Well, we've survived winter or have we. I bet if you asked our crew who spent 11 hours out on the course today that winter is still in full force but the promise of better weather is ahead. Oh it was a cold aerating the PG and greens 1-13 today. We anticipate completing greens 14-18 on Tuesday.
Most modern greens consist of 12” of sand, 4” of pea gravel and drain lines cut into the soil subsurface with 4” slitted drain pipes that help to evacuate excess water from the root zone. 18 of the 19 greens at Glen Echo are sand capped which means there is a 4-6” layer of sand on top of the soil layer with no drain tile to move excess water from the root zones.
The water that penetrates our greens evacuates in 2 ways. The first is moving down through the sand cap and meeting the soil layer. It will then flow with gravity out away into the green surround area. The second way our greens drain is through the holes we have placed in our greens over the last 20 years or more that penetrate into the soil layer. We then back fill the channel with sand which allows for additional water to move through the root profile and drain into the soil layer. We have placed thousands of holes into this soil layer to assist in removing excess water.
Below is a description of today's process with a couple videos and photos to show your our process.
The tines we use are 1/2” in diameter and penetrate to about 8” in depth.
Before we do the aeration work, we place a layer of sand on the green
surface. This is done ahead of time to reduce the potential heaving of
the green surface. If you aerated and then pulled a machine across the
surface with a load of sand it would put some waves in the green
surface.
We put approximately 1500-2000 pounds of sand per green depending upon the size.
We apply a micro nutrient granular product to our greens and then move sand into the holes with a pull behind blower and backpack blowers.
We then drag the greens with a brush, roll them and fertilize with an organic chicken based fertilizer. The greens are then rolled and water is applied to begin to dissolve the fertilizer and settle the sand.
We have a second aeration planned for next week which is contracted out. I will explain this process next week but it’s used in place of the common proactive that is called core aeration.
Our aeration process does the following for our greens:
Stimulates top and root growth
Sand assists in smoothing the surfaces and provides a fresh channel of sand for drainage and root growth.
Penetrates into the soil layer assisting in drainage for our greens.
Encourage microbial activity as the weather warms which assists in reducing thatch. The sand also assists in diluting thatch.
No, we aren't talking Britney Spears here ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about millions of holes in our golf greens at Glen Echo CC for a second time in 7 days!!
We completed our Dry-Ject contracted service on March 23rd and we spent parts of 4 days this week doing our Verti-drain Deep-tined Aeration. Our process includes the following:
Burying each green with about a ton of sand
Then using our Verti-drain deep-tined aerator with 1/2" tines going about 8" deep into our green profile
We then blow the sand into the holes
Brush the green with a drag brush behind a cart
And Roll the greens
This work assists our .125" tall bentgrass (30 pieces of copy paper tall) in a number of ways:
Deep channels assists water to move through the green profile.
It creates channels for new roots to form and grow.
Oxygen moves into the subsurface assisting root growth and soil microbiology
Reduces excessive thatch which can make a green spongy and be susceptible to foot traffic during wet conditions
The additional sand assists in protecting crowns which is the growth center of the plants where roots grow down and leaf shoots grow up. The sand also assists in filling blemishes, ball mark holes and improves ball roll out
Tom blowing sand in holes. We also use backpack blowers in tight areas.
Pretty much the finished product. We've brushed and rolled the greens a couple more times this week which assists in spreading the heavier pockets of sand around the green surface. We expect the greens to be completely healed over the next 10-14 days. Work took about 150 man hours to complete.
Tree Management Plan includes removing dead and or dying trees throughout the season. It also includes a few planted when needed. Staff installed 3 trees on the right side of #9 red tee toward the fence line on 9. These trees were grown in our nursery over the last few years and we then transplanted them. From left to right, Black Gum, European Hornbeam and Yellowwood to replace the Carrico tree which died over the winter.
Skip mowing fairways for the first time. Not a real tight mow and used an old set of reals since there is so much small debris on the fairways. We blew and hand picked up as much as we could. This got a little bit of the winter fluff off of them.
Today our staff started our fall greens aeration program completing the practice green, greens 1-9 and 11-13. We will complete 10, 14-18 over the next couple of days.
Our process included the following:
Mowed the Greens.
Covered the greens with sand.
Used our Verti-Drain Aerator with solid tines going about 8" deep.
Applied a soil amendment product to the greens.
