CICADA KILLERS

It's that time of year again. The Cicada Killer wasps are back. Here's a little info about these guys (and gals) and what they are all about.

You've probably seen these buzzing around before, especially around sand traps and putting greens.  They are Eastern Cicada Killer wasps, and as their name implies, they kill cicadas.

Here's a website with more information: LINK

From the website above:

The female cicada killer on the right is carrying a paralyzed annual cicada (Tibicen linnei) back to her burrow, where she will put it in a nest cell, lay an egg on it and seal the cell. A grub will hatch from the egg in a few days, eat the cicada and overwinter underground in a hard cocoon which it weaves. It will pupate in the spring, hatch in July or August, dig its way to the surface and live above ground for 2-6 weeks; all adults die annually. The cicada killer has adapted its life cycle to be in synchrony with that of its hosts: Like the several species of “annual” cicadas with which it feeds its young, a cicada killer spends over 90% of its life underground as a larva. Like most hunting and parasitic wasps, the cicada killer is a beneficial insect; it exerts a measure of biological control on cicadas, some species of which damage deciduous trees by laying eggs under the soft bark of the new growth on the trees’ terminal branches. Because they emerge each year in mid-July, cicada killers are not significant predators of periodical (13- and 17-year) cicadas, which emerge in May and June and die off by mid-July.

Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males but they have no sting. Although they appear to attack anything which moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything which might be a female cicada killer ready to mate.   (sound familiar?)  Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers don't land on people and attempt to sting. If handled roughly females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen.

For us, the only real problem they cause is the burrowing in our greens and sand bunkers.  They apparently provide a benefit by keeping the cicada population in check, and they don't typically sting humans.  And now you know more about cicada killer wasps than you ever thought you would.  :)

HOT DAYS!

Do you remember in last month's newsletter the comment that Alex made about being more concerned with keeping the greens alive than he is with keeping a certain speed to them? Well, this is the time when that statement really rings true. We've had temperatures in the 90's for about 2 weeks now, and the forecast for this week is pretty much mid-90's all week. This is when the maintenance practices that have been applied to the course really pay dividends.

On these very hot, sunny days, you may notice areas on some of the greens begin to take on a purplish tint. That is a sign of distress. Keep in mind that you are dealing with grass plants that are mowed to .130" each day, so there's not a lot of plant there to hold water and withstand these harsh conditions. But, the healthier we can make that plant, the better suited it is to take the punishment. By growing the greens a little taller this year (.130" instead of .125") we are also giving them more root zone, which typically means a healthier plant, which in turn means it can be more tolerant of the heat. Perhaps they've been a bit slower than in the past, but take a look your next time out at how healthy they are now.

DID YOU KNOW that on these days of extreme heat there is someone assigned each day to monitor the conditions of the greens, even on weekends? Between about noon and 3:00pm are the times that symptoms of distress are most likely to appear. Those will be the times that you will see one of our crew running around the course like a mad man, hooking up a hose and either misting or hosing down individual greens. This isn't done to provide water to the greens, but rather to simply cool them down. Kind of like wiping a cool washcloth across the back of your neck and face. It doesn't provide you with any liquid nourishment, but it sure makes you feel better! If conditions are really extreme, you may see them turn on the irrigation for a couple minutes.

Higher green speeds are partly obtained by shorter mowing heights and reduced moisture content. The faster the greens are, the more stressed they are and the closer they are to being dead. We work hard to achieve a balance between green speed and healthy greens, so that we can provide a quality playing surface without having it in a stressful condition all of the time.

For questions about this or any other course topic, contact Alex, Dennis, or any of your greens committee members.

HAWKS?

Any birders out there? A pair of these guys have been spending a lot of time this year in the wooded area left of 12 fairway. Their calls sound very similar to samples I've found on-line of red-tailed hawks, but I don't know if others sound similar. This one I'd guess is 12"-15" tall, not counting tail. The next time you play #12 keep your ears sharp for the shrill call. The last time I played one was circling overhead.

I'd love to hear from you if you can positively ID the bird(s). Send me an email dennis@djonesassoc.com.

Storms AGAIN!

It seems like I've posted a lot of stuff about storm damage the past couple years. Sunday afternoon we had a pretty good storm blow through. The good news is that other than our tents we didn't sustain too much damage. All of the tree trimming and thinning that we've done in the past year appears to have helped, as the main thing we saw were lots of leaves and smaller limbs blown about, but no trees down or large limbs. There was one large section of a tree behind #4 tee that fell and blocked the entrance road for a while, but it was quickly moved out of the way.

(thanks to Phil Morgan for this picture)

Our major loss was our two tents. The yellow tent that is normally in the parking lot and used as a concession tent during tournaments was blown down close to #9 green. The red/white tent that is kept on the patio above #18 green was blown up and over the roof of the clubhouse, ending up on the roof above the entrance door to the banquet room. (see the crappy cell phone picture) Those 5-gallon buckets that are used to hold the tent down? They were still attached when it landed on the roof.

All of this happened during the final round of the Ladies Scramble Tournament. We eneded up with at least two weather delays, but the tournament was finally completed late Sunday night. See the Tournaments page for results.

July 4th Fireworks

We had a nice turnout and nice fireworks display on Sunday night. The panoramic picture above shows just part of the crowd that was around the clubhouse and first tee area. There were people watching from around the practice green, near 3 green, and all up and down the entrance road. I also understand that the shoulder of Hwy 54 was packed, as well as a large contingent of boats anchored in the main channel. (The picture above was a 9-second exposure. It was really much darker than this when the picture was taken.)

Here are a few samples from Sunday night. (Click any of the pictures for a larger version)

It was a beautiful night to watch the fireworks.