Aerification
Here we are at the doorstep of another aerification season at The Reserve. We’ve had a lot of precipitation this winter, but we feel that the proactive approach with our greens program is paying dividends now. The greens are as healthy as we can remember and they’ve just been subjected to a cool, wet winter! Leading up to aerification, we sometime have people ask, “Why do have to punch the greens when they are playing so great?” We thought this would be a good opportunity to give a little insight as to why aerification is important.
Core aeration (actually removing plant material) and sand topdressing are two of the “necessary evils” that promote long-term plant health; they allow for proper air movement within the soil profile, improve drainage capacity that is compromised due to daily cultural practices (mowing, rolling, foot traffic, etc.), and provide new growth medium for the tightly growing bentgrass/poa. We want the greens to be as healthy as possible heading into aerification for a number of reasons.
The health of the turf prior to aerification determines how much damage will occur throughout the process. Also, when the turf is healthy before aerification, it recovers faster, which is critical as we begin a new golf season. Aerification is a very labor-intensive process that creates a lot of headaches in the short-term. The process is a traumatic experience for the members, the grounds crew, and of course, the turf. We wouldn’t invest the time and energy doing these things if we didn’t believe that they are absolutely necessary!
This email briefly touches on the benefits of core aeration. If anyone would like to discuss this or anything other topic, at length, feel free to contact me!
Thank You,
No comments:
Post a Comment