Summer Stress

Here in Senatobia it was very hot for a number of weeks.  To add to the the heat, we had not received any measurable rainfall for over a month.  The heat and drought stress was beginning to take its toll on the course. Our irrigation system works well, but is limited in coverage.  Without a rain event every couple weeks at the least, grass begins to turn brown and die in the areas without irrigation.

The greens have good irrigation coverage, but no amount of irrigation water will take the place of a good rain shower.  The greens were beginning to show signs of drought and heat stress a few weeks ago.  I was irrigating as much as possible, but there were still areas of the greens that remained dry.  I decided to punch some holes into the surface of the greens to provide channels for air and water movement.

We first used needle tines.  These tines worked great and I liked the results, but they kept breaking.  We used 40 tines on four greens.... a waste of time and money with those tines.  I needed another option.

 Here are the results of the needle tines:












I decided to try some 0.25" solid tines instead of the needle tines.  These tines were much stronger and we were able to finish the rest of the greens without a single failure.

Solid 0.25" Tines:

The big questions is... Did I get the results I was after?  Yes, I think that the greens responded great to the solid tine aeification.  We had four days of 100+ degree weather with a low humidity and southern winds.  The greens took water easily and I had very few dry spots.  The other concern I had and I know golfers had... Was there a negative effect on ball roll?  Yes, the greens were bumpy for about 5 days.  I did notice that the ball still rolled true, but it did bounce a little on the way to the hole.  I think that putting was only hindered for those few days and I did not notice any drop in green speed.  I think that is a small price to pay for the added benefits of air and water movement into the the soil profile.