Blew the sand into the holes using back pack blowers and our pull behind type blower.
Brushed the green and rolled with our rollers.
A number of benefits occur from this operation:
Heavy topdressing of sand smooths out the surfaces.
The filled sand channels provide a oxygen filled area for roots to grow.
The channels assist with wetting of drier areas and allow wet areas to dry out quicker.
As mentioned above oxygen enters the green subgrade and assists in removing built up carbon dioxide.
The sand also assists to dilute thatch which forms in the top 1" of the green.
Below is a bit more detail regarding the operation.
We mow the greens to remove growth.
The greens are covered in sand so we do not track across the aerated green with a heavy load of sand.
Aerator then starts its working placing solid tines into the green at a spacing of about 3" and to a depth of 8". Below is a video of this work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0xEew0b9I
We blow the sand into the holes to reduce tracking of our drag brush. We have a pretty simple drag which cannot move large amounts of sand into the holes.
This past Monday and half of Tuesday, the staff did our every Fall deep-tine aeration with our
Verti-Drain machine. This process involved about 170 hours of labor, 42 tons of sand, 900 pounds of a soil amendment product, and approximately 1.6 million 1/2" solid tine holes put in our greens, collars and cool season approaches at an average depth of 7.5 to 8.0".
Our process included the following:
Mow the greens
Placed a layer of sand ahead of the aeration
Aerated the greens
Applied a 50# bag of the soil amendment material to each green.
Blew, brushed and pushed the sand into the holes and did a final smoothing of the sandy surface with a drag brush.
Rolled the green surfaces to smooth the surfaces
Changed the holes
Mowed green surfaces with an old set of reels to cut off the tufts of bent grass or longer leaves of plants that were lifted up during the process.
Watered greens a couple of minutes
Aeration of our greens are one of the most important cultural practices that take place on our golf course for the year. We complete this process for a number of reasons:
Improves drainage through our green profiles and assists in drying out wetter sections of greens.
Exchanges good gas(oxygen) with an overabundance of bad gas(carbon dioxide).
Improves drainage and oxygen which is great for developing new roots and improving existing root systems.
Additional sand on the surfaces assists in smoothing the surface after the holes close back together and protects the crowns of the plant which is where roots and leaves start their lives.
It also helps to dilute thatch or improve the mat layer which reduces the effects of ball marks and speeds up the process of healing as long as the mark is repaired by the golfer.
Topdressing machine puts a layer of sand on the greens at about a depth of 1/4" more or less. This is the same machine that we place a very light topdressing layer on our greens during the season. Approximately 3 hoppers of sand for the total golf course. It takes almost 2 loads of sand per the average sized green during aeration. A green such as 1 green we go across it 3 times for very light topdressing. During aeration, its about 10 passes which could increase tire tracking on the greens which we attempt to prevent.
The sand is kiln dried and reaches a temperature of well over 1000 degrees which dries it and kills the weeds and the bad actors in the sand. We brought our 45 tons of sand in on Thursday before the Monday activity so it would have a chance to begin to cool before placing it on the greens. Sand too hot being put on at the heavier rate could literally cook the bent grass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYLffGwfH8c
We started the process before first light on Monday morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkX8SxCReTs
A daylight view of the aeration. As you can see, 4 tines per holder with 6 arms placing 24 holes in our greens every 3" at a depth on average of nearly 8".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rezk8nRBTM
Tom spreading soil amendment product which includes: Dry kelp meal, greensand, compost, rock phosphate, sulfate of potash magnesia, calcium carbonate, humic acid, zeolite, and compost.
Pull behind blower and staff using back packs during sand into the hole.
Dark thirty the 2nd day.
Hole filled vs no fill.
Completed, holes to the top!!
1.Below are pics of the end results.You can see the channels down into this 7" section of the practice green. The topdressing/sand layer has been applied to the greens for the last 30 to 40 years. At the last 2 inches is the soil layer which is being incorporated with aerating/topdressing sand over the years to allow moisture to drain out of the system.
2. Our overall roots grow in the top 3-4" of our profile but we have longer roots growing through aeration holes deeper in the profile up to 7" or more as you can see below.
