Waikoloa Beach Resort

Snow

2011-12-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

I know that most of you in the northern US don't think it is such a big deal. But last night we got snow here in Hawaii. It is only on top of the mountian, and of course Mauna Kea is 14,000 ft tall. However the effect it causes is unlike most places. It creates a sort of swamp cooler affect on the island as the winds come down from the mountain and lower the temperature here about 5 degrees.

Seashore green grow in

2011-11-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of our test green of Seashore Paspalum. This is what is considered a native paspalum that has been here at Waikoloa for at least the last 15 years. It has superior characteristics and we have high hopes for this green. This photo is at 41 days after planting being mowed at .250". We are pushing this green as hard as we can giving it 1.5 lbs of nitrogen per week. Currently it is being water 5 times a day which will be cut to 3 times per day at 45 days. I believe we will be putting at 90 days.

Nothing to do with golf

2011-10-26T12:32:00.001-07:00

I know, I know this has nothing to with golf. However an interseting event nonetheless. This is a native hawaiian monk seal that is napping on our resort beach, Anaeho'omalu Bay. Usually these are found in the northern hawaiian islands. Now wonder he is napping, he is a long way from home!

Update on conversion

2010-09-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Once again it has been to long. Here is another shot of the conversion area on what is our Beachcourse hole number 1. This shot is in mid- June and I will post another shortly of today.

Conversion shots

2010-03-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a long time since I posted anything. In my new position as Manager of Buildings and Grounds I seem to be so busy and focused on things other then turf management. Also compared to some other blogs I read where there is snow on the ground or where they are just opening up golf courses from a winter rest we are in full swing. Winter is our busy time as people try to avoid the cold and come to sunny Hawaii.

Attached are a few photos that no superintendent likes to see. They are pictures of our absolute worst areas. Turf that is riddled with compaction, salt and nutrient deficiencies. However on the upside there seems to be some improvement. Take a look.
If you will notice all the evenly spaced spots of green. This is the result of our attempt to convert to seashore paspalum. We laid some sprigs over the top of the ground and ran an Aeriway spiker over the top of them. The result being sort of an inter-sprigging if you will that we do not have to add extra water to. The moisture that is there keeps the sprigs alive and within one week you see the following
That is a few sprigs of paspalum coming up in some black sodic soil. The paspalum thrives with no competition and spreads like wild fire. With the lower fertility requirement we do not have to add much nitrogen to see this new turf run once established. I am guessing that before the summer is over we should see 100% coverage in the areas in the pictures.

Tee verticutting

2009-10-14T15:56:00.001-07:00

Today on the Beach Course we verticut the tees. This will be an ongoing effort to reduce the thatch layer that is so thick. The "waterbed" feeling you get when you walk over the tee will slowly diminish as we take more and more material out. This will allow more water penetration, therefore promoting deeper roots. Then as we get our traditional wind the tees won't dry out so fast and brown out.

Farm Links

2009-10-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to visit FarmLinks in Alabama a few weeks ago. What an amazing experience. Anyone who hasn't been there I suggest trying to visit. They really put on a great program with a lot of education involved.

These are obviously a few pictures of the golf course there. It was great to be able to see a few different programs being done at one place. They provide a play book that outlines the areas they are doing experiments and you can identify how they are working.
I was also grateful to talk to other superintendents from different areas to see what they are doing, and the challenges they face.

Irrigation Audit

2009-08-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

In the past few months there have been a lot of changes at Waikoloa. One of those changes was to move one of my Assistants into a facilities maintenance role. So now he takes care of all upgrades and repairs to existing buildings and minor equipment. This has been a great relief to me because we had a large gap to fill and he has stepped up and performed beyond expectations.

This assistant was the assistant on one of the golf courses for 25 years. He knew it inside and out, and had been apart of all irrigation repairs and operation. Without him we are falling behind a little but it has forced me to perform an irrigation audit of sorts to figure it all out.

