From the Golf Course
As you know we were scheduled to aerate the South golf course this week. Due to the light showers yesterday morning and the heavy rain last night we will not be able to finish that work this week.
Currently all of the greens have been aerated and 12 of those have been topdressed; fairways 1 - 11 are complete and tees 1-9 are complete. Our plan now is to finish the South on Monday and Tuesday of next week and then start on the North course as planned on the 17th of September.
If you have an interest as to why we aerate go to this web site and watch the video illustrating why aeration is so important to a golf course.
http://www.usga.org/turf/articles/educational_video_clips.html
The video also illustrates different procedures done, many of which we incorporate into our programs here at DMGCC. We are sorry for the delay in our plan but Mother Nature has thrown us a curve ball once again.
For your home yards you should also be thinking about core aeration and benefits that you receive by doing it. You need to pull the cores and leave them lay on the surface of your yard. You can try to mulch them once they dry. You are accomplishing a couple of things by doing this; first you are relieving compaction and allowing for the important exchange of gases in the root zone. Second by allowing the cores to breakdown you are incorporating this soil into the thatch zone. In that soil there are millions of tiny soil microbes that eat on the thatch and help to keep it at a very manageable level. Keep in mind that with any aeration you are bringing up weed seeds with that soil, but in the fall of the year they will still germinate but the first frost usually kills those young weeds. Make sure that if you are aerating, you have plans for a crab grass pre-emergent next spring.
Rick Tegtmeier,CGCS
