Its has been two weeks since our greens renovation. its been a few years since we last hollow cored so i didn't really know what to expect. Recovery has been excellent but the weather has been perfect. I know some of you find it hard to fathom out why we do our work at this time but like i said with the perfect weather comes a speedy recovery making it "perfect timing" for our renovation work. I have covered the operations we are carrying out in previous blogs so i will try not to bore you too much. Just a quick recap then more about after the works.
So first of all we scarified the greens in two directions with a 1.6mm blade, 40mm apart and to a depth of 8mm. This will help us remove some of the surface fibre/thatch that built up over last winter/spring. As i previously said the Graden work (the linear aeration, the work we carried out last year) removes roughly 12% - 15% of organic matter/thatch where as hollow coring removes approximately 8%. I thought this was a good opportunity for us to try to bridge the gap between the two operations by scarifying. We managed to fill the back of the Kubota RTV 1.5 times per green with the clippings.
Next we hollow cored with a 19mm tine, 50mm deep at 75mm spacings. We collected the cores with a core harvester which we had to hire in. The link shows the core harvester in action but on a fairway not a green but exactly the same machinery and principle as we used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdBw-qYBaNg
The top dressing came next. 2 tonnes per green of kiln dried sand was spread out with out Dakota top dresser. We used the same set up as shown in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUfEmZROQzI . We then over sowed with Rigby Taylor R105 Browntop Bent consisting of 2 cultivars. 50% Greenspeed & 50% Egmont then we spread Activate R granules which is a Rooting Biostimulant is a specially formulated bio stimulant that increases nutrient retention, rooting and general plant health , resulting in a vigorous sward. Activate-R Granules also contains an Enhanced Root Development (ERD) complex which assists root development. We spread both the seed and the Activate R on top of the kiln dried sand before brushing. After that we brushed the sand, seed and Activate R into the holes. It is vital we got the seed and Activate R into the holes to provide the perfect seed bed for the bent seed to grow in. The following link shows our brush in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptICsaX6B_A Following the brushing we applied approximately another 1 tonne of moist sand per green. We followed that with a brush to top the holes up as far as we could, then a cycle of irrigation that night to water the sand in to see how far the sand dropped down the holes. The following day another 1 tonne of moist sand per green was applied and brushed to top the holes right up to the maximum. 75 - 80 tonnes of sand was applied which is over double applied when we have used the Graden (36 tonnes applied). Job done.
The mowers were raised to 5mm for the first few cuts and Silicon (Potassium Silicate) was applied for the following reasons.
All finished we expected the seed to be up in the next 14 - 20 days but with the heavy showers and warm temperatures we actually started to see the first seed emerge after 9 days which is amazing. Two weeks today and the seed seems to be well and truly on the way up, with 85% of the holes recovered. Expectedly the greens are slow in pace due to the Activate R biostimulant granules. Its a fine balancing act weighing up which product to use. we are looking for a speedy recovery whilst keeping the pace reasonable. Height of cut will be brought down over the next few days to try and gain a little more speed but be aware we need to give the seed as much chance as possible to establish so keeping the height of cut at reasonable height is imperative. A few pictures below showing the work that was carried out and the recovery.
So first of all we scarified the greens in two directions with a 1.6mm blade, 40mm apart and to a depth of 8mm. This will help us remove some of the surface fibre/thatch that built up over last winter/spring. As i previously said the Graden work (the linear aeration, the work we carried out last year) removes roughly 12% - 15% of organic matter/thatch where as hollow coring removes approximately 8%. I thought this was a good opportunity for us to try to bridge the gap between the two operations by scarifying. We managed to fill the back of the Kubota RTV 1.5 times per green with the clippings.
Next we hollow cored with a 19mm tine, 50mm deep at 75mm spacings. We collected the cores with a core harvester which we had to hire in. The link shows the core harvester in action but on a fairway not a green but exactly the same machinery and principle as we used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdBw-qYBaNg
The top dressing came next. 2 tonnes per green of kiln dried sand was spread out with out Dakota top dresser. We used the same set up as shown in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUfEmZROQzI . We then over sowed with Rigby Taylor R105 Browntop Bent consisting of 2 cultivars. 50% Greenspeed & 50% Egmont then we spread Activate R granules which is a Rooting Biostimulant is a specially formulated bio stimulant that increases nutrient retention, rooting and general plant health , resulting in a vigorous sward. Activate-R Granules also contains an Enhanced Root Development (ERD) complex which assists root development. We spread both the seed and the Activate R on top of the kiln dried sand before brushing. After that we brushed the sand, seed and Activate R into the holes. It is vital we got the seed and Activate R into the holes to provide the perfect seed bed for the bent seed to grow in. The following link shows our brush in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptICsaX6B_A Following the brushing we applied approximately another 1 tonne of moist sand per green. We followed that with a brush to top the holes up as far as we could, then a cycle of irrigation that night to water the sand in to see how far the sand dropped down the holes. The following day another 1 tonne of moist sand per green was applied and brushed to top the holes right up to the maximum. 75 - 80 tonnes of sand was applied which is over double applied when we have used the Graden (36 tonnes applied). Job done.
The mowers were raised to 5mm for the first few cuts and Silicon (Potassium Silicate) was applied for the following reasons.
- The silica helps strengthen cell wall tissue
- Improved turgidity leads to increased ball speed and roll on golf greens
- Uniform mowing cut and appearance is achieved
- Enhances moisture utilization
All finished we expected the seed to be up in the next 14 - 20 days but with the heavy showers and warm temperatures we actually started to see the first seed emerge after 9 days which is amazing. Two weeks today and the seed seems to be well and truly on the way up, with 85% of the holes recovered. Expectedly the greens are slow in pace due to the Activate R biostimulant granules. Its a fine balancing act weighing up which product to use. we are looking for a speedy recovery whilst keeping the pace reasonable. Height of cut will be brought down over the next few days to try and gain a little more speed but be aware we need to give the seed as much chance as possible to establish so keeping the height of cut at reasonable height is imperative. A few pictures below showing the work that was carried out and the recovery.
| Just out of interest it would be interesting to see which operation you thought caused us the least amount of disruption and which was less invasive. Hollow Coring - is the work we have just undertaken (as shown in previous blogs) Graden - is the work we carried out over the previous 4 years (there is a short video on youtube if you are not sure what it looks like and pictures in one of my previous blogs). |
Other News
Not much to report here apart from the usual cutting regime. Our last application of PGR (plant growth regulators) will be going out this week prior to the bank holiday weekend. Whilst i was away on holiday Burnham experienced probably one of the worst rain storms we have had for a while. An immense amount of rain fell in a short period of time as shown in the pictures below. Well done to the team for getting the course playable so quickly.
Not much to report here apart from the usual cutting regime. Our last application of PGR (plant growth regulators) will be going out this week prior to the bank holiday weekend. Whilst i was away on holiday Burnham experienced probably one of the worst rain storms we have had for a while. An immense amount of rain fell in a short period of time as shown in the pictures below. Well done to the team for getting the course playable so quickly.
Thank you very much for you patience and cooperation during out maintenance week. The closure of 9 holes each day worked really well. it allowed us to finish the works quicker than expected. Once again thank you.
Best regards Lee & Greenkeeping Team
Best regards Lee & Greenkeeping Team