The recent weather has been kind to us and it's enabled us to carry out deep aeration, top dressing and over seeding work on the greens and tees.
With the soil structure firm and dry it's been ideal to carry out this work. The tines have been set to around 300mm and at this depth they will brake up surface tension and any lower profile compaction.
This work will help to develop stronger root systems and allow a greater exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the soil structure.
Over the past few years the ground conditions haven't been ideal for this practice due to the large amounts of rainfall.
The picture shows the machine in action
After the deep aeration the surfaces were top dressed and brushed, this was then followed up with rolling to smooth them out.
The height of cut was slightly raised and we allowed the greens to settle for two weeks.We then solid tined with 8mm tines fitted to the procore, they were then top dressed, bringing our total applications too 100 tonnes this year.
With the top dressing on the surface we over seeded with various cultivars of browntop bent , this was brushed in,and followed with a light covering of water from the irrigation system to help wash the seed in to the tine holes.
It is hoped the seed will germinate in around 14 days, the timing of this work is important because with good temperatures and growing condition's any surface disturbance will soon settle down giving good playing conditions going in to autumn.
The pictures below show the bottom of the hole cutter that we use to change the holes on the greens, it shows the length of the new root's after the aeration programme they measure at around 250mm.
It is very pleasing to see the development of the healthy roots.
The rooting channels will aid drainage, they also show how the profile has been opened up to enable the root system to develop.
Surface water can access these channels and speed up the peculation through the soil structure.
Regular aeration work is so important in managing fine turf.
We allow the seed to develop over the next few weeks and then start our winter programme of slitting and solid tining on a regular basis depending on the weather conditions.
Preparing the mounds for autumn / winter.
This week we started cutting back the mounds between the 13th and 15th fairways, over the next couple of weeks we aim to complete the work on all the mounds situated around the course.
We cut the mounds short to weaken the course grasses,all the cut grass is raked up and removed to reduce any available nutrients to be taken up from it.
It is well acknowledged that the finer grasses thrive on minimal soil nutrients and in managing the mounds in this way we aim to develop the finer wispy grasses. This practice will make the mounds penal, yet enable the golfers to find their balls.
The picture below shows one of the completed mounds, these are cut yearly, we are seeing a significant change in grass composition from the course grass to the favourable fine species.
New path from the 16th tee to the 18th tee
We recently took advantage of the dry weather and cut and shaped the path.It is hoped this surface will allow our members and visitors to access the tees with a scenic walk on the edge of the colonels wood.
The various stages of the work are shown.
The side photo shows the basic shape marked out.
We aim to create smooth curves that blend in to the landscape and avoid straight lines.
The digger cutting out the path.
The soil was placed either side and raked out.
When the shape was completed, stone was added to a depth of 100 mm raked and consolidated.
The finished path.
Over the next couple of weeks we will plant daffodil bulbs along the side of the path, these will enhance the blue bells that flower regularly in spring.
As you can see our work load has been varied and busy over the past month along side course preparation.
The greens team have worked well in completing this work with minimal disturbance to our members and visitors.
Our October blog will be highlighting some of the projects we will be working on in our winter programme.
Terry Wharton Head Greenkeeper.
