Carbide tip verticuter blades Cancel The title field is required!

1. Dru Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   10/4/2013 8:10 PM

   I recently spoke with another super about carbide vs regular blades. His thoughts were that yes the carbide tipped blades last longer but pull the turf up more in a tearing fashion as opposed to giving a clean cut. He said this was due to the tip being wider in the carbide blades. We are currently using carbide blades and they seem to limit how deep I can set them due to this tearing action. We were in agreement on this topic but I wanted to hear if anyone out here has tried each and what were their findings.
   Bermuda greens

   
   
   
   
2. Joey Franco

   

   0 posts
   
   10/5/2013 7:10 AM

   I used the carbide tips last year and do not like the results. Definite tearing and slower recovery. We changed to regular from R&R and had great results. Plus if I wear these out they are only 300 dollars. Great results and very happy. I can get two growing seasons with R&R blades. Carbide tips are 1700 dollars. Hope this helps decision. I verticillium every two weeks, two directions, may to September.

   
   
   
   
3. Peter Bowman

   

   11 posts
   
   10/5/2013 8:10 PM

   Joey Franco said: I verticillium every two weeks, two directions, may to September.

   
   
   That's funny. Spell check probably got in the way.

   
   
   
   
4. Dru Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   10/6/2013 8:10 PM

   Joey Franco said: I used the carbide tips last year and do not like the results. Definite tearing and slower recovery. We changed to regular from R&R and had great results. Plus if I wear these out they are only 300 dollars. Great results and very happy. I can get two growing seasons with R&R blades. Carbide tips are 1700 dollars. Hope this helps decision. I verticillium every two weeks, two directions, may to September.

   
   
   That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you.

   
   
   
   
5. Anthony Nysse

   

   1 posts
   
   10/7/2013 4:10 AM

   Carbide Tips are more aggressive, but create a wide, cleaner channel for sand and beat up the grain better. When dealing with an ultradwaft, isn't that what you'd want?

   
   
   
   
6. Craig Moore

   

   0 posts
   
   10/7/2013 10:10 AM

   I use the 2mm carbide tip blades up here in the North and love them. I can not go as low as I did with the regular blades but I don't need to because the results are way better. I can remove about 8 times the material with the 2mm blades vs. the regular blades. I no longer need to double verticut and I do not need to do it as often.
   Game changer for us. When the lines are heeled up I know it is time to zing them again.

   
   
   
   
7. Anthony Nysse

   

   1 posts
   
   10/7/2013 11:10 AM

   Craig Moore said: I use the 2mm carbide tip blades up here in the North and love them. I can not go as low as I did with the regular blades but I don't need to because the results are way better. I can remove about 8 times the material with the 2mm blades vs. the regular blades. I no longer need to double verticut and I do not need to do it as often.
   Game changer for us. When the lines are heeled up I know it is time to zing them again.

   
   
   And that's where my thinking is...REMOVAL. I think that's where the carbide tip has a dramatic advantage.

   
   
   
   
8. David Brandenburg

   

   3 posts
   
   10/7/2013 11:10 AM

   I agree with Craig and we have used the 2mm carbide tips for at least ten years. We remove a cushman load of debris from each green in one pass and although it is messy it is effective. We usually topdress after and although the lines are visible putting is smooth.
   
   I do not see ever switching back to the thin blades.

   
   
   
   
9. Dru Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   10/7/2013 4:10 PM

   On ultradwarf bermuda greens, we verticut once a week to help promote upright growth and prevent grain formation. We are not trying to remove thatch. We topdress directly behind weekly as well. I simply would like to go deeper without the pulling effect we are seeing with carbide tips. The frequency of our topdressing along with multiple core aerations throughout the year are how we combat thatch accumulation. Plus limited nitrogen inputs. Going too aggressively has shown to creat puffiness on ultradwarfs. (From my research)

   
   
   
   
10. Anthony Nysse

    

    1 posts
    
    10/7/2013 5:10 PM

    Dru Clark said: On ultradwarf bermuda greens, we verticut once a week to help promote upright growth and prevent grain formation. We are not trying to remove thatch. We topdress directly behind weekly as well. I simply would like to go deeper without the pulling effect we are seeing with carbide tips. The frequency of our topdressing along with multiple core aerations throughout the year are how we combat thatch accumulation. Plus limited nitrogen inputs. Going too aggressively has shown to creat puffiness on ultradwarfs. (From my research)

    
    
    Interesting. Were around 3#N a year and topdress about 40 Mondays a year, heavy. I guess I'd rather create fresh, new channels for sand to sit into. We remove about 44% a year and also dryject. I have never seen puffiness from vcutting. Maybe climate? What type of UD? Some take to vcutting MUCH better than others

    
    
    
    
11. Keith Lamb

    

    3 posts
    
    10/7/2013 7:10 PM

    Carbide blades here. Verticut/Topdress 15-20x year at 1/8"- 1/16" below. Low N High K and no puffiness. I'll even go out at 1/8" and circle verticut occasionally, but we normally double verticut every other week. Champion UD.

