Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Cool season tee aeration

Once we completed our greens, it was time to do our cool season tees.  #1 blue, blue and white of #2, #3, blue/white #5, blue #10, white #11, blue #14.  We were able to place the drag on the back of our verti-drain and drug the cores the end of the tee.  Tom then picked up the cores with a shovel and hauled away.  We blew them off this morning.  We still need to topdress the tees with sand in an effort to get some sand channels down through the soil profile into the plug holes.  We will then drag them to smooth them out and will finally fertilize the tee tops.  We intend to topdress our tees with the machine regularly this season to begin to build up a layer of sand over the tee profile.  There are a number of reasons why tees should be topdressed:

  • Smooth the teeing ground surface.
  • Improved root health with a mixture of sand and soil allowing for more oxygen to penetrate into the profile.  .
  • Protect the crowns of the plant with sand.
  • The surface of the tee will drain quicker with a layer of sand on top and sand channels for the water to penetrate into the profile of the tee.  
  • Easier to place a tee in the ground through a layer of sand than soil.

    Russell on #14 tee.  Screen drag on the back of the aerator which pulls the cores to the end of the tee for easy clean up.
  • Cores waiting for Tom to pick them up and haul away.




    



    

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