Aerification is coming!

I guess some would say it is about that time. Time to screw up the greens just when they were looking so good by punching holes in them and putting sand all over the place. Well, I guess there is some truth in this, but the more important way to look at aerification is preventative medicine. Think of it like going to the dentist for your twice-yearly check-up. The same holds true for aeration. You can skip a visit to the dentist, but you will contribute to problems over the long term. You can skip one of the aerations, but this can result in a faster turf loss. And once you lose turf the recovery process is a long road. Aerification generally is done in our region of year round golf two to three times per year, and sometimes more often if certain problems exist.
An important purpose of core aeration is the physical removal of unwanted organic matter in the upper portion of the root zone. The removal of this organic matter is important for allowing the movement of the water, oxygen, and nutrients into the rootzone.
Like so many things, the quality of a good putting green is more than skin deep. In fact, the condition of a green has a lot to do with what goes on below the surface. In order to keep grass healthy and smooth in a stressful environment such as a putting green, you need to have deep and healthy roots. Good roots demand oxygen, water, and nutrients.
The old phrase “pay me now or pay me later” rings true with core aeration. Core aeration is the most vital preventative maintenance practice we can do to ensure that we have healthy greens throughout the summer. With all that being said, we are scheduled to aerify greens, collars and approaches on April 7th, 8th, and 9th. If all goes well, the greens will be completely recovered in 10 to 14 days.
Our schedule is the following: On Monday we will use the deep tine machine set to a depth of 8" with solid 3/4" tines. We will use most of the day to do all the greens. We will then start core aerification on the putting green. On Tuesday the front nine will be closed for us to core aerify and topdress all of the front nine greens, collars, and approaches. On Wednesday the front nine will re-open and the back nine will be closed for the same core aerification proeess.
Check back to the clog for pictures and updates for how our aerification went this year.