    
    
    
    
12. Dru Clark

    

    0 posts
    
    10/7/2013 7:10 PM

    Anthony Nysse said:

    Dru Clark said: On ultradwarf bermuda greens, we verticut once a week to help promote upright growth and prevent grain formation. We are not trying to remove thatch. We topdress directly behind weekly as well. I simply would like to go deeper without the pulling effect we are seeing with carbide tips. The frequency of our topdressing along with multiple core aerations throughout the year are how we combat thatch accumulation. Plus limited nitrogen inputs. Going too aggressively has shown to creat puffiness on ultradwarfs. (From my research)

    
    
    Interesting. Were around 3#N a year and topdress about 40 Mondays a year, heavy. I guess I'd rather create fresh, new channels for sand to sit into. We remove about 44% a year and also dryject. I have never seen puffiness from vcutting. Maybe climate? What type of UD? Some take to vcutting MUCH better than others

    
    This is my second season on MiniVerde or any ultradwarf for that matter. I try everything out there at least once to see what may work and ask a ton of questions.

    
    
    
    
13. Curtis Nickerson

    

    0 posts
    
    10/8/2013 5:10 AM

    We have been having this very conversation here recently, and I think it is a matter of what your goal is... we have both sets and use both sets. During the "high-growth" months we run the standard blades on weekly basis at 1/8-1/16 below, this is what I call grooming, we lightly topdress and water it in. Twice a month (or so depending on weather, play etc.) we run the carbide tips at about the same depth. As mentioned in the other posts they are more aggressive and remove more material and require a bit more sand to fill the grooves. So after this process we topdress more heavily and then use our coco drag, followed by a triplex without buckets to remove any puffiness or "stood up" leaves all followed by a watering cycle. This is what I call verticutting, depending on the time of year and climatic pressures we usually do the process twice on both sets up & back in the same pass (we call it corderoy) and two different direction we call plaid).

    
    
    
    
14. Bill Brooks

    

    18 posts
    
    10/8/2013 11:10 AM

    We use the 2mm carbide as well. We did see the tearing in the turf until we reduced our ground speed on the mower. Now, it gives us a great cut and we only go one direction with topdressing to follow. Double verticutting was to long of a recovery.

    
    
    
    
15. Ashton Alan W

    
    10/8/2013 12:10 PM

    Dru,
    
    I've been using the carbide on my Miniverde for 11 years... haven't tried the standards, but then I haven't felt the need to either. I'm sure that humidity (and it's duration... only have the summer monsoon to worry about myself...) plays a role... we groom daily at .020 off of the deck, or about .085 below the height of cut. In doing so, we only verticut every 6-8 weeks, but we go at bench level and backtrack on the passes so we remove a fair amount of material. Recently saw some pics of a course in Tucson that was over topdressing... wouldn't have believed it was possible, but it appears that it can be done.

    
    
    
    
16. Dru Clark

    

    0 posts
    
    10/8/2013 2:10 PM

    Curtis Nickerson said: We have been having this very conversation here recently, and I think it is a matter of what your goal is... we have both sets and use both sets. During the "high-growth" months we run the standard blades on weekly basis at 1/8-1/16 below, this is what I call grooming, we lightly topdress and water it in. Twice a month (or so depending on weather, play etc.) we run the carbide tips at about the same depth. As mentioned in the other posts they are more aggressive and remove more material and require a bit more sand to fill the grooves. So after this process we topdress more heavily and then use our coco drag, followed by a triplex without buckets to remove any puffiness or "stood up" leaves all followed by a watering cycle. This is what I call verticutting, depending on the time of year and climatic pressures we usually do the process twice on both sets up & back in the same pass (we call it corderoy) and two different direction we call plaid).

    
    
    We do go up and back on the same pass, topdress, tennis court brush and/or water in I am going to set up another set w/out carbide tips do do exactly as you are doing. This is where I was already working toward. Thanks

    
    
    
    
17. James Smith

    

    112 posts
    
    10/12/2013 6:10 AM

    Tif Eagle here, I have been using the carbides for around 8 years now and love them.
    
    I think every course is going to be different due to the types of turf they have and their goal. For instance we do not overseed for winter (no snow birds down here) so I am fine having my greens go dormant for a few months if that but my goal has always been to have a good healthy matt that will help sustain the play we get until spring greenup. In order to achieve this we generally stop our verticutting program in peak summer when the stress slows down the recovery. after that I may verticut once or twice before major tournaments but I find that letting them alone leaves me with a good transition in spring where we again will get into them and back to our normal program.
    
    Every course will be different but the key in my opinion is thatch management. That is the main reason why I verticut in the first place and my program seems to work very well for my club which is a low budget course.