3. A large aeration hole from our Dry-Ject process that takes place each late winter/early spring up to 4" to 5" deep.
4. After the rains overnight and into this morning, water at the bottom of the 7" deep hole where I pulled a hole. This moisture works through the 5-6" deep sand layer of the green and then enters through the 2" soil layer more quickly because of the deep-tine aeration holes. It will move directly through the soil and a much slower pace because of the tight soil particles.
5. Below is a standard drainage system in most modern greens. We have one green that has drainage set up this way, green 9 renovated in the late 80's. This system is designed so water will drain through the 12" sand layer represented by the dark section on top. The water will slowly build up in the bottom 3rd but will slow at the next layer which is gravel which creates a perched water table. The construction of this type of system in golf greens is to allow roots the opportunity to take up moisture into the bent grass plant as the water passes through the sand. Once the water pressure increases enough at the bottom of the interface between the sand layer and gravel, it then releases into the gravel layer. Too much moisture for too long of a period of time in the root zone will deprive the plant of oxygen which is needed for the plant to survive.
This is once of the issues we have with our greens at Glen Echo which do not have standard drainage systems. A higher than normal period of moisture can lead to negative results both on the putting surface and below surface in our root systems.
Once the water begins to drain through the gravel system it will then enter the small holes in the drain pipe and will exit from the green area.
I apologize for little activity on the blog lately. Time to catch up. Course has held up well this fall. A little bit of rain has been helpful for the seed that was drilled in during late September and early October.
Frost is predicted over the next couple of days. What does that mean? Course will remain closed until frost has lifted from playing areas. We of course are most concerned about greens so this means the practice green and practice facilities are closed until frost has lifted off of those surfaces. What can frost do? Watch the following video from the USGA, they explain it perfectly. The frost delays are normally shorter in length this time of year since the ground temperatures are still elevated. As temperatures cool, the delays increase in length. Factors that affect delays include cloud cover and wind speed as the sun comes up. Remember, the last thing we want is to delay golfers from getting out on the course but our goal is not do damage to the turf that could create issues going into winter or coming out of winter into spring.
Fall aeration is planned on Monday 10/30 with probably 12-14 greens getting completed we hope. We will get the others completed over the next couple of days trying to finish before early bird players catch up to us. We intend to do a deep solid tine aeration, about 8-9" deep. We will fill the holes with sand which will assist the holes in healing and will improve ball roll out. Greens should be pretty good to go as the week goes by. In the video it illustrates coring, pulling a core out of the green about 2-3" deep. Our process will not involve pulling out a core but placing a deep 1/2" tine into the green about 8". These deep holes penetrate into our soil layer which is about 5" below the surface of the greens and assists with root growth and moisture penetration. I'll explain more next week after our process is completed.
Staff has been busy removing part of the ornamental planting along the east side of 9 lake over the last few weeks. With the addition of plantings around the clubhouse and pro shop, our horticulturist Becky has just too much for one person to manage. This bed was going to need a complete overhaul but I thought the best way to handle it was to put it back to turf grass. We had a difficult time making the steep sloped bank look good in the first place. I think next season along the turf to grow a bit along the steep side of the bank will look pretty good in place of an out of control planting bed.
Lake bank sodded and seeded along 9. Saved some money and decided to seed the top part. Area next to it is bermuda and will over run the seeded area next summer. Why waste money on something that won't be there for long.
This is our practice green collar that was sprayed with a product called Pylex used at a rate of 1/2 oz per acre. We've made another application since this photo and hopefully will remove some of this pesky grass out of our collars.
Picture above is a fairy ring on #10 fairway. We've had these from time to time on our fairways but not to the size and killing rings that we have been experiencing in the last year or so. We are looking at a couple of different potential treatments next season. First is possibly changing to an organic fertilizer which reduces thatch and improves the microbial population that are antagonistic to the fairy ring organism. 2nd would be a fungicide application. I like improving soil health through the organic fertilizer option.
We've had a little bit of Large Patch on Zoysia break out a couple of weeks ago. Largest spots were up toward 13 green. We did some spot spraying with a fungicide to help knock it down. The worst time of the year is spring for this disease. The spot spraying this fall will help reduce some of the activity next spring but we will still spray some of our areas where the disease occurs on a yearly basis. The organic fertilizer option could help to alleviate this disease but it takes a couple of years to throw the soil microbe population to the good guy side. Organic does cost more but in the end does it really when you have to keep spraying fungicides on a regular basis?