Overall our irrigation system is old and horrible. However, with quite a bit of tweaking it will fit our needs just fine. So much has been let go and not fixed or things covered up by our irrigation techs that we are performing a station by station check of everything we have. I should have done this long time ago but was always assured that everything was tip top. Since we are in the middle of a lava field all of our irrigation is "hard walled". Most of the part circle heads on the edges are out of adjustment, some are tied in with full circles out in the fairways. A lot of stations the wires have faulted and are being turned on manually. Some stations have been tied together and 6 heads run at once, all over the hole! With all of these discoveries I feel like I am back in a construction mode and going out and making sure each head is adjusted properly.

I am doing this to be a good steward of the enviornment, but I am also doing it to save money. We are located in the hot hawaiian desert. We water pretty much every night all year round. If you calculate how much water we use per head per year (depending on size) we are spending between $200 and $400 per year on water out of each head. If we have a head that is running full circle that should be a half head, we are wasting between $100-$200 per year per head. Even if I have 50 heads out there that are adjusted incorrectly between two golf courses, I could realize savings of $5,000 to $10,000 per year. I can say confidently that there are more heads then that out there that need to be fixed or adjusted. This first year alone I am looking at $30,000 annual savings.

It pays to pay attention to things you take for granted. Just because a golf course is 30 years old doesn't mean the irrigation has been set up properly.

Driving Range Update

2009-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

A while ago I had posted about converting our driving range to seashore paspalum. Well four weeks later we have quite a good stand growing. I am posting some pictures of it before we mowed. Right after these photos we knocked it all down to .350".

Due to budget and available workforce we did not convert it traditionally. When we started the range was a combination of goosegrass, kikuyu, and common bermuda. We sprayed it once with roundup, then after "dying" we mowed it down with a greens mower. Then we sprigged over the top of that. The reason for this is because in Hawaii it is harder to control paspalum then to get it to grow.

The paspalum is quite contaminated with common bermuda and kikuyu right now, but our plan is to lower the height to .200". At that height the common and kikuyu will struggle but the paspalum will thrive and takeover. (Sounds good in theory doesn't it)

Our ultimate goal is to have good healthy turf that is not kikuyu. If I have some common bermuda mixed in I can live with that. More updates to come.

One off the bucket list

2009-08-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a vacation to San Francisco to visit the in laws. While I was there I had an opportunity to play Pebble Beach. Something most golfers want to do at least once in their life. I have to say I had a fantastic time and documented it very well. I took 250 photos of the golf course.

I have played quite a few golf courses in my life and have been disappointed by quite a few. Pebble Beach definitely ranks up there as astonishing. With the exception of the first hole and a few small quirks here and there I thoroughly enjoyed my golfing experience.

Here are a few photos from my round.

Down by the Seashore Paspalum

2009-07-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

In April of this year we did a consolidation of our two golf courses. Previously we had two golf courses run out of two different pro shops. We did a little work and were able to consolidate with a new routing of the Beach Course. The new routing uses the Kings' pro shop and drving range to service both golf courses. This entire setup works so well because the Kings' is a newer larger clubhouse and restaurant. The consolidation also saves us tons of money because we don't duplicate all the costs of keeping two shops open.

What this has also done to us is leave a driving range that is not in use. Through a little coercing, a few guarantees that it would not cost anything and a little coordination from a neighboring golf course, I was able to sprig my entire driving range in seashore paspalum.

If you have read any of my previous posts you might know we deal with a few problems like high salts and kikuyu grass contamination. With this sprig job I essentially just planted an 8 acre sod farm of seashore paspalum. I am very excited. This will allow me a lot of freedom to do upgrades to the course with nothing more then the cost of labor. I will slowly change over the golf course through strip sodding.
Above is a picture during the sprigging. If you will notice the spirgs are a little heavy. I estimated the first 4 acres to have about 10,000 bushels applied. I know that is quite heavy, the second 4 acres received half of that. The reason we were able to sprig so heavy because I was fortunate enough to coordinate our sprigging with a neighbor course who was verticutting their rough. I just alleviated them of their "waste" material, and in turn saved them removal fees and myself cost to buy sprigs. These were planted July 6, updates to come.

Been a while

2009-07-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since my last post. An email form Scott Morrison spurred me to open this back up and do some more.

The reason for the lag between posts is because of some new job duties. I went form being the Chief Golf Course Superintendent to the Manager of Building and Grounds. Our company went through a long time coming restructuring that left a few gaps in responsibility. So I have taken ove quite a few of them. In addition to my traditional golf course duties I also am responsible for all of the resort common areas including roadway landscape, anchialine ponds, fishponds, ornamental lakes, the beach park at Anaehoomalu bay. I am also in charge of all infrastructure including upgrades and improvements. The concert venue, Waikoloa Bowl. I also am responsible for administering the security within the resort.

Anything else that is thrown my way I gladly take on. I have an amazing staff that supports me and works well independently. They work well together and I am comfortable in knowing things are accomplished in a timely fashion.

So into the future I will not only be publishing things in regards to golf course but resort operations as a whole. It should be interesting.

Horrible application

2009-04-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Now I have applied a lot of fertilizer in my day, and this is probably one of the worst applications I have seen. Notice the even striping, this is the best application of the greens. The rest the gaps are on angles. You know it almost makes me think this was done on purpose. Rest assured the employee who applied this will be doing it until he gets it right!

Turfgrass Disease

2009-04-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of some disease problems we are having on our putting green. Originally we diagnosed it as a helminthosporium disease and treated accordingly. All of our other spots dissappeared but his one hung around. Since the original diagnosis we have rotated three seperate fungicides and as combinations but to no avail.
I am beginning to think that it may be something different. Maybe nematodes? Although I have not had that much problem with them before.
Unless someone can tell me what it is the search continues.

Local Phenomenon

2009-04-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here on the Big Island of Hawaii we enjoy/hate an interesting local phenomenon. We have what locally we refer to as vog, or volcanic fog. As many know we have an active volcano on our island named Kilauea (kee-la-way-uh). Every day it spews thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide gas into the air. (This amount has severly ramped up do to a recent explosion opening up the active area on the volcano called Halemaumau crater.) This sulfur dioxide is an ingredient in a more familiar substance to most; smog. Smog is common in most highly populated areas but there is no where else on the earth that has vog like we do.

When the wind dies down on the island and the warm air currents mix the air over the island we see our horizon laced with vog. It kills the wonderful views we have here but it creates the most amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Sweet Water

2009-04-03T11:49:00.001-07:00

This is a photo of our irrigation lake with our pump station in the background. Here at Waikoloa these are the most important tools that we have at managing the grass. Some people might not think of these as tools, but we are in a desert environment and water delivery to the grass is essential.

On a yearly basis we average less then 7" per year annual rainfall. Most of this comes in about 4 rain storms of about 1" each bundled together in the month of December. This leaves the rest of the year up to us to water the grass. Since our average temperatures are in the 70's and we have trade winds most of the year, our water requirement is quite high compared to other places.

It amazes me to no end how precious water is and that it is such an overly wasted resource. We are constantly checking and adjusting irrigation to maximize efficiency and not waste what we have. There were a number of areas in the United States last year that went through water restrictions because of severe drought. Yet on a daily basis I see people over watering their home lawns.

In the upcoming decades more wars will be fought over water then for oil. It is essential to life. Please save every drop you can.

Salt Damage

2009-03-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

In the upper portion of this picture you see seashore paspalum that was planted to take over an ailing area. The lower part is the Kikuyu grass dying back from salt damage.

This is typical of most of our problems here at Waikoloa. This sort of black and white bare area that is classified as saline/sodic. It has EC values higher then 10 sometimes in the 15's. On occasion I will get a blank screen on my digital meter becasue it only reads to 20. One might think that these areas might be easy to combat just add some lime or gypsum depending on your soil test and it will shape this right up. This is obviously an area that has gone beyond bad but in a typical fairway setting that has green grass on it my soil tests reveal I would need 4 tons of lime to the acre 2 times in order to return to a maintainable level. Multiply those numbers by 300 acres of turf and you come up with 2400 tons. Which if we had the right equipment and storage capabilities might be possible except for the fact that I am in Hawaii. What I mean by that is that for every ton of goods I want shipped here it costs me about $150 a ton. Tack that on to the price of gypsum or lime and you are nearing the $500 a ton range. So in order for me to return to a base level of calcium that would be acceptable it would cost me $1,200,000 in lime alone. This does not include labor to apply it.

