Aeration and More Aeration

Spent a lot of time last week aerating playing surfaces at Glen Echo. Tees, approaches and finished up with the range tees this morning before the storms hit. Also used our rough aerator with slicing blades and did back 9 last week and almost got through number 5 when we had a weld break. Should finish that later this week when the repair is made. Videos below describing our work. Links attached for those who video does not come up on your screen.

https://youtu.be/cOabWGH0DiQ

Picking up cores on short range tee.

All hands hurrying before the storm hit on Long Range Tee.

https://youtu.be/tby1MegAbnU

Good Example of Why We Aerate Greens

A couple of excellent pictures demonstrating why we aerate greens regularly. Some might think it's just to aggravate, hogwash. Gives us the chance to modify a very tight sand profile that was placed on greens for many years in St.Louis  including by yours truly. Great for smooth rolling greens but not so much for draining excess moisture from green profiles because of the small particle size which slows water moving through.

Reduce compaction,Moisture movement, improved rooting and oxygen in the profile are our main goals with aeration.

New sand channel in 11 green looking down into the hole.

Sand channel on a new hole pulled from 11. Look at the beautiful white root which is at top of picture but of course toward the bottom in the green.

Video Course Update for the week of 7-28-14

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.

Cool season tee core aeration

The staff used our verti-drain aerator to pull cores on our cool season tees today.  The main tees on 2,3,5,10,11,14, and small tee on 17 are cool season.  In a majority of the cases, excessive shade has created the need for these tees to be grassed using a cool season mixture.

The aeration went about 5" deep. The machine has a drag that pulled the cores in a pile where the staff hauled the left over material away.  We are dragging the tees, blowing them off, cutting them and will then put some granular gypsum and fertilizer on the tees.  We will be applying a combination of compost and sand into the holes in the next day or two.

The aeration will help the tees in the following ways:

• Improved water penetration and will dry excessively wet areas such as #2 which has water running onto it from near the 17th fairway. The aeration holes themselves will capture, hold and slowly drain water into the soil profile making it more readily available for root systems during dry times.
• Topdressing the tees will help the surface dry quicker and will allow a tee to be placed into the ground more easily.
• Gas exchange, oxygen in, carbon dioxide out.
• Improved rooting into and around]the aeration holes.

Below is a video of the aerator in action.

Aerating Rough

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be pulling cores in the rough.

Core aeration benefits the turf in a number of ways.

• Break up thatch and stimulate shoot and root growth.
• Allows oxygen into the root zone of the turf.
• The aeration holes will allow water to penetrate into the soil more quickly and deeper. The holes also provide tiny reservoirs to hold moisture in place.
• Wet areas will dry out more quickly because air can get into the soil helping to dry it out more quickly.
• Opening up the soil can release some nutrients to the root systems of the plant that were tied up in the soil.
• Over time, the soil will assist in filling small voids in the turf surface improving lies.

Once we pull the core, a drag mat will go back over the area to help break up the soil so there is less mess for you to content with while you play. Rain will help blend the soil back to the surface of the rough as well.

Below is a video showing the aerator in action.

Deep Tined greens Aeration planned for the week of October 28th

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.  

Coring long range tee and solid tining/topdressing all tees on course

We core aerated the long range tee, applied some heavy sand topdressing, removed the cores, brushed and mowed the tee.  We also solid tined all of our tees on Monday/Tuesday to a depth of 5" with a 10% kick put in our Verti-drain 7316 which helps to fracture the soil allowing for improved rooting and moisture movement through the turf profile.  We also applied a heavy topdressing of sand on the tees to smooth the tee surfaces, improve tees entering the ground, improve water movement through the surface and provide a rooting medium in the aeration holes.  Below is a video of the long range tee work.

Fairway aeration beginning Monday, July 22nd

We will be aerating our fairways beginning Monday morning weather permitting.  It usually takes us three days to get everything completed.  We do a majority of the work on Monday and then do a couple of fairways each day on Tuesday/Wednesday depending upon what is left. We will be using two aerators on Monday.  The actual aeration goes fairly quickly but it is the clean up the takes the most time.  We will be using our flail unit to break up the cores and then drag behind it.  The fairways are blow off and then mowed.  The aeration can take around an hour depending upon the size of the fairway and the clean up process can take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete.  The biggest issue we have is dealing with dew that slows down the drying process and usually delays the beginning of our clean up until about 9-10 a.m.

We will also be aerating the zoysia surrounds with our rough aerator and will need to do the red tees and range tees with our verti-drain machine.  Not sure if mother nature will let all this work happen but we will try.

We appreciate your patience during this most important process.

