Any Way You Punch It

Which is the best aerification method for your course?

Editor's note: This article will appear in an upcoming Golfdom. Fultz is the golf course superintendent of Shenvalee Golf Resort and a member of Golfdom's advisory staff.

Aerification is probably the most important cultural practice you can do to enhance and improve a turf stand. But with so many different methods and depths, which is the best for your facility?

Before you can answer that question, you first must answer these questions:

• What am I trying to achieve with my aerification?
• Am I trying to modify my existing soils?
• Am I trying to control thatch and compaction issues?
• Am I trying to increase drainage and air/nutrient exchange?

After you answer those questions, others arise:

• Do I want to incorporate soil amendments into my aerification holes?
• What amendments do I want to put in if I do? Sand, porous ceramics, sand/peat mix?

Each question has a solution through various aerification practices that can achieve the goals you set.

Let's start with standard core aerification using tines from one-quarter inch up to one-half inch. This aerification process can accomplish many of the goals mentioned. Cores are pulled and can be removed or ground back into the turf canopy. If removed, then amendments can be added and dragged in. With this practice, you get the following:

• thatch removal
• compaction relief
• increased drainage in the upper 3 to 4 inches of the profile and
• increased air and nutrient utilization

There are numerous machines on the market that do an incredible job of core aerification.

A drawback of core aerification, however, is heal-up time. While it is the most beneficial maintenance practice for greens, it is also the most disruptive practice. Golfers complain most about core aerification.

A practice finding approval from golfers and superintendents in recent years is the use of one-quarter-inch tines on a smaller hole spacing. This allows the turf manager to achieve the above results with a shorter heal time and less disruption to the putting surface.

Deep-tine aerification is another kind of beneficial aerification turf managers use to achieve certain results. Usually tines range from one-half-inch to 1 inch and anywhere from 5 inches to 10 inches in length, deep tine aerification gets to the "heart" of the problem. Cores can be pulled, or solid tines can be used to open up the profile below the 3 inches to 4 inches that standard core aerification achieves. With deep-tine aerification, you achieve:

• compaction relief at a deeper lever
• improved drainage
• pulling cores, thatch removal
• increased air and nutrient utilization

This process has found more favor in recent years on older push-up greens. Course managers can delay the rebuilding of greens by going "deep" to help improve drainage and add soil amendments. One downside to deep-tine core aerification is the size of the core pulled, which leaves a larger mess and subsequent cleanup. Associated with this is a longer heal-up time because of larger holes on a wider hole spacing.

One practice finding favor during the last couple of years is deep tining around Thanksgiving and allowing the greens to stay open during the winter. The thought behind this is allowing the natural freeze-and-thaw process, combined with the freezing and thawing of snow and/or water, to help alleviate winter compaction and improve drainage and airflow through the winter. More turf managers are trying this method each year with great results.

Another type of aerification gaining favor the last five to 10 years is subsurface injection aerification. This allows turf managers to inject amendments, water, and/or air into the root zone. The machines use air and/or water pressure to create a hole, which depending on the machine, simply leaves the hole open or can inject materials into the profile. The benefits these machines provide are:

• air and nutrient utilization
• compaction relief
• immediate stimulus of water or air directly injected to the root system

One of the biggest pluses of subsurface injection aerification is the playing surfaces are almost undisturbed after the machine finishes. Most golfers can't detect that the putting surface has been aerified. This is a big reason it has gained favor of late

Maintaining customer satisfaction and still being able to aerify is a rocky relationship at best. But with subsurface aerification, this relationship can be established and nurtured. But this type of aerification certainly doesn't alleviate thatch problems.

A final aerification method that also has begun to gain popularity, especially during the summer, is the use of slicer, bullet or spiker tines. These tines are extremely effective at opening up a portion of the turf's canopy and thatch to allow air movement into the upper 1 inch to 3 inches of the soil profile. In 2005, this practice saved a lot of greens that were under severe environmental and disease pressure during the previous summer.

The small slits or holes allowed the greens to exchange built-up gases, thus allowing them to breathe. This practice is also quite popular to the golfers because there is little, if any, surface disruption after it has been completed. While it doesn't remove any thatch or modify the soils, this practice can be a lifesaver during heat stress.

We know that aerification is the best method to maintain high-quality turf. But remember to think about what you want to achieve, and then choose the method that best addresses your objectives. With all of the methods out there, almost everyone can find a way that suits the agronomic benefits they are trying to achieve.

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