Spring Cultural Practices

Thatch reduction

This week we started our Spring cultural practices on the fairways. Our goal is to reduce thatch, alleviate compaction and provide an ideal environment for the seed that follows. The process has many moving parts and is as follows: 1. Verticut 2-3 directions to reduce thatch. 2. Blow and collect clippings. 3. Aerify to reduce compaction. 4. Allow the aerification plugs to dry (1 hour). 5. Verticut, drag and mow to breakup the plugs. 6. Seed 7. Solid tine aerify to punch-in the seed. 8. Drag-in the seed.



Aerifying to reduce compaction



As you can imagine, the going is a bit slow. To keep the process moving as smooth as possible we will be closing whatever hole we happen to be working on at that time. Hopefully, this does not create too much of an inconvenience.