MSD is doing some storm drainage work in the subdivision next to us in Glen Echo Park to reduce storm water getting into the sanitary sewer line that runs through our course along the lake system. The excessive loading of the sanitary sewer creates issues along Wilson Street in U-City which has been on the news many times in the past from flooding. Part of the work will be some repairs and storm drainage being improved between the property line fence on 9 and the lake. This work will start in the beginning of winter and will be completed before the golf season next spring. Outside contractors through MSD will be completing the work. Some large storm water lines will be installed into our property and a open grass basin will lead water into another pipe that will go into our 9 lake. Our staff will be removing irrigation lines that will have to be dug up and replaced once the project is completed. The club has been reimbursed for work our staff will have to do for this project.
After a slow start on Monday with aeration, the staff slammed the rest out on Tuesday. Greens were not under regulation since we were a week late and the heavy rains Wednesday night have led to great recovery. Should be back to regular mowing in the next couple of days.
We've had very light frost on a few occasions in tall grass(out of the way areas) but our first real frost of the season is predicted for Friday night and Saturday night. Tee times are set back for the rest of the winter until 9AM just for this purpose. Please keep in mind the practice green is off limits until the staff gives the okay to proceed. It does have a tendency to clear a few minutes before #1
https://youtu.be/zkoWWrHzuAg
WEATHER STATS Temperature
Observed Normal Depart from Norm Last Year High 75.3 68.5 6.8 70.9 Low 55.8 49 6.8 51.3 Avg 65.5 58.7 6.8 61.1
Rainfall 3.15" 3.33" -.18" .98"
TIED FOR 22 ALL TIME OF TEMPERATURES OVER 90 DEGREES
9TH WARMEST SUMMER (JUNE/JULY/AUG) EVER 81.2
IRONICALLY, WARMEST EVER SUMMER ON RECORD WAS 82.7 IN 1901, THE YEAR GLEN ECHO CC OPENED.
Monthly Records
TIED 4TH WARMEST OCTOBER ON RECORD (65.5 DEGREES)
TIED 5TH MOST NUMBER OF DAYS WITH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE 70 DEGREES OR
GREATER (24)
TIED 2ND MOST NUMBER OF DAYS WITH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 70 DEGREES OR
GREATER (3)
TIED 4TH FEWEST DAYS WITH AT LEAST 0.01 INCHES OF RAINFALL (4)
...DAILY...
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 91 DEGREES ON 10/17. THIS IS THE LATEST
OBSERVATION OF AT LEAST 91 DEGREES WITHIN A CALENDAR YEAR ON RECORD.
2 RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES (10/17 AND 10/29)
3 RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES (10/16, 10/17 AND 10/18)
Our fall greens aeration is our most concentrated project each season which requires using every staff member to complete this task. It is our most important project because it helps to improve the health of our greens more than anything else we do to them besides watering.
As mentioned in the past, deep-tine aeration provides the following benefits:
Drainage through and improves water's ability to penetrate into the profile both to get through it and into the areas where water is needed by the root system.
Gas exchange, oxygen into the soil and the release of harmful carbon dioxide which can build up in the soil.
Space for roots to grow, expand and improve.
Allows us to modify the sand profile with a coarse sand that provides improvement in all the areas listed above.
Improves the biological health, good microbes in the soil.
Thatch reduction by mixing sand with the thatch helping to dilute or break down the thatch.
Our process included:
Placing the sand on the greens. Approximately 1-2 tons per green based on their size.
Aerating punching about 110,000 holes 8" deep, 5/8" channel in each green.
Applying a soil amendment product to the green. Earthworks Renovate Plus
Blowing the sand in the holes
Brushing the sand in the holes and helping to spread the sand uniformly across the surface. .
Rolling to close over the holes and smooth the surface as best we can.
Changing the holes since they were damaged during the process.
We will need to brush the greens again to help work excess sand into the profile. We will roll regularly to help smooth the surfaces until we mow again which will be in a few days once the sand has settled.
Over the next few days, we will be increasing the
watering of our greens to push moisture through the profile. I sprayed a couple of wetting agent/penetrate products that will assist with getting the water through the layers on our greens. This material will also suppress dew helping the surfaces dry quicker during aeration allowing us to get started quicker in the mornings. We are trying to
get moisture to the soil layer which was the original surface of our greens
when they were built many eons ago. If this layer is too dry, the tines stick and heaves the turf forcing us to shorten the depth of our aeration which we don't want to happen. The deeper we go with aeration, the greater the benefit for our turf.
