Aeration and weather... What a Mess!

It is that time of year that spring arrives and the process of aeration begins.  This vital practice is not a favorite of anyone, but the goal of setting up the plant for a season of good health is the driving force.  Most turfgrass plants actually have more rooting in the spring than anytime else.  The chance to improve air exchange, reduce organic matter and drive rooting are the primary reasons we implement this practice.

Our staff does not enjoy the process; long hours, lots of backbreaking work, days of blowing and sweeping, and machine breakdowns make our jobs harder.  Needless to say, we are not fans of aeration but we realize the important benefits.

This year the weather is the factor that has made this process even more difficult.  To get the best results we like a dry firm surface, take a clean medium sized core, then apply dry sand and work that into all the holes.  The most important part is dry workable sand.  When we remove cores, the surface of the green is very soft.  To properly firm that surface back up, applications of nearly 30 to 40 tons of sand are applied to the greens and worked into the holes by hand and machine.  This allows us to firm the greens back into playing shape in a relatively short time.  The holes close faster and the surface smooths out in about two weeks.  Not bad considering we induced nearly 250,000 holes per green.

With rain during the process, we have lost the ability to apply the required sand, and most importantly the ability to move it into the open holes.  Brushing wet sand is akin to using sandpaper for a wash mitt on your cars paint.  In addition, we have no method to prepare the surface for play, rolling only picks up debris and spreads it over the entire surface and the wet remains are nearly impossible to blow away.


 The picture below show some of the issues when working with wet sand.  The sand pile contains wet and dry sand which spreads differently.  Couple this with a machine, it's speed, hydraulic loads and then sand inconsistency and a wet surface, there are a lot of variables in play.  Trying to get uniformity across the surface is a lesson in frustration when conditions are not optimal.

Left side heavy and wet;  right side we hit a dry patch in the pile

 This year we reduced the size of the holes from 1/2"  to 3/8" knowing we could not move the wet sand into the openings.  Second we applied a lighter sand topdressing with the hopes of applying more later on to help smooth out the greens.  The effect on play will be bumpy greens with more debris on the ball in the morning dew.  Our usual practice of not mowing for two days to allow the grass to recover and grow through the sand may be changed due to the practicality of trying to make the greens playable.

So why not just perform the process when dry? The dates are set far in advance and no rain dates provided, so to ge the most benefit we must change the practice, but still continue on and work around the weather constraint.  I'm sure in time all things will even out with extra topdressing and some handwork, but right out of the gate conditions will less than what you may have come to expect.