It is that time of the year. We will be aerating greens on Tuesday of next week. 9-22-09. The process will be as follows:Will will punch the greens with 1/2" quad tines. This will be smaller than in the spring but will yield more holes per square foot.
We will clean the plugs off the greens by hand and haul the material to the back of the driving range which we will clean up over the week with our dump truck and loader.
After the greens a clean we will topdress with USGA spec golf course sand. We will apply enough sand to fill the holes on the green completely.
Once the sand has dried on the greens we will drag the sand with a pull behind brush two times over and then follow with the buffalo blower. This help insure all hole are completely full and no excess sand is left to injure the grass.
Once this process is completed we will follow that with organic fertilizer. I have selected a oceanic blend of sea weed, kelp and crustacean shells to help the biology in the greens. We have already put down a pre-aerification fertilizer application to push growth coming into aerification and this will be the sustained release product to give us the boost we need to close up the holes in a timely manner.
Our first mowing will be san pick up. These mowing are necesary to remove the larger particles that were unable to work into the turf canopy. In no way do we remove enough sand to make a difference. We will start out at a raised hieght and work our way down slowly to our normal mowing hieghts. The greens will be a little slow for this transition time.
Our overall projected recovery will be no later than three weeks if the ambient temperatures remain up. This is where we trust mother nature to help us out a little. If we get a cold snap the recovery could be sluggish but inevitable.
If any members have any questions with the process or any other comments please feel free to contact me directly.
Justin C. Ruiz, CGCS
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