The original depth of our greens is 5-6" below the surface where you are currently putting on. Modern greens keepers have used sand to help smooth the surfaces and improve drainage. We have 18 of these greens at Glen Echo. With no rain and watering lightly to keep ball roll out long and smooth in the last 30 days, we have gotten drier down in this soil layer than we should be. We also fertilized our greens last week and have not applied the regulator we used over the last month that assisted us as well. All these things in combination will allow us to get our work completed in a timely and efficient manner and should assist us with healing. I would expect the greens to be in good condition in the next 10-14 days after we have aerated.
The soil depth is about 2-2.5" deep at the bottom of the hole with the sand between 5-6" in depth . Right at the point of the arrow you can see an old aeration hole going down into the soil layer. Our goal with the aeration is to create channels down into the soil layer allowing moisture to move through the bottom of the green. This also creates channels for rooting and gas exchange with the good Oxygen entering the root zone and the bad when too much has built up Carbon Dioxide can escape from the soil.
In an effort to not disrupt ball roll out in the late summer/early fall, I delay greens aeration until the end of October. Well, that day has arrived. We will begin our greens aeration late Sunday afternoon 5 p.m. and throughout the day on Monday. This process will involve the use of a heavy topdressing of our greens with sand, our Verti-drain deep tine aerator will then poke 9" deep 1/2" holes in our greens, a green profile builder with micronutrient package will be applied, blowing and brushing the sand in the holes and a final roll. We will probably delay mowing greens for a few days to allow the sand to settle and the greens to growth through the sand layer. I would expect to begin dry mowing late next week. Within 10-14 days with the good weather predicted they should be back to normal.
We usually are not able to complete all of the greens in one day but will make every effort to complete as many as possible. If we receive rain on Tuesday, we will leave the remaining greens until it is dry enough to complete. Hopefully, this would only be maybe 16-18. I will keep you updated on the blog and twitter on our progress so check out the twitter feed on the side of the blog main page.
This will also be the last weekend for practice off of the zoysia short range tee. The zoysia has quit growing and any damage/divots made now will not heal. In an effort to protect it from winter injury and delayed green up next season, we will be placing all stands on the mats beginning next Tuesday. Your cooperation in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
The staff have been busy with leaf clean up this week from our Ash, Maple, Cottonwood and other early leaf dropping trees. Two blowers, two rough mowers, 3-4 backpacks have been out regularly cleaning up playing areas. Some days by the end of the day it appears that we have not done anything but that is our life in dealing with excess trees. The real work will begin in a couple weeks when the Oaks begin to drop.
This is the last week for two of our seasonal employees Deron and Sam who have done a great job their first year out on the course. Randy will be here the first week of November and will be laid off for the season as well. Nick and Becky will be leaving at the end of November. Great work as well.
Becky is busy with installing new plants in our beds for next spring with Pansies, Tulips and installation of new material in the two beds off of the patio area of the clubhouse.
Cool season tees, 2,3,10,11,14 were solid tine aerated as were the collars and cool season approaches of our greens. Holes provide new areas for root growth, oxygen exchanged and compaction relief. Also provides water to penetrate and water to evaporate as nececcary for that particular area.
A little video course update for your viewing pleasure this week. Continue to check blog for regular updates as well as the twitter feed on the right hand side of the page. Sometimes includes information that is not posted on the blog.
We were delayed by frost this morning but once we got going, the staff did a great job in completing 15 of our 19 greens. Everything was completed except 4, 8 and 17. 18 was aerated but not topdressed. 4 and 8 were not aerated because the greens were too dry and could have been damaged. We should get 17-18 finished tomorrow if the rain holds off. 4 and 8 will be completed as soon as we have sufficient moisture to prevent damage.
I wait as long as I can before the greens are aerated at Glen Echo CC. Fall putting conditions are usually the best of the year so I try to give you as many days as possible to enjoy but your time is running out. One of the surprising aspects of greens aeration in it current form is that the disruption to the playing surfaces is not nearly as severe as it was years ago. The equipment is so much better and our techniques have been refined to the point that disruption occurs for shorter periods of time and the playing surface is pretty good to play from considering what the greens will have been put through. I think our healing will be very quick since the greens came out of summer in excellent condition.
