Mark Hunt’s Weather Assessment 2nd June – 9th June 2010
Most of you will be greeting the new day on the back of Saturday's and Monday's very welcome rainfall, though here in the Midlands, it only amounted to 9mm and across to the East I'm guessing less so. The low pressure that brought this is now away onto the continent and high pressure takes over with increasing warmth through to the weekend with temperatures everywhere in the low 20's.
Next week's forecast is looking tricky because there is another low pressure system coming in from the Atlantic but, as usual, rather than moving over the U.K., it threatens to skirt the West of Ireland over the weekend bringing showers to Connaught on a fresh South-Westerly wind. Again we have that familiar jetstream pattern, twisting back on itself and pushing this low back into the U.K. and Ireland from the North-East, on the back of cooler temperatures. This low will come in from the continent late on Sunday which may mean that the warm weekend weather will break down in thunderstorms as warm air meets a cooler front. If this occurs, it will bring unsettled cooler weather to the U.K. and Ireland from Monday next week with potential for some rain, particularly for the East of England. Whilst that may be good news for that area, it doesn't bode well for my annual holiday next week to the South of France, because that low will bring heavy rain to the Massif Central, ho hum.
Agronomically, if you've had rain over the last few days, then growth and keeping up with it will be the issue for the next few days, particularly on fairways, semi-rough and rough, here a Plant Growth Regulator application may be wise, though of course costly.
Soil temperatures have now stabilised at 14°C, which they always do at this time of year, so that will mean greens growth should be steady, nothing earth-shattering, but steady. Poa will begin to come out of the main seedhead flush, though plenty are still evident at present and this will mean greens will begin to resume a normal colour, rather than the pale surface of late. The humidity and warmth may trigger off some Fusarium in the top of the canopy, often manifesting itself as bronze blotches, but providing growth levels are good, I'd expect this to grow out as fast as it occurs. (unless of course you have a Plant Growth Regulator on that is).
Possibly, the first Fairy Rings of the year may put in an appearance, with the moisture / humidity combination, though activity levels have been very low year-to-date so far, if the latter are a problem for you, now is a great time to apply an Azoxystrobin / Wetter combination.
If the cooler weather arrives next week and you are gearing up for a foliar application, make sure there's a little low-temperature available N in the mix and of course iron, either chelated or sulphate-based, both will work well at this time of year.
As intimated earlier, I'm off after this week for two weeks, so I'll touch base with you again in the third week of June.
All that remains is to wish Jim and his crew a good Wales Open at Celtic Manor and Murray, Jamie and Steve a great IFQ, next week at Sunningdale.
Mark Hunt
Technical Director
Headland Amenity Ltd
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