Needle tining/venting greens

Every 3-4 weeks, we do a needle tining/venting of our greens utilizing a 1/4 tine.  We are a few weeks late with our first venting of the season because of the rain events in the middle of the month.  The venting opens up the surface of the greens to exchange oxygen which is good with carbon dioxide which is bad.  There is some slight compaction relief and the practice will also allow water to penetrate into areas that have localized dry spots which are areas of greens which repel water or do not allow water to penetrate into the surface.  We began our work on Tuesday since the course was closed.  We did not mow the greens that day but we did roll them after the venting to smooth the surface and reduce the chances of grass being scalped the next day when we mowed again.  We completed our last 6 greens Wednesday morning.  The process takes about 30-40 minutes per green depending upon the size of the green.

Russ with our Kubota tractor which pulls the Verti-drain 7316 unit across the green.  You might wonder about the weight of the large tractor rolling across the greens in the summer.  The large  galaxy tires that are on the rear of the tractor cost about twice as much as a standard tractor tire but reduce the psi which can negatively effect fine turf grass such as bentgrass greens. 

There are 6 tine holders on the machine which has 8 tines per holder.  The tines are spaced at 1.5" with two rows per holder which adds greater benefit to the procedure because of the tighter spacing.

The green surface after needle tining.  You can see only the tip of my ink pen will fit into the hole.  The tine penetrates about 4-5" into the green which in most cases will go slightly into the soil push layer of the green.

I just checked out the practice green this morning with no visible sign of the process after 2 days on the surface of the green.