Aeration Reminder....UPDATED MONDAY APRIL 15th 9:00PM
Monday, April 15th 9:00 PM...
Rain and threatening skies screwed up our plan to aerate today. We will be attempting the back nine Tuesday as originally planned. Making up the work on the front nine will be planned tomorrow morning and will be announced during the day.
Original message...
WE WILL BE AERATING GREENS TOMORROW AND TUESDAY (April 15,16)
Core aeration with 1/2" diameter tines and topdressing with sand
When we aerate greens with hollow coring tines we are trying to remove excess organic matter. Organic matter is a bi-product of normal plant growth and it is constantly accumulating. Too much organic matter causes greens to hold too much moisture (too little air) which makes the greens slower, softer, less smooth, poorly rooted, and generally less healthy and durable. We have too much organic matter and need to be more aggressive with our aeration program if we are going to avoid major problems. The USGA recommends taking out up to 20% of the surface area each year. What we will do tomorrow will only affect about 5% (1/2" hole on 2" spacing). We do this twice a year so in other words we are taking out 10% each year, or half of what the "owner's manual" recommends. We've felt for years that we could get away with this plan of removing 10-15% of the surface area annually. However, the age of our greens is showing in ways that indicate we haven't aerated enough. We will be searching for new techniques to help accomplish the goal of reducing excess organic matter. Aeration strategies may change in the near future in order to meet the needs of our greens. Of course one important part of this change will be to minimize disruption to golf.
Below is a great article from our local USGA Agronomist.
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