Aerification

greens aerification 5/8 inch tines 1x1 spacing

tractor w/rolling aerator

This shows the whole process

Over the past three weeks we have been very busy on the golf course. Since we only aerify once a year, we get very aggressive on the turf when the time comes. The aerification process is a long, slow process that is very necessary from the health our turfgrass.

Aerification is done for several reasons:

• release of toxic gases from the soil


• improve wetting of dry or hydrophobic soils


• accelerated drying of persistently wet soils


• increased infiltration capacity, especially where surface compaction or thatch limits infiltration


• stimulated root growth within the holes


• increased shoot growth atop the holes
  
• disruption of soil layers resulting from topdressing


• control thatch, especially where soil cores are reincorporated or where topdressing follows coring


• improved turfgrass response to fertilizers
  

With this being said our process goes like this:

1. Greens- we aerify them with 5/8 inch tines on 1x1 spacing, this removes 32% of the surface per year (USGA recommends that you remove 20% of the surface per year).


2. Approaches and Collars- we use the same machine as the greens


3. Fairways- we use a rolling, pull behind machine, we try to go over them 4x and drag the cores in soon after


4. Roughs- same machine as fairways, we go over these areas 2x
   

I know what everybody thinks about aerification, but what we need to understand is how important it is for the health of our turfgrass.