Over the past week, the Kinloch Golf Club (KGC) maintenance team had the opportunity to verti-cut and top-dress the majority of our bentgrass surfaces (tees and fairways). Late fall is a wonderful time to perform this work because there is almost no stress on our turf. Thus, we can be very aggressive removing and diluting thatch while posing little risk to plant health.
1. What is vertical mowing and what does it accomplish?
When we verticut our turf, we use a machine attached to the back of a tractor. The machine has many knives pointed vertically downward that spin at a high rate of speed. When lowered, the knives cut continuous channels into the turf and underlying soil. The depth of the channels can vary, but for this past application, we cut channels to a depth of 1".
We verti-cut to remove thatch and accumulated organic material. Over time, thatch can create a layer which will hold excessive moisture, affect fertilizers and pesticides and restrict root growth. In the picture below, you can see all the material that has been pulled to the surface. This material needs to be removed on a regular basis. In addition to the plant health benefits of this process, the reduction and dilution of thatch leads to MUCH FIRMER playing surfaces.
Once the fairway or tee is verti-cut, the excess thatch is blown into rows and removed. We blow this material inward toward the center of the fairway to avoid scattering bentgrass in our primary rough. The picture below shows a surface that is being blown and cleaned.
Once the thatch has been removed, we topdress the surface with a clean, well-graded, topdressing sand. For this particular application, we applied about 1,250,000 pounds of sand across 40 acres of tees and fairways. This quantity of sand works out to approximately 700 pounds of sand per 1000 square feet.
After the sand is applied, we use sweeping devices to brush the sand into the canopy AND the freshly cut channels. These channels will grow over on top, but remain intact below the canopy. These channels will allow for water and nutrient infiltration, while promoting effective oxygen levels and gas exchange. Additionally, these channels will promote fresh tillering, more stolons and in general, denser/tighter turf.
As the process is completed, the finished product is clean and will offer minimal disruption to winter golf.
The weather was very cooperative this past week. Tuesday through Friday were sunny and breezy which was ideal for blowing debris and sweeping sand. On Friday night, we received almost 2" of rain which aided tremendously in cleaning any excess sand. The golf course has been mowed out and will be ready for play this coming week. As always, we appreciate our club's commitment to these practices.
Have a safe and happy Holiday Season!!
