The last week was spent performing aeration operations to the fairways, tees, greens and some rough. As many know the process is used to promote air into the soil and reduce compaction. Nowhere is this process more important than the greens.
Our poa annua greens have very short roots and any chance to get some air and improve the soil before the season is welcome. You may have noticed that the week before the greens became gradually slower. In order to prepare the greens for this major surgery, over 150,000 holes per green followed by grinding sand into the surface, we begin to start fertilizing and watering a little more about 7-10 days ahead of time. This not only improves the health of the green but is very important to the recovery and returning us to true putting surfaces.
We did not get a chance to perform this operation last fall due to heavy rains, which makes this seasons aeration all that more crucial. As the roots of the plant die off in the summer they begin to clog up the soil pore space below the thatch level. This slows down water infiltration, makes greens soft and the roots starve from low oxygen levels. With core aeration we physically remove this organic zone and exchange it with sand.
Hopefully the good timing of doing this later in the season coupled with our practices we improve both the overall health of the greens and the recovery of the putting surfaces.
