Hollow Surprise

Over the past two days, the crew from Wolfe Tree Service has been removing three trees from the left side of 18 green complex, near the cart path.  These trees were slated for removal due to the declining health of a linden and a silver maple and because of a lightning strike that severely damaged another linden.  As you can see from the picture below, we found quite the surprise when the non-lightning damaged linden was cut down.

With the exception of few inches of wood on the outer part of the tree, the inside of the main trunk was completely hollow from the base to 40' high.  How this tree didn't topple over is rather amazing, and we're certainly glad that it was removed before anyone or anything could be hurt by its inevitable collapse.  Besides eliminating safety risks, these trees also contributed to the significant amount of winter shade that is cast on the 18th green.  Tomorrow, we will be taking down a silver maple between holes three and four that has developed a great deal of rot and subsequent shelf fungi over the past two years.

Last week, we winterized the irrigation system and removed the plastic intake pipes that extended into Lake Mendota.  To remove water from the belowground pipes, a large air compressor was hooked into the irrigation system near the pumphouse, and the air pressure was used to force the remaining water out of the sprinklers as we turned them on.  On Thursday, the very heavy, cast-iron pipes that connect the pumphouse to the already-removed plastic intake pipes will be removed from the lake with the assistance of a boat lift barge.

The wind from this past weekend knocked many of the remaining leaves from the trees, and we will start cleaning them up tomorrow.  Depending on the weather forecast, we may begin applying our snow mold plant protectants on Friday, but since these products have to protect the greens, tees, and fairways throughout the entire winter, we try to time their application to as close to the onset of winter as is reasonably possible.

Otherwise, the cold days have allowed equipment work in the shop to begin picking up, and our fleet of Columbia utility vehicles are first on the docket for cleaning and servicing.  Between now and spring, there will be plenty of work, both inside and out, to keep our crew of six busy.