We will be doing our yearly Verti-drain deep-tine greens aeration beginning on Monday, October 28th weather permitting. It takes us about 3 days to complete this project with a majority of the work occurring on that Monday. We usually have about 4-5 greens left to complete on Tuesday and Wednesday. We make every effort not to interfere with play but if you come out early on those two days, you might run into the end of our operation. We will be using 1/2" tines and will go approximately 9-10" deep. We will be filling the holes with about 30-40 tons of sand. I expect the greens to be in good shape through that next week. It takes about 10 days or so for them to be back into what I would consider normal shape for this time of year. We appreciate your patience during this most important cultural practice for our greens.
We are attempting to get as many tees as possible aerated today before the rain arrives. We are using our Verti-drain deep tined aerate on all the tees. The video below shows the process.
Our spring deep-tined greens aeration was completed on Tuesday afternoon. I've attached a few video clips of the work and will discuss in greater detail why we must do this work.
Almost all modern courses are built with a 12" sand base with a 4" pea gravel and pipe drainage system which helps to drain excess water from the profile. Below is an example of this construction. #9 green is built with this construction except the thin tan area(choker layer between the gray(gravel) and brown(sand) is left out. The rest of our greens have just 4" of sand and then soil from their original construction 100 years ago at its base. There is probably a cinder layer and some clay tile that were placed in old style greens but they are all but useless to us now.
USGA Spec Green Profile
The above green construction is designed to create a perched water table. To perch means in this process that the water rests, stays above the drainage providing moisture for the root systems as it slowly moves through the system. The movement of water through the sand profile occurs through capillary attraction. The sand particles are similar in size and air spacing and the water penetrates more freely through this zone. Once it reaches the gravel layer, the sand layer must reach a certain saturation point before it will release into the gravel layer. In a golf green this is important. We want the water to pass through the system but we also want it to move slow enough so that the root system can absorb the some of the moisture and sustain life. Life is good! We only have one green with this construction. #9
We aerate for a number of reasons:
Water penetration. We want the water to move from the green surfaces into the root zone. Dryer surfaces usually means improved play-ability and turf health. Smaller ball marks and reduced wear and tear from foot traffic which can effect ball roll.
Gas exchange. Oxygen enters the root zone and excess carbon dioxide which is harmful to roots and microbes exits.
Improves rooting. The long channels of sand that go down into the soil layer of our greens improves rooting depth, overall health, and drains water through the profile.
Topdressing of the greens helps to smooth the surface and reduces thatch.
Below are a three videos from our work on Monday-Tuesday. I included the actually aeration of Green #11, blowing sand in the holes of #13, and brushing the greens with #10. I did not have video of the topdressing of the greens and rolling of the greens after the process to smooth them out. I would expect the greens to be in good shape by Masters weekend.
We are starting our aeration today with the verti-drain deep tines aeration. Our process includes the following:
Aeration going 8" deep with our verti-drain 7316.
Topdressing the green with sand providing enough material to fill the holes.
Brushing and blowing in the sand.
Rolling the green smooth.
Applying a green amendment product and fertilizing.
I will post more detail regarding our work over the next few days.
I expect it will take us until Wednesday to complete the process. We will finish as many greens today as possible until dark and will then do a couple of greens a day to finish the process so we do not interfere with play. With filling the holes with sand, I would expect the surface to be back to normal in the next 10 days or so. During the next few days, we will only be able to mow greens when they are dry late in the morning to help keep the sand from being pulled up from the rollers on the mowers. This will keep the sand down in the canopy of turf and will help with improving ball roll.
Our spring greens aeration was completed over Sunday evening, Monday until dark and completed on Tuesday at noon. It took about 144 man hours to complete this process with 10 people. We did a double aeration this year. We first used our verti-drain deep tining aerator with 3/4" solid tines and a single 1/2" tine in the middle to a depth of 8-9" deep. The following benefits are derived from this process:
Deep channel filled with sand assisting in moving water down through the profile allowing the greens to drain quicker.
Gas exchange between CO2 that builds up in the soil and O2 that becomes depleted in the soil/root system.
The deep channel also provides a healthy environment for improved root growth because of water penetration and O2 exchange which roots need to be healthy.
Improved drainage. Our greens have no drainage. Below our 3-4" sand layer is the existing layer of soil in which our greens were constructed over 100 years ago. Water drains through the sand layer and then slowly moves through the soil layer or it moves laterally slowing based on the slope of the old construction.
