Greens aeration with Ninja Tines

For a brief few days winter backed off and the temperatures warmed up. For the Grounds department, it gave us a chance to execute our greens aeration plan.

For many seasons now, we have aimed to aerate as early in the year as possible. Completing the work early usually helps avoid big conflicts with golfers because the golf season is not in full swing. The work is completed ahead of the handicap posting season, and healing begins quickly, allowing for the best putting surfaces possible once the posting season starts. But most importantly, aerating this early allows time to elapse between aerating and our plant growth regulator (PGR) applications for seed head  control. The link provides more detail, but the short story is: suppressing growth with PGR’s to prevent seed heads also stunts the healing process from aeration. If we aerate early enough in the season, some or most, of the healing can take place before we spray PGR’s. While we were forced to wait a little later than we have in the last couple of years because of snow and completely frozen ground, we still were able to accomplish the work in our desired window.

We also had a new strategy for spring aeration this year. To minimize the healing time required, we used even smaller tines than we have in the past. These new tines are called Ninja Tines and are not quite .2” wide (and we ordered the XL version!) This is nearly 50% smaller than the tines we have used in the past.

The beauty of the Ninja Tines is that they are specifically designed to create very minimal disruption. They don’t remove very much soil like typical hollow tines, and they are very skinny. One of the main reasons for aerating any surface is to remove thatch, which is the organic material from the plants- dead leaves, stems, roots, etc.- that accumulates in the soil, and the Ninja Tines are designed just for that. The Ninja Tines do not penetrate deeply, which limits the soil removed, but they do grab the thatch. And because they are so small, we can poke lots of holes, removing lots of thatch, with the least amount of surface disturbance. By using the Ninja Tines, we have decreased the size of the hole created, which will speed up recovery, and we have still attacked the thatch buildup. Because this was the first season trying this new process, we can’t be definitive on the results yet. But watching the process and judging how it turned out, we are very optimistic.

We expect this adjustment to our spring aeration program will be an improvement, and something we continue each year moving forward.

 

We are now back to posting once per week. Thank you

 

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Please don't start off 10 tee without permission from the Golf Pro Shop.

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

Golf Cart tips

 

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org