The Greens Aerification Process

Aerification is one of the most important cultural practices that maintenance does 2 to 3 times a year to maintain a heathy putting green.  Spring aerification of Blackheath and Marsh Hawk has been completed (please see the attached schedule for aerification future dates).  Have you ever wondered what the process is for aerification or why it takes us, as a maintenance staff, two days to complete the process?

This blog post will give you a behind the scenes, detailed look into the process for greens core aerification.

Blue Heron Painting Greens

Before reopening the Blue Heron course, we took the opportunity to apply a pigment to the greens. Since Champion Bermuda grass is a warm season turf, the greens go dormant as the soil temperatures decrease in cold weather. Painting the greens gives the turf a green color and warms the soil temperatures.  This will aid in the Champion coming out of dormancy earlier in the spring.  So come out and enjoy the Blue Heron course!

Greens Deep Tinning

Recently, the maintenance staff has begun to verti-drain the Marsh Hawk and BlackHeath greens. A verti-drain is a tractor implement (see pictures below) that uses 12” long tine to puncture a hole in the green to a desired depth, our desired depth is 10”. This is a slow process and takes roughly 45 minutes to completely punch a green. Once the green is punched the green is rolled with our Salsco roller to smooth out and firm up the playing surface once again.

The 10" deep holes will assist in water penetration and will help exchange oxygen into the root zone. Resulting in a deeper root system and an overall healthier green’s turf.