Aerifying need not be terrifying

As mentioned in the previous post, the course is progressing nicely for the second week of May. We will be starting into our overseeding plan next week on approaches & fairways, and I plan to update you on that procedure next week.
 Today's topic is the condition of the greens. I have had a couple of conversations with some regarding the "bumpiness" of the greens surfaces, and just questions about when things will get into playing shape. Well I was thinking all week as to how to tackle this question, and I think that a little turf 101 might be helpful. We are going to discuss the basics of one of the more important cultural practices we do here at Fox Meadow, and hopefully it will give you a bit more insight into the current condition of the greens.
 Aerification in it's most basic sense is opening up the surface, somehow. There are a few different ways to do this and we will go through them. But first...why do we do it at all?

Here are a few  biggest reason...

                                                                            Thatch

 Thatch is the layer of organic matter that forms between the actual turf canopy and the soil. It is a very natural process and in most normal lawns it is not an issue. It is formed by the decaying leaf tissue and roots that comes from the turf. Different types of turf have varying levels of thatch production, fescue and bluegrass are low producers, but bentgrasses are relatively high producers. Our tees and fairways are a mixture of a lot of different species of turf, and as a result thatch production is not really an issue. Our greens on the other hand are 70-80% bentgrass, so thatch control is an ongoing issue.
 As I mentioned, thatch production in turfgrass is a very natural process, and a certain level of thatch provides an essential cushion for the traffic that golf course turf deals with daily. It only becomes problematic when the levels exceed approximately 3/4" to 1".  You can keep the thatch levels in greens in check via regular topdressing (we will cover this topic in a future post), deep verticutting, judicious use of water and fertilizer, and aerification. Today we will stick with aerification.  


  There are different types aerification that we employ at Fox Meadow. They are solid tining (or venting) and coring. Solid tining is a practice that we do monthly in conjunction with topdressing. We use smaller tines and basically poke a hole in the greens. This hole increases oxygen movement and allows the surface to receive water properly. By rolling after venting you would hardly know we were there.

                                                              These are venting tines
                            

 Core aerification is the process by which we physically remove a core of turf/thatch from the surface. How does core aerification help with thatch control? The most simple way to say it is that when we aerify we physically remove the thatch. We use a machine called a Procore 648 to achieve this.

 For the past two seasons we have used 5/8 tines (there are 60 of them on the unit) and pulled out quite a bit of material...

After we pull the cores we then fill in the open holes with clean topdressing sand. We use just under 100 tons of sand to fill the holes. The sand gets placed via a topdressing unit. The picture below is not us but it gives you an idea of how the process goes...

                           This is the topdressing unit (actually topdressing a green at TPC Sawgrass)

                                  The sand then gets brushed into the holes and the healing begins
                         (again you will notice that this is not our crew...but they are working hard!)

 So as you can see it's quite a process, but the results are worth it. A proper aerification program that includes both solid tining and core aerifying goes a long way to creating healthy greens...

This aerification procedure is part of an overall plan to reduce our thatch production, and it is working. I will go into a bit more detail at a later date regarding the other practices we are employing to help with the thatch control.

  So bottom line, how does this affect the putting quality in the spring of the year? Well it all comes down to timing. Obviously this kind of practice disrupts the surface quite a bit, and it takes time to heal. In order to heal, the greens need proper growing conditions. These conditions generally don't fall between the days we  aerify, around the 22nd of Oct. and now. Once the soil temperatures rise, the bentgrass will wake up and begin to grow naturally. It's really a matter of when you want to put up with the disruption, in the fall, or in the spring.
 People have asked what we are planning to do to heal them faster. Well the answer is basically, wait. We did spray a plant enhancing product called Civitas early this week, and it has actually helped quite a bit. People have also mentioned topdressing or fertilizer. Well, as we mentioned earlier, there is lots of sand on the greens... we would have a hard time fitting any more in. Fertilizer is a dangerous tool this time of year, because of the soil temperatures. If the soil is not ready to facilitate growth naturally, then dumping fertilizer on now does not help. The nutrients will sit in the soil until it wakes up and then, boom, you are bailing hay for a couple of weeks (if you were paying attention you would also chime in, saying that improper fertilizer usage creates thatch...which necessitates more aerification) Not what we want.
 Patience is a virtue and nowhere is it more true than when you are maintaining greens. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing...but that is often the best thing to do.