Bentgrass Not Waking Up Just Yet

We all know each spring we battle the off color bentgrass on our greens.  The colors can range from purple, to red to brown or even blue.  This is caused by a multitude of factors, weather, mechanical stress, growth regulators, dry weather, foot traffic etc.  This is most evident on our 11th and Practice Greens where every season they look terrible this time of the year.  Even though we hit 90 on Thursday and Friday, it was preceded and followed by 60 degree temps during the day and low 50s at night.  We need steady temps to get all the grass to wake up.  When the bentgrass cannot grow fast enough and we are aerifying, topdressing, rolling, double cutting, growth regulators etc, these all lead to stress, bruising and the colors you see out there.  These will all go away as soon as the weather moderates.  On top of that, we usually do not start fertilizing until this time of year so the grass really needs more help than we are giving it.  We also lean the greens out with water as well so that will stress the greens too.  Moving forward I am going to concentrate more on promoting growth on these greens than keeping them firm and fast, especially in April and May.

The red arrow shows the bentgrass in the chipping area on 14.  It is purple and not growing, while the yellow arrow shows the poa....doing just fine.  Also, this is the only walk off point of the green so the bentgrass is constantly getting pounded by mowers, foot traffic etc and cannot grow out.

Again, the yellow arrow shows little patches of bentgrass by the collar of 13.  They are off color as well.  This bentgrass is probably less than 5% of the green and not so offensive, but when you look at 11 and the practice green, the bentgrass makes up more than 90%, which is why most people are concerned when they see them.
When it comes to the weather and growing grass, patience is a virtue.