Do Greens need to be Aerified? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Ronald Conard

   

   4 posts
   
   3/7/2017 7:03 AM

   Sandy Clark, CGCS said: I think a simple way to determine this is start with an ISTRC test. I have A-4 greens in a 12 month climate. Being a resort, I have in the past been limited to 2 aerifications a year, generally 1/2 inch tines. At that rate, we are removing at best 17% organic development. A-4 produces roughly 21% Greens are 17 years old so it doesn't take a math genius to know I have an organic layer problem. Constantly got questions the last few years about why the greens don't feel the same, why aren't they as firm, are you watering more? Simple answer is they have changed so as I have warned for all these years, either we aerify more or start planning to rebuild greens. We can't perform miracles no matter the decisions made. The math tells me with A-4 or other newer varieties of bent, the answer is no, you cannot skip aerification. You can't topdress enough without constantly disrupting play and equipment and make it work. I am not a rookie to the business and would happily argue this with any academic.

   
   
   I'm not sure you would get any argument. What's to argue? If you can't topdress enough to dilute o.m. then of course you would need to aerify.

   
   
   
   
2. Sandy Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   3/10/2017 9:03 AM

   Ron, we have religiously topdressed since installation. Larry, I was really disappointed to hear that PoaCure won't be available now until at best, 2019.. Our Poa population has jumped a lot the past 2 years. We stayed pretty clean the first 14 but the percentage took a bigger jump a couple of years ago. Greens were built in 1999 and 2000. We did well for a long time. Going to experiment with aggressive interseeding with Pure Distinction. A-4 stayed clean longer than greens around the county built around the same time period using other selections. With 12 month Poa and golf seasons, in spite of all the available maintenance practices, Poa still has the edge.

   
   
   
   
3. Ronald Conard

   

   4 posts
   
   3/10/2017 11:03 AM

   Sandy Clark, CGCS said: Ron, we have religiously topdressed since installation.

   
   
   Sandy, I'm just curious what that equates to in cubic feet per 1000 sq ft. per year. The recommendation I've been working off of for a 6 month growing season is a minimum of 18 cubic feet. 20 to 25 feet per year is an even better target. What that works out to is about 1/4 of topdressing applied for a 6 month growing season.

   
   
   
   
4. Craig Moore

   

   0 posts
   
   3/10/2017 12:03 PM

   Every facility is different and that must be remembered.
   Critically thinking about basic agronomic principles and applying that knowledge to your specific situation is how you manage the playing conditions of your turf with mother nature.
   We all manage different turf in different environments and provide the turf with different inputs. What works for me probably will not work for many others. Some courses pull cores some courses solid tine, some courses topdress some courses don't, some courses use foliar fertilizer some courses use granular fertilizer, some courses use PGR's some courses don't, some courses want it green 24/7 some course let it brown out. There is no wrong or right answer just different situations and expectations. There are so many variables in turf management that a simple blanket statement is irrelevant.
   Bring Agronomic knowledge then Evaluate, Change/adjust, get better..... that is all we can do.

   
   
   
   
5. Jonathan Burke

   

   2 posts
   
   4/19/2017 7:04 AM

   David L Doherty said: I feel the need to clarify the recent "Do Greens Need to be Aerified?" article that was published in the Jan/Feb Boardroom issue. Due to health issues, Dave was unable to write a current article for the publication and this was a late 1990s article that they decided to republish. This explains the 1991 and 1995 references. Make no mistake, the article is poorly written, poorly edited and should be re-titled "How to Quantify the Need for Aerification?" You are right that things have changed since this article was originally written and some of the biggest advancements are the knowledge of the superintendents and the outside resources that they have to utilize for their support. Sometimes the hardest part of a superintendents job is quantifying what he/she wants or needs to do. The idea is to support the decisions with facts and proactive approaches, regardless of the outside sources used. We apologize for any confusion or hard feelings that this article has caused.

   
   
   For the record I have attached the follow up article that was published in the most recent issue of The Boardroom.
   
   Jon

   
   
   
   
6. Timothy Walker

   

   0 posts
   
   1/17/2018 8:01 AM

   yes, quite a stir with certain superintendents...great response by a less than respectable publication