Poking Holes for Summer Oxygen

We had a very busy week after the July 4th holiday.  With the above average heat, and a forecast that was calling for continuing heat, we went and pencil tined our greens.  This allows oxygen into the root zone, taking the place of water.  When too much moisture is in the soil, it pushes out oxygen in the soil, too much water in the soil will not allow microbial activity to occur, and it could also raise the soil temperature, just like a puddle on asphalt in full sun will be hotter then the air temperature around it.  We were also able to time the process before our regularly scheduled topdressing, (well we did push back the topdressing a week due to the July 4th holiday).

                  

The picture on the left shows the small pencil size tines, the middle shows the machine on our tractor (the tractor being my favorite piece of equipment we own), and on the right is the size of the holes left by the tines.  They were pretty much invisible to golfers within a day or two at the most.

The pencil tines we like to schedule once a month for June, July and August, with longer 1/2 solid tines that will penetrate down to 6 to 8 inches for May, and possibly September or October.  We still pull cores from our greens in April and either September or October depending on our tournament/outing schedules.  This schedule doesn't always happen as we have to share the aerator and sometime the tractor with our other two courses.

Since we have started this "venting" practice, along with better moisture management, we have seen our greens perform better in summer.

                   

The photo on the left shows that the holes punched a day prior were not visible, (or I guess it doesn't show)  The photo on the right is a light topdressing being applied, topdressing is applied throughout the season, to keep greens smooth and to keep thatch diluted so greens do not get puffy and scalp when mowing.  The depth of the topdressing will match the growth rate of the turf, in the summer with our growth regulator program, and warm temperatures, we will not see much growth, and so we do a "light dusting" of topdressing.  We schedule topdressing of greens every two weeks weather and outing schedules permitting.  We will add verticutting in the spring and fall, and we have a spiker unit that we will use in the summer to just open up the green surface for them to breath.

To round out this post, I wanted to show off Lucy's new collar.  Thanks to GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) for sending this out, Lucy has been one of many dogs of turf to get a new collar.  She now feels official when she goes to work with me.

            

As always,

Thanks for reading!

Mel