This is a big week for us! Friday, our H2B visa staff leaves for the winter. I wish them well as they were a huge part of the team here at HCC this year. We have 5 days to get a lot done and we are going to make the most of it!
Most importantly, we are topdressing greens this morning. The primary reason is to fill the holes we created from last weeks aerification. We used 5/8" tines on 1.5" centers. We apply even more sand that will protect the turf, primarily the crowns, through the winter. The high, cold, dry winds we receive can desiccate the turf. Excess sand helps protect the turf during this time.
After the greens were sanded, we used our deep tine aerifier to penetrate the greens to a 6-7" depth. This helps break up any compacted layers deeper in the green profile. I always believed that this is a great time of year to aerify. As water moves downward, deeper, the freeze/thaw action helps fracture the root zone mix, creating even more pore space for oxygen. This means more roots come spring which means even healthier turf. Deep tine aerification is a crucial component to any greens management plan.
Below, is the end result. A green ready to be "put to bed" for winter. As a recap, we:
1. Fertilized the greens back on October 29.
2. Sprayed the greens with our final fungicide application and preventative snow mold application.
3. Aerified the greens on November 24th.
4. Topdressed the greens and deep tined today, December 1st.
This will ensure healthy greens once they recover from aerification in mid-late spring. Several greens like #2, #16 etc will also be covered later this winter.