We borrowed a walking aerator from MTI Distributing who is our Toro representative. This aerator was set up with a 1/2" coring tine spaced at about 2". A coring tine is hollow. It pulls a plug of green surface, sand and roots about the size of writing pin out of the green and it lays on the surface waiting for our staff to pick them up. This was completed at an approximate depth of 2". The benefits coring provide include:
Helps remove some of the mat layer in the top inch of the green profile. Also referred to by some as the thatch layer. Plants regenerate new leaves out the side of the existing hole so the hole can become filled in.
Exchanges so of the very fine sand that our greens were top dressed with over the years to a sand that is more coarse. St. Louis area superintendents choice for topdressing sand over the last 20 years was a fine sand that has now created issues in the top few inches of topdressing layer. The sand holds too much moisture reducing rooting potential and leading to less than healthy greens.
The close spacing of the aeration holes also improves oxygen exchange just like the deep tining process.
The heavy sand topdressing helped fill the holes with sand which improves ball roll. It also gives the roots a safe environment to move into.
Our process included:
The dual aeration
Picking up the piles of cores with shovels.
We placed one bag of a soil amendment product on the surface which is full of micro nutrients. Sand is then placed on the greens at about 2-2.5 tons of sand per green. About 45-50 tons of sand was used for the complete process.
We use a pull behind blower to blow sand into the holes. The old way was to go around in circles a dizzying number of times with a brush until all the sands were filled with sand.
Brush the greens with a drag brush behind a cart to smooth the sand and help distribute it across the profile.
Roll the greens with our rolling greens mower.
Apply a fertilizer and then water the greens.
Skip using the deep tining machine with the tractor and I'm using the walking aerator pulling the core on Sunday evening.
Tom using the walking aerator with the plug box on the back. The first 8 greens were used without which meant the staff had to blow the plugs into two row and then pick up the plugs. We borrowed the box from Spencer T to speed up our process and save on the guys backs.
The close spacing at 2" centers of the walking aerator.
Russ on the deep tining machine.
Larger holes but not as close spacing as the walking machine.
Harry moving the piles out of the way.
Jason dragging the green with the brush after the sand was blown back and forth and into the holes.
We did a dry mow today on the greens that were completed on Monday. Greens 11-12, 14-18 will be brushed again tomorrow and will be mowed like the PG, 1-10 and 13 were completed today.
The back 9 greens aeration was completed today. Holes poked, topdressed, sand blow and brushed into holes, greens brushed and rolled. The front 9 are healing well and should be in good shape by the end of this week.
18th green being aerated this afternoon.
Tom blowing sand into holes on #17.
Jason changing the holes and Jeff rolling the greens.
Our deep tined greens aeration started on Monday afternoon once we were able to get a small outing through the first hole. We completed 4 holes which was disappointing but at least we got a start. the remaining five six greens were completed on Tuesday. The back 9 will be completed on October 31-Nov 1, next Monday/Tuesday. Our process takes over 2 hours per green which is why it cannot be completed in one day plus you deal with wet conditions in the morning which does not allow the sand to go into the holes as we try to fill them. Our process includes:
A solid 1/2" tine at a depth of about 8-8 1/2" in depth.
We bury the greens with sand which is used to fill the holes.
The sand is blown into the holes by our belly blower that is pulled behind a cart.
The sand is then brushed to help smooth the surface and pull up any longer length grass blades.
The greens are rolled to smooth the surface and then mowed. The mowing process is sometimes skipped if the sand is heavy.
We finish the process with an application of fertilizer and throw on the irrigation heads to knock down both the fertilizer and sand.
Below is a quick video of the aeration part of the process. Normally the unit is very smooth in its operation but with the added kick that we placed in the unit, it bounces around much more than normal.
On Monday of this week, we used a solid 1/2" tine on our zoysia tees to provide some deep aerating to our tees. We were able to go about 5-6" in depth to provide moisture penetration, additional rooting and exchange oxygen into our tees which can become heavily compacted. This was a non-disruptive type operation and in most cases the holes could not be seen because of the density of the turf. We will also be doing some core aerating in the next week or two along with our fairways which begin on Monday after the Invitational.
Russ using our Verti-drain 7316 to poke holes in our tees.