#9 Walk path or paths

Members and staff have expressed concerns about wear and tear on the walk path between the bunkers on #9.  I've produced a video regarding this issue and would appreciate that you take a couple of minutes to check it out.  Some simple changes of patterns would help spread the wear and tear around the green instead of in a concentrated area.

Cool season tees core aerated

The cool season tees were core aerated yesterday.  The tees make up parts of holes 2, 3, 10, 11, 14 and 17.  Cool season tees from what I can tell have been used at times here at Glen Echo because of shade conditions.  Zoysia/bermuda do not grow well under low light conditions.  Cool season tees cost us more money to maintain because pest pressure and renovation including seeding must be ongoing during throughout the season.  The solution for this problem is to remove trees which is practical in some situations and not as practical in other situations.  

Once the aeration was complete, the tees were topdressed with sand and the sand was brushed into the holes.  We need to add some additional sand to fill the holes but overall the process went well.  The core aeration improves water penetration as well as water retention near the top few inches in the root zone.  Water moves away from the surface but will also sit in the aeration hole and slowly move down through the root zone profile.  It also improves gas exchange with O2 entering the soil and CO2 leaving the soil.  The sand topdressing gives an improved environment for root health in the holes and will improve surface drainage as we continue to place more sand on the surface and raise the level of the tee.  It also softens the surface allowing a tee to be placed into the ground with ease.  We core aerate tees in the spring and fall.

Tom Lewis aerating #10 tee.  We went to a depth of 3-3 1/2" in depth with a 1/2" tine. 

The drag attached to the aerator so it can drag the cores to the end of the tee .

Piles of plugs at the end of the tee ready for removal.

 

Greens Aeration Completed on Tuesday, March 28th

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:

1. The dual aeration
2. Picking up the piles of cores with shovels.
3. 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.
4. 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.    
5. Brush the greens with a drag brush behind a cart to smooth the sand and help distribute it across the profile.
6. Roll the greens with our rolling greens mower.
7. 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.

Mid-April in Mid-March

The weather has really been beautiful over the last couple of weeks but it has created tremendous timing issues for our staff.  Normally we have 2-4 weeks to get various weed killing and pre-emergent products applied to our turf areas but the drastic increase in air temperatures, particularly night time temperatures have raised soil temperatures quickly.  These products need to be applied now.  Now as in yesterday and the day before.    We will be working diligently over the next week to get our products applied before germination of crabgrass occurs.

Also, grass is beginning to grow and we had our rough mower out this week trying to get some of the close areas mowed.  We will increase our efforts to get things cleaned up over this next week.  The fairways are greening up nicely but are still very soft.  I am still concerned regarding frost but the long range forecast is still showing above normal temperatures for the next two weeks.  We are adding another staff member this week and will be adding 2 more around April 2nd.  Our final two staff members graduate from High School at the first of May which will be our final two employees for the season.

Greens aeration is planned for Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday.  We plan to double aerate with a coring machine and then plan to do a large solid tine.  Holes will be filled as normal  to help with recovery.  I expect greens to be in good condition for opening day on April 14th.

Needle tining/venting greens

We are needle tining/venting our greens today(Tuesday) which will assist them in a number of different ways.

• The small openings will improve water penetration.  The late summer and fall are usually low humidity times of the year so the ability to get water down into the root system are important.
• The channels being opened up also allow for oxygen exchange which will help the greens recover from their summer stress.
• Roots will begin to form in the channels which will also begin to allow for recovery and preparation for the upcoming winter season.  The best root growth of the year occurs during the spring season so anything we can do to improve the overall health going into winter is important.

Holes are spaced at 1.5" apart which provide for many openings on each green.  Most holes will be closed before the weekend arrives and will provide for little ball roll disruption.

Vertidrain aerator with needle tines venting greens.

Needle tines spaced about 1.5" apart in a double row.

Long Range Tee

The long range tee has historically been a problem for the maintenance department.  Lack of sunlight, size of the tee and other factors have led to various failures over the years.  Currently, we have a fine bladed Bermuda Patriot, that is over seeded with rye grass in the fall and spring.  Since there is considerable shade issues with this tee, we end up getting less Bermuda in areas that ultimately turn to cool season poa/ryegrass which are very difficult to manage during the months of July/August in St. Louis.  We also have some weed management issues, crabgrass/goose grass which crop up because of our need to seed the tee during the spring months to keep divots filled in with turf since the Bermuda is not able to cover the complete tee.