In this economy I can guarantee that I am going to have to live with a little salt damage. And plug in seashore paspalum where ever I need to.

Back from vacation

2009-03-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post because I took a much needed vacation. My family and I were able to get away to San Francisco and Birch Bay Washington. It was such a relief to get to some cold wet weather. That may sound strange to some but here in Hawaii the land of the endless summer, 75 degrees all the time can get a bit monotonous.

Before I left and while I was gone we have experienced one of the worst weather situations. We had 28 days of continuous wind. There was a week of the top gusts being 35+ mph. This has really knocked back our grass. There is a lot of dessication, coupled with the fact that our nightly irrigation was not going where it was supposed to. The rapid evaporation caused by the wind has also caused salts to rise in the soil.

However there was some relief to all of this, the wind has stopped and we had a half an inch of rain spread out over three days. Over the next couple of days this will cause the turf to green back up and kick in some of the fertilizer that is on the ground.

Ahhh, relief at last

2009-01-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

For a turf manger one of the most important things you control is water usage. As weather patterns change so does the amount of irrigation that needs to be put out on golf courses. When it gets windy their is more evaporation and more water loss. When it rains you don't need any irrigation. The ability to control the amount of irrigation you put down is directly proportional to the quality of your playing surfaces. Everybody wants green and fast, and without irrigation control those conditions are impossible to maintain.

Not all golf courses have the luxury of an automated irrigation system unless they upgraded sometime in the recent past. New courses tend to have the very best systems with the latest technology. Then there are courses like mine that were built when irrigation systems were just starting to get good and have been added on to, to make them better.

We have a central computer with Site Pro software that controls a number of field satellites a mixture of Toro Network 8000 and Network VP's. This computer "talks" to the satellites which in turn "talk" to the Irrigation heads. This is accomplished through a network of underground wiring. When this wiring fails the problems are not very easily found.

Recently around our golf course they have been building a new timeshare project which has included among other things quite a bit of infrastructure interface with the golf course. This basically means a lot of digging around my mainlines and wiring. Through this construction I thought I was diligent in making sure everything was working properly when each phase of the construction was complete. A problem surfaced later that I have now been working to fix for the last six months. My communication wire from my central computer to my satellites had inteference on it. Causing ingtermittent communication to some satellites and downright failure to others.

I am happy to say that through much trial and error, mostly error, I have fixed the problem. Or more apropriately I have circumvented it by jumping the wire. This is a short term fix for the moment but at least I know now what the problem actually is and more importantly where the problem is and correct it accordingly. A huge load of stress has been lifted from my shoulders.

Here is one of the problems associated with the overall solution. A burnt power wire.

This was the wire that carried the bad signal which will be replaced.

Global Warmng?

2009-01-26T15:11:00.001-08:00

If you pay attention to all of the environmentalists out there, they all talk about global warming as a sort of armageddon rapidly approaching us. This winter has been a little proof that its not as warm out there as they think. In Portland, OR they had more snow in the month of December then they had in the last 25 years combined! In northern Minnesota they saw sustained temperatures of -40 degrees. It is one of the coldest winters in quite some time.

Now I know that I am in Hawaii and it is all relative. It is still pretty warm here. However our grasses are extremely adapted to this warm weather. This year was the first year I have seen soil temperatures dip below 65 degrees. Now this is quite common in all of the southern states and is the indicator to start the overseeding process if that is your program. We do not overseed nor do we want to. I think my soil temps dipped for two days. But the result is off color turf. Grass that wants to go dormant but can't.

All except for my seashore paspalum. It is still holding up like a champ. What an amazing grass it is evident why most people are choosing this grass over bermudagrass.

Here is the transition from bermuda to seashore can you guess which is which?

Here is a patch of seashore from a distance.

Here are some spots where I plugged sprigs into aerification holes and it is spreading through the existing stand of bemuda/kikuyu mix.

The Hawaiian Swamp Cooler

2009-01-21T08:39:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of our 17th green with the mountain Mauna Kea in the background. If you look closely you see that there is snow on top. This is not photoshopped, every winter we do get some snow on top of Mauna Kea and on top of Mauna Loa the other large mountain here on the Big Island. These mountains are over 13,000 ft in elevation.

