When you’re the superintendent of a golf course with a variety of bentgrasses on your greens that includes Penncross, Penneagle, A1/A4, Pennlinks, T-1 and even one L-93 green, regulating growth is no doubt an important issue.
Such is the case for golf course superintendent Jeff VerCautren at Rich Harvest Farms, a private club about 50 miles west of Chicago. Opened in 1989 and then expanded 10 years later, Rich Harvest Farms has hosted its share of prestigious events, including the Solheim Cup in 2009, the Palmer Cup in 2015 and 2017’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Championships.
After years of relying on Primo Maxx on his array of bentgrasses, Jeff, who has been at Rich Harvest since 2002, wanted to expand his plant growth regulation program. Although he liked Primo Maxx, Jeff did notice some limitations.
“If we missed our timing on the Primo Maxx even a little bit,” he says, “we’d notice a bounce back. Where speeds would slow down.”
He tried Paclo, but it didn’t quite do what he had hoped, at least for the greens at Rich Harvest.
“I felt we were getting some root pruning,” Jeff says. “Plus, a bit of off color.”
The product he settled on was Cutless 50W, which, safe to say, brought him the results he was looking for on the greens. “I’ve found the Cutless gives us a longer window than the Primo Maxx does,” he said.
The science behind Cutless 50W, manufactured by SePRO, concerns utilizing unique pyrimidine chemistry, essentially interrupting the functions of gibberellic acid. Reducing plant growth rate without sacrificing development. Like most plant growth regulators, Cutless 50W boasts improved turf quality and color. As well as, of course, reducing shoot growth and, therefore, clipping yield.
Another benefit to Cutless 50W is the Poa annua suppression.
“I’d say we’ve reduced Poa to less than 6% on the greens,” Jeff told me.
However, perhaps the greatest benefit of the Cutless 50W use for Jeff at Rich Harvest Farms has been the ability to even out that growth among his many different stands of bentgrass, especially on the greens. Providing an even, consistent putting surface throughout the course of the day, despite the varying bents.
Jeff says, “We don’t have to maintain any of the greens differently.”
After using a combo of Primo Maxx and Trimmit 2SC in the past, Jeff switched to a Cutless/Primo Maxx combo (this following the Paclo experiment) for a couple of years. However, at the beginning of 2017, with the big NCAA Championships looming, Jeff decided to go Cutless 50W alone, leading up to the tournament and, as it turned out, beyond.
Rich Harvest Farms’ successful 2017 PGR program started out with a Primo Maxx/Proxy app early spring (Proxy is a great help with seedhead suppression on the Poa annua), followed by a second app three weeks later. The Primo rate is .18 ounces per thousand and the Proxy 4.8 ounces per thousand. Jeff relies on the Greenskeeper App as well as the Michigan State University GDD tracker to determine the growing degree days for beginning his program each season, and also making apps throughout the growing months.
Jeff explained his logic behind this. “Basically tracking the growing degree days for temperature accumulation per day,” he says, “to help track how long growth regulators will last.”
Following those initial two early spring Primo/Proxy apps, Jeff switched to Cutless 50W alone. A bold decision with the tournament on the horizon. He applied Cutless 50W alone with every application throughout the season, usually about two to three weeks apart.
The PGR applications are not limited to the greens at Rich Harvest.
“We apply to the greens, tees, fairways and approaches,” Jeff says.
As far as getting through last May’s tournament, the Cutless 50W performed admirably. Jeff will be using the same 2017 program confidently this year, as well.
About the Author
Ron Furlong is a golf writer and frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.
Such is the case for golf course superintendent Jeff VerCautren at Rich Harvest Farms, a private club about 50 miles west of Chicago. Opened in 1989 and then expanded 10 years later, Rich Harvest Farms has hosted its share of prestigious events, including the Solheim Cup in 2009, the Palmer Cup in 2015 and 2017’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Championships.
After years of relying on Primo Maxx on his array of bentgrasses, Jeff, who has been at Rich Harvest since 2002, wanted to expand his plant growth regulation program. Although he liked Primo Maxx, Jeff did notice some limitations.“If we missed our timing on the Primo Maxx even a little bit,” he says, “we’d notice a bounce back. Where speeds would slow down.”
He tried Paclo, but it didn’t quite do what he had hoped, at least for the greens at Rich Harvest.
“I felt we were getting some root pruning,” Jeff says. “Plus, a bit of off color.”
The product he settled on was Cutless 50W, which, safe to say, brought him the results he was looking for on the greens. “I’ve found the Cutless gives us a longer window than the Primo Maxx does,” he said.
The science behind Cutless 50W, manufactured by SePRO, concerns utilizing unique pyrimidine chemistry, essentially interrupting the functions of gibberellic acid. Reducing plant growth rate without sacrificing development. Like most plant growth regulators, Cutless 50W boasts improved turf quality and color. As well as, of course, reducing shoot growth and, therefore, clipping yield.
Another benefit to Cutless 50W is the Poa annua suppression.
“I’d say we’ve reduced Poa to less than 6% on the greens,” Jeff told me.
However, perhaps the greatest benefit of the Cutless 50W use for Jeff at Rich Harvest Farms has been the ability to even out that growth among his many different stands of bentgrass, especially on the greens. Providing an even, consistent putting surface throughout the course of the day, despite the varying bents.
Jeff says, “We don’t have to maintain any of the greens differently.”
After using a combo of Primo Maxx and Trimmit 2SC in the past, Jeff switched to a Cutless/Primo Maxx combo (this following the Paclo experiment) for a couple of years. However, at the beginning of 2017, with the big NCAA Championships looming, Jeff decided to go Cutless 50W alone, leading up to the tournament and, as it turned out, beyond.
Rich Harvest Farms’ successful 2017 PGR program started out with a Primo Maxx/Proxy app early spring (Proxy is a great help with seedhead suppression on the Poa annua), followed by a second app three weeks later. The Primo rate is .18 ounces per thousand and the Proxy 4.8 ounces per thousand. Jeff relies on the Greenskeeper App as well as the Michigan State University GDD tracker to determine the growing degree days for beginning his program each season, and also making apps throughout the growing months.
Jeff explained his logic behind this. “Basically tracking the growing degree days for temperature accumulation per day,” he says, “to help track how long growth regulators will last.”
Following those initial two early spring Primo/Proxy apps, Jeff switched to Cutless 50W alone. A bold decision with the tournament on the horizon. He applied Cutless 50W alone with every application throughout the season, usually about two to three weeks apart.
The PGR applications are not limited to the greens at Rich Harvest.
“We apply to the greens, tees, fairways and approaches,” Jeff says.
As far as getting through last May’s tournament, the Cutless 50W performed admirably. Jeff will be using the same 2017 program confidently this year, as well.
About the Author
Ron Furlong is a golf writer and frequent Golf Course Industry contributor.
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