Well, renovation time has come upon us again.  We have some very good Bermuda areas with some spots in the middle that needed some Bermuda plugged back into the areas.  We also have some severe turf loss along the edges of poa/ryegrass.  We used our Verti-drain aerator today to pull cores and used the cores to fill in the spots that needed turf.  Basically, we did a sprigged job in these weak areas.  With some heavy watering and fertilization over the next few days, we should get some establishment in these areas.  They should then fill in completely over the next few weeks as we push growth.

We have some decent turfed areas in the front of the tee that we will use for practicing once the plugs have started to establish.  Until then, we will have to be on the mats.  I would expect by next week that the grass teeing area will be reopened when we area able to back off from our use of irrigation.  The aeration we just completed will also be helpful for the rest of the season for the tee.

Cores being pulled and staff spreading the cores over the bare areas.  They also used a weed weasel to rough up the areas to make best soil contact.

Staff driving over the cores to press them against the soil to make good contact with the existing ground and to smooth out the surface for future mowing.

Final look after completion and soaking with water.  The front right foreground is in pretty decent shape even though there is some crabgrass contamination in the area.

Last year's view of the tee before renovation.  We were closed last year for 3-4 weeks.  

7th all time season snowfall totals

Well, with Friday/Saturday totals of 4.9" of snow, this season zoomed into 7th place all-time snowiest. 

36.7" 

Hopefully, we will not receive another 3.9" tomorrow to move us up another spot in the rankings.  Drug the greens today and got a mow in finally and bunkers were raked.  Greens are continueing to heal from the aeration.  Warmer weather to come later this week.

Rough Aeration

Yesterday, we began the process to core aerate our rough.  We were able to aerate the rough in the fall as well.  The staff concentrated on the cool season green surrounds yesterday.  As weather permits over the next few weeks, we intend to aerate our main rough areas pulling a 2-3" plug.  This aeration process will help us reduce some compaction in high traffic areas, will improve soil oxygen content and reduce runoff of water by providing tiny reservoir's where the plug was removed which allows water to penetrate into the profile more quickly.

We plan to pull a weighted drag with a cart over the plugs to break them up to reduce the healing time and mess that wet plugs can create. 

Tom pulling our rough aerator around #12 green.

The back view of the aerator.  8 tines with 12 total wheels(6 feet wide) and blocks on top of the machine to increase the depth of the plug.  

A plug that is about 2" long. 

Greens Aeration Scheduled for Monday March 21st

As long as we do not get too much rain over the weekend, our greens core aeration is scheduled for this Monday and if the weather holds off will be completed on Tuesday.  The forecast for Tuesday does not look promising.  I will keep you informed through the blog and or an email blast of the progress.  I will go through a more detailed discussion regarding the work and its benefit for our greens next week.  Early season aerification takes slightly longer to complete due to our greens being wetter and air temperatures cooler.  I want to get them completed as soon as possible so you can enjoy your beautiful course as the weather improves in early to mid-April.   

Anonymous Donor, rough aeration beginning

We have been in need of an aerator for our rough since I arrived in 2008.  I was able to locate a pull behind rough aerator in the last couple of months that was very reasonably priced and in great condition.  A very generous member heard of our need and purchased the aerator for us a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks to our anonymous donor for their generosity. 

The staff is beginning to pull cores in the rough this week. The soil is not overly moist so the plugs that are being pulled are not very large but they will still do some good for our rough turf.  We will be dragging the cores to try to break them as much as possible but I am sure there will be some remnants still left in the rough that will ultimately break down during rains we receive over the next few weeks.  

I am out of the office this week but will be getting some pictures posted in the next few days of the aerator and the work that is being accomplished.  We are going to try to make at least a couple passes through the rough before winter and at least one in early spring which should help our rough become less compacted and have the ability for water to penetrate the surface of the turf. 

We are also beginning our late fall application of fertilizer to our rough which will allow the turf to grow slightly and strengthen its roots before winter.  The slow release part of our fertilizer will be available next spring for our rough to fill in and grow into early summer.  The thicker the rough is in the spring, the better its ability to slow down the bermuda grass that is laying and waiting for warm weather to arrive.    

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.  

Aerifying new sod

We pulled out the walking aerifier yesterday to punch some holes in the new sod that was placed around a number of greens last fall.  We also are punching some of the existing cool season turfgrass areas near the greens and the cool season tees.

Aeration provides some of the following benefits to our turf:

• Reduces compaction of the soil.
• Allows oxygen to penetrate into the root zone.
• Surface water can infiltrate into the ground at a quicker rate which reduces runoff and improves playability of a given turf area.
• Improves root growth.
• Provides small resorvoirs for water to lay in and which is then absorbed by the soil and taken up into the root system.
• Reduces thatch and improves soil microbial population.

Russ along #12 green.

Russ coming back up the hill on #12.