It is actually a meteorological oddity where moisture coming off of the ocean hits what is called a "Kona Low" creating snow. This snow that it creates is unlike most snow in that it is really wet and heavy. More like a snow cone then nice flakes or powder. Since it is heavy it packs hard and lasts.

The problem that this presents to us is our trade winds come down the side of the mountain. So they bring down that cold air from the snow in a swamp cooler effect. This lowers our temperatures (relative to normal) affecting our grass health. Remember bermudagrass loves the heat.

Fairway fertilization

2009-01-09T12:29:00.001-08:00

Today we started fertilizing fairways. This is a process we do every 16 weeks for optimum turf health and color. We apply a super slow release fertilizer called Polyon that has a contriolled release coating that delivers a set amount of Nitrogen to the plant over time. This release is dependent on moisture not on any other factors and guarantees a set release.

This is the Cadillac of fertilizer. We use it to ensure that we are using the proper amount of Nitrogen and not over fertilizing. It also assures us that we are not leaching any nutrients away into the water table or eventually the ocean.

If you look closely this is what is on the ground.

Irrigation/Irritation

2009-01-06T16:25:00.001-08:00

If you are a golf course superintendent at an older or aging facility you know exactly what irritation from irrigation is. As facilities age so do their irrigation components. With age comes failure. One of our current issues is our irrigation communication stream.

A quick synopsis of what I am talking about. Or irrigation is run by a central computer system. A brain if you will. That sends out a signal via a wire path to irrigation satellites. That signal is interpreted into a program which tells the satellite when to turn heads on and off. It is a simplistic idea filled with numerous complexities.

Our communication wire is not operating properly. It has a sort of hum on it that interferes with the signal. Imagine trying to talk to someone in front of the speakers at a concert. You might know they are talking but you can't hear them. This can be caused by a bad wire, a bad satellite or a leak if you will from your power lines into the communication line. Our main problem associated with this is it is not just one problem, it is numerous problems which makes it very difficult to isolate just one problem. I am about halfway through my list of trouble shooting ideas and am feeling a heavy dose of the irritation. I have worked on it non-stop for a week and I am no closer to solving the problem now then I was when I started.

The Winter Woes of Bermudagrass

2008-12-31T12:08:00.000-08:00

The last week or so we have had some "winter weather" here on the Big Island. This is not your normal ice and snow you might see in the other parts of the US but for us it is noticeable. It has been rainy and overcast. Temperatures have dipped into the seventies and into the sixties at night. For a lot of people here it is very comfortable temperatures. Including myself, it is nice to wear a jacket now and again. However there is one inhabitant of our golf course that does not care for the cooler weather. Common bermudagrass.

We like so many other golf courses in warm areas have been cursed with the invasive weed of common bermudagrass. Some golf courses have embraced the grass and manage it. Some golf courses and homes even have planted common bermudagrass by choice. Usually these are an improved variety that has been naturally selected for varying positive characteristics.

However the common bermudagrass that has infested our golf course is extreemly undesirable especially as cooler temperatures hit. Notice in the picture below the patch of common bermudagrass in the middle of Tifdwarf bermudagrass which is our original grass we planted.

In the cooler temperatures this common bermudagrass thins out and browns out. It stands out like a sore thumb. Short of removing it manually with a sod cutter it is impossible to get rid of. So with the cooler temperatures we see less then desirable patches like this spread throughout the golf course.

The dislikes of contracting out

2008-12-31T11:25:00.001-08:00

Because of some of our staff limitations we are forced to contract out a certain amount of work. The biggest chunk of work that we contract out is our coconut tree trimming. This happens every six months, and the tree trimmers usually take a few weeks to complete this. Part of the reason we do contract this work out is because we have 1372 coconut tree on the property. If I were to try and have my staff to do it we would get to bogged down with it and end up falling behind on all the turf things we do.

The reason I mention this is because it is extremely difficult to keep a good tree trimmer around. My company has some pretty stringent insurance requirements and being in Hawaii there is a limited amount of companies. On top of that they have to pay labor so much around here because of the cost of living. So in the last three years I am on my third tree trimmer.

