Melvin Waldron, CGCS said: Ronald Conard, CGCS said: Dustin,
Where are you at? What grass are you growing? You are getting advice from all over the board.
You can't treat bent like bermuda.
I never, ever verticut my bent / Poa greens. Why? What good does it do long term? I suppose it may be necessary with the newer, tighter bents but for my greens there is no reason whatsoever to verticut.
Do you see why we need to know your situation?
I brush as often as possible with brushes mounted on our greens mowers. If you are growing the older bents, why would you want to mangle the very mechanism that gives it an advantage over Poa?
Ron,
What bent do you have in your greens? Of course you are up in Wy. so the growing season would be shorter then here in the transisiton zone. We have found on our Penncross, (we do have some dominent mixed in) that if we don't verticut, the grass blades seem to get fat and happy and it affects our putting. We really noticed it this spring when we were wet and cold, (could be part of the issue too?) in April they seemed fat and happy, (others in my area said the same.) When we started verticutting in May, they seemed to thin out some, grass blades seemed thinner, and we actual received compliments on conditions near the end of May. Only change in our program from last spring was verticutting and topdressing, (along with cooler and wetter weather).
Interesting topic for discussion.
Mel
Mel,
I have everything under the sun including Penncross. It does lays flat but I'm fine with that as I don't see it effecting roll. But you are right our climates are entirely different.
Through a combination of dry, dry conditions, brushing, rolling, solid greens mower rollers, and light frequent topdressing we are able to keep the bent from getting puffy. In fact, walking on them in the prime season they feel like pool tables.
In the past we verticut and as I transitioned away from the practice, I always thought that at some point I would need to do some. But after a few years I realized there was no purpose for it in our situation. We do brush extensively. Sometimes we double brush and double cut in the same position. It takes a few weeks for the brushing to do what one verticuting will do in the spring but after that point the smoothness is the same if not better.
I've been testing the o.m. accumulation in the profile and over the past two season it has dropped from a decent level to an even better level. But once again, in the summer, I have much more control over our climate than you do. I can always add water.