proactive

Being proactive is always beneficial. Trying to keep fertilizer out of the ponds, and trying to prevent leaves or grass clippings from accumulating and building up in the pond is one proactive step you can take. Trying to keep those out is good because it prevents them from fueling the nuisance algae or weed growth.

However, there's often legacy accumulation of these nutrients already in the system. And that's where Phoslock comes into play.

Phoslock and SeClear to the Rescue

Pholock is truly proactive because it binds up legacy nutrients that are already accumulated in your pond system. That can improve water quality, and really get your pond on the right track to staying clean and healthy – and it makes the water a lot easier to manage through the growing season.

So Phoslock is a very good proactive approach to just improving overall water quality in the system.

SeClear Algaecide and Water Quality Enhancer is also a proactive option. This is an integrated (two-in-one) product. In fact, it’s the only integrated product registered with the EPA.

SeClear can  

• control those nuisance algae types
• decrease nutrients in the water body
• improve overall water quality and clarity
• bind up some legacy nutrients

SeClear is an excellent early spring option for those nuisance mats that pop up. It also works really well on planktonic sauna bacteria that can produce toxins and taste and odor compounds <Mark: please check if I translated this phrase correctly>.

Additional Benefits of SeClear

In a routine program with SeClear, your water body is going to be in a lot better shape. You're controlling the algae, you're taking out the nutrients, and you're kicking it while it's down so it doesn't regrow as quickly.

SeClear comes in both a liquid and an easy-to-use granular formulation so you can target where the problem is. Operationally, the product is very easy to use.

SeClear, the only registered algaecide and water quality enhancer:

• removes phosphorous and other nutrients with every application
• improves water clarity and quality
• provides a great integrated foundation for algae management and water quality enhancement

Reactive Options

The next group of products we need to explore are more reactive. You know the scenario: you go to the pond, and it's already a mess. You missed that window to be proactive or some nutrients still got in somehow. Maybe geese came over and dropped them in. However it happened, you now have an algae mess. Let’s say you’ve got a tournament coming up, and you don't know where to start. We have a fabulous group of products for you: Captain, Captain XTR and K-Tea.

Captain and K-Tea to the Rescue

These are great reactive products to get out there and control a lot of these nuisance scums and mats very quickly. These top-performers can get that pond clean and clear in a matter of days. They’ll clean it right up because they directly target those nuisance weeds, those nuisance mats if they arise.

And bonus points: These products don't have any irrigation restrictions associated with them, so you can go ahead and continue to use those ponds as you normally would with no restrictions whatsoever.

They can also get some of those pesky oospores and oomycetes that are vectors for some of the turf diseases we talked about in the first episode.

So these are very good, more reactive products to have on hand just in case that nuisance algae pops up.

Other Resources

Another algaecide you guys need to know about is called Pak 27.

Benefits of Pak 27:

• non-copper algaecide
• OMRI listed
• NSF certified
• breaks down into oxygen and water, so no residue whatsoever
• very safe on fish for ponds with goldfish, koi, or trout

Overall, Pak 27 is an excellent non-copper option. It’s a great oxidizer, and it works very well in many different types of algae depending on the concentration you use.

Another group of products you need in your toolbox is called Komeen or Komeen Crystal. These are more for aquatic weeds or macro algae that grow up through the water body. These weeds can clog up a system and make it look really bad with thick areas of weeds. But we can take care of those as well with no irrigation restrictions using those reactive herbicides to control it.

Key Takeaways

Today we explored approaches to managing golf course irrigation waters. Being both proactive and reactive are important methods. As a first line of defense, you want to get out there, bind up those nutrients, and improve water quality.

To stay proactive, SePRO offers a solid foundation of SeClear. We also have very strong, powerful reactive products like Captain and Captain XTR to control the nuisance algae and Komeen to control nuisance aquatic vegetation on hand.

Thanks for your time today, and as always get ahold of a SePRO professional if you have any questions on how to manage that golf course irrigation water appropriately.