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1. Johnson Aaron M

   
   9/10/2014 7:09 AM

   Resort course in Northwest Minnesota:
   We hold a lot of tournaments from Mid August until Mid September, with Labor day in there as well. I'v had pressure to not core the greens as it disrupts play, even for 1 weekend. We do have thatch issues this year and would like to start interseeding SR 1150 into 20 year old penncross/poa greens.
   When is too early for coring ( worried about the greens getting too hot in the sun when dragging in the topdressing.) Also, when do you think it's too late for healing? Soil temps are the biggest factor in rapid recovery right? Our greens are scheduled to be cored next monday (sept 15th), I had planned to do it last monday and Tuesday (sept 8 and 9th) but was told i will not be aerating then because of a last minute tournament that was scheduled for this weekend.
   Im wondering if I will see enough recovery before winter hits this year, and if I should try to plan to aerate in Mid August of next year a few weeks before labor day and just deal with the complaining. we are a resort course with membership and it seems like we cant win at losing!!!

   
   
   
   
2. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   9/10/2014 7:09 AM

   When I was in Northern Indiana at a university golf course we would wait until October to aerate due to college events, sometimes we healed sometimes we didn't. One year we moved it to the 3rd week of Sept. because of an event the second week of October, thinking it would heal, and it got cold and wet and they didn't heal well. Would have loved to actually aerate in August, but we would have our local summer kids go back to school and our university kids wouldn't be on campus at the time.
   
   While in New Jersey we used to aerate 2 weeks before Labor Day before our kids went back to school and it would heal by Labor Day weekend.
   
   Here in the transition zone now we will aerate the last week of September or first week of October and it will stay warm enough to heal usually, but I have had a couple years out of my 10 here that they didn't quite heal like we would have liked.
   
   Don't know if that helps you much, but that is just some of my experiences. I guess an option is to core with smaller tines if you can't go earlier?
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
3. Johnson Aaron M

   
   9/10/2014 8:09 AM

   thanks Mel:
   I wanted to go with the bigger cores to facilitate the germination of the new bent we want to interseed.

   
   
   
   
4. Kyle Rausch

   

   0 posts
   
   9/10/2014 9:09 AM

   What is going to happen on the course after you aerify? If you are going to be able to just focus on getting the greens healed up the rest of the year I would say go for it. If the club is going to want you to be mowing them again a few days after the aerifying then it will probably be tough to get them to heal up this year.

   
   
   
   
5. Johnson Aaron M

   
   9/10/2014 1:09 PM

   All play will be pretty much done for. All tournaments are over and we can focus on healing the greens. Should be able to not cut them for a few days. Probably wont mow them until saturday or even sunday to give them lots of time to heal, and we will be bumping the HOC up after aerification so were not picking up a whole lot of the sand.
   I will be putting down .25 to .5 lbs N per 1000 afterwards, should I go with something with a little P in if for the seeding Im doing or won't that really do much? I have been using 18-0-18 Country club MD this spring, with some foliar during the summer, wondering if I should bump the P a little for the germination rate.

   
   
   
   
6. Zachary Wike

   

   0 posts
   
   9/10/2014 1:09 PM

   Aaron
   
   We just completed our greens aeration over the past 2 days. We put out 1/2lb N on our greens about a week and a half prior to pulling cores so that the greens are actively growing at the time of aeration. We also use 3/8' tines in our 648 with quad blocks (60 tines on the aerator). About a week after aeration, our greens are usually about 75-80% healed and by 2 weeks out you can't even tell we aerated them. We have had such good success with this process that we have repeated it for several years in a row now. If you are trying to get a good take on bentgrass I would suggest pushing for an earlier aeration date. I have noticed in years past that the later into the fall we aerate, the more poa we have fill in the open holes.

   
   
   
   
7. Wally Dowe

   

   0 posts
   
   9/10/2014 4:09 PM

   As Zachary stated, use a smaller tine but punch more holes (quad block set up). Use 1/4" or 3/8" hollow tines on the quad block. They will heal pretty quick especially with topdressing. Or go every other tine using 1/4" & 3/8" across the tine holders.
   
   Wally Dowe
   Ventana Canyon
   Tucson, AZ

   
   
   
   
8. Johnson Aaron M

   
   9/10/2014 7:09 PM

   Im starting to lean towards the smaller 3/8ths now. our greens are leaned out right now, maybe be best to hold off on the interseeding then until spring with a heavy core (5/8ths)?? We have an old Greens Aerator from TORO that is a beast to haul around our long course. With the thatch that we have I wanted to pull the 5/8ths out to remove a lot of it, but with a 2x2.5 spacing im really not disrupting the surface that much and not really hitting a lot of the green. I would love a 648 but thats just a dream!!!
   Im assuming I wouldnt see a lot of germination from the new seed i throw down with the 3/8th cores being pulled? With that small of a hole, they would fill in rapidly and not give the seed time to compete???
   
   Off subject, but does spiker seeding into a healthy stand of Penncross bent/poa work???? I was able to see a lot of germination in thin areas that we spiker seeded with a tow behind model and I was curious if the seed would be able to take hold with a less disruptive cultural practice like spiker seeding?
   Thank you everyone for all your help, im learning so much each time I can cruise around on the FORUM!!!

   
   
   
   
9. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   9/11/2014 7:09 AM

   Aaron,
   
   Don't know how much seed would germinate that late in the season anyway.
   
   One of the best things I have seen for seeding on greens was a Ryan Mataway with seeder attachment. Of course we didn't see much seed in good stands of healthy areas, but where we were thin, we saw great results. I've currently tried one of those little hand-held spiking tools with some seed in thin spots now with mixed results, most likely from not getting consistent irrigation for germination and grow-in. It's a little tough sometimes to free up someone for the hose to just spot water. Not like doing a grow-in where we would be watering everything.
   
   I know someone who used to use a tip seeder to interseed, but he wasn't even sure how successful it was, when I left the area, he was looking at one of the universities to maybe genotype some plugs to see what seed was actually taking hold.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO