Tine for a change

As another batch of greens were aerated today we have come to the half way point of the surface to be covered. The work we are doing is progressing nicely and the recovery so far has been excellent. The initial greens now have filled in completely, all residues of sand are worked in to the sward and the surfaces putt nicely. The greens are remaining firm and the irrigation is used when necessary, however the recent aeration is creating deep voids which water, new roots and air can fill providing excellent healthy growth that can with stand drought better, limiting the need for extra water. We are currently experiencing a high amount of superficial fairy rings on the greens, although the aesthetics of the surface are slightly spoilt they do not cause any issues to trueness. The process of aerating causes a lot of wear on the tines, when new the tines are 12mm wide and 270mm long, after covering 1 hectare of greens the tines have lost around 60mm of length and are certainly thinner at the bottom.

Although wont negatively effect aeration initially, over time the wear will decrease penetration, if the tines were used for the whole 2 hectares of greens 120mm would have been lost. Giving only 150mm of depth at the end, this is not what we want to happen so new tines are used for the second hectare of aeration work. Once installed the tines were set to a depth of 250mm once more. The old tines aren't wasted, we use these to aerate surrounds and approaches where depth isn't so critical, in fact we do not go deeper than 200mm as there is potential of hitting irrigation lines around the greens.

The weather this afternoon was very showery but the greens on the course were completed in between the rain. The 900 square meter practice green, pictured above was the only one we couldn't get matted in so this will be completed tomorrow.
Else where we have been cutting, divoting tees, strimming areas and tidying ditches.