With every new tree trimmer there is a learning curve of what kind of damage their equipment is going to do, where they should drive and how courteous they need to be towards golfers. It usually takes a tree trimmer one whole trimming in order to get a feel for what is acceptable and how they are going to do the job.

Yesterday they came and started to trim. It started to rain just slightly and they kept working. I was a little cautious but they drive a ways to trim the trees and have told me they need to trim a certain amount to be profitable. I understand that. However they called around 5:00 after they left and said they had some problems getting out of the golf course and got "stuck". I was not to happy.

Here are a couple more before and after

2008-12-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

Before and after

2008-12-19T08:07:00.001-08:00

This is a classic before and after photo set. The pictures aren't from the exact same angle but you can definitely see that they are the same set of bunkers. I can not take credit fro the first picture, it was one that my predecessor had taken and it is probably five years prior to the bottom picture that I took yesterday. However the bunker set did look pretty much the same when I arrived here about 2 1/2 years ago.

These photos are indicative of the change that we have successfully made to overall plant health. There was no sod job done on these bunkers or any special attention paid other then regular spot spraying and fertilization like you would any normal bunker face. This improvement is a result of reprogramming of irrigation, correct irrigation nozzling, and a fertilizer program to overcome the salt issues present. These same results can be seen all over the course. These bunker faces were representative of how all of the bunkers looked before and the newer picture is representative of how they look now.

Oh Glorious Rain

2008-12-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

This afternoon it started to rain. This is wonderful for us. Rain is the best type of water for grass, it is clean, pure, and has the right pH. This is in cotrast to our irrigation water that is loaded with salt, chlorides and too high of pH. The rain will flush our salt, create a balance for a little while in the soil which will allow our grass to uptake needed nutrients, and green up the place. Not to mention this allows us to save money in water and electricity by not having to water tonight. We always pray for rain but do not receive it very often.

Paspalum Planting

2008-12-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

In an effort to improve some of our worst areas we are planting some new grass. This new grass is seashore paspalum. This grass has improved tolerances to salt, compaction and traffic. Some of our worst areas on the golf course have these problems. They are typically in high traffic areas. These areas see increased wear and in turn they get more compacted. This leads to higher salt levels because these compacted soils don't drain well and we can't flush the salt out of them. This seahore paspalum will thrive in these areas and be a better playing surface.

Surf's up

2008-12-05T14:23:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos of the recent swell of waves that came through this morning. Our ocean hole is just fantastic to be on when this type of event happens. However, in the next week we will be battling salt damage from the spray. The only thing that will cure this is time.

Water water everywhere

2008-10-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

After a thorough check of our irrigation system we are realizing there is some misdirected water out there. About five years ago the pump station was replaced with a brand new flowtronix setup that delivers ample water and pressure. This creates a better water supply but does not take into account the irrigation components already in the ground. Over the years of operation the previous superintendents had added heads and changed nozzles in order to provide adequate coverage. Correct components in your irrigation system was something I took for granted before and now we are auditing our entire system. This will provide less wet and dry spots on the golf course. Then once we have correct components we can identify our weaknesses and address them to improve the golf course.

Repairs to bunker faces

2008-10-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Theere are some interesting looking repairs out there. This is the greenside bunker on #16. Since we do not have enough sod to do a lot of repairs, we plug in these squares. These squares are seashore paspalum which is a very aggressive grass and will fill in rapidly. This grass will creates a heavy root system which will provide more footing and an overall healthier plant. If you look around you might see these plugs in a lot of bare spots. Some have long runners on them and are filling in quite nicely.

What the hole?

2008-10-17T17:30:00.001-07:00

If you hadn't noticed out on the back nine of the Kings' Course and around #6 and 8 green cartpaths on the Beach Course we have done some extra aerifying. This is no ordinary aerifying, we used a vertidrain. The vertidrain is a deep tine aerifier that sends 3/4 inch tines into the soil about ten inches deep. Once the tines are all the way in the machine kicks them out a bit which produces a shattering effect. This shattering effect breaks up some of the hardpan soil deep down allowing roots, water and air to penetrate the soil profile deeper. This will strengthen our root system and help alleviate dry spots.