Pencil-tine Aerification

We  performed the first of four “pencil-tine” aerifications this Tuesday. Aerification achieves three things. It relieves soil compaction, it provides a method to improve the soil mixture around the highest part of a green’s roots and it reduces or prevents the accumulation of excess thatch. A pencil tine aerification is much different from the aerifications we do over the summer. A pencil aerification is simply more of a maintenance aerification, that punches very small holes to allow more air and water to penetrate the soil. The aerification is followed immediately by our rollers. Once the green is rolled, it is hard to see that anything was done. The disruption to the playability of the golf course is kept to an absolute minimum. The only disruption is that the Golf Shop must run straight tee times for us to accomplish this. This process will be done on the second Tuesday of each month through April.

deep-tine greens aerification

Today we performed our last summer aerification on our greens. We contracted an aerification company to deep-tine the greens. Using half-inch solid tines, the machine drives deep into the soil (about 7 inches) and opens up the putting surface to allow better movement of air and water. As invasive as this seems, it was almost unnoticeable two days later.

Greens Aerification

Today we aerified our greens for the third time this summer. This time we used small tines spaced fairly close together. the plugs are then removed and the greens are topdressed liberally followed by a drag brush. The greens tend to recover quicker from this type of aerification since the holes are much smaller.

Fairway Aerification Underway

Today, we began the second of three aerifications on the fairways. Much Like the verticutting, this is a necessary practice which will improve the overall health of the turf. We generally only do two of these a season, but I have decided to do a third one in late September.

Fairway Verticutting

This morning, we started the operation of verticutting the fairways. Verticutting is a mowing technique used to remove grain, dead and dying turf, and thatch from the fairways.

Thatch is defined as an accumulation of dead and living plant material (stems, roots, and shoots) that develops between the soil surface and the green leaves of a turf. Thatch development is a natural process that occurs during normal growth. Ideally, under proper management, a turf achieves a balance between rate of organic matter production and rate of decomposition.

Some thatch is desirable because it forms a cushion that decreases turf wear. Thatch also insulates the soil from high and low temperatures and reduces evaporation losses of water from the soil surface. A thatch layer becomes undesirable when it exceeds a depth of 1/2 inch.

This is something that we have not done to our fairways in several years. It is a practice that I plan to do on a yearly basis from now on. For someone who has never seen the process, it can be a bit of a shock. As you can see by the photo above and to the left, it pulls up a vast amount of debris.

Not only does verticutting remove thatch, which is a breeding ground for turf disease, but it also provides channels to allow moisture and oxygen to get into the rootzone. The turf recovers surprising quickly however, because the turf is growing so actively at this time of year. We will be following this verticutting by our second fairway aerification one week from today on the 5th of August. The photos below show that the fairway is then vacuumed and then mowed.