“One key advantage is to aerate at depth without excessive surface disruption”
Dr Tim Lodge Agrostis Turf Consultancy
www.agrostis.co.uk
CONVENTIONAL deep aeration methods are often very disruptive to turf surfaces. If the level of disruption is felt to be tolerable, then the window of opportunity with regard to soil conditions when the operation may most appropriately be carried out is usually very much reduced. This is often a significant limiting factor. Air injection as a means of achieving an aeration effect on turf has been developed over the last 20 years or so. One key advantage is the ability to aerate at depth without excessive surface disruption. The systems developed by Terrain Aeration probably represent the most deeply- acting forms of aeration that can be performed on intact turf surfaces. As such, they can be extremely beneficial. The period when the work can be performed is also much greater than many conventional aeration methods. Indeed, good results can be achieved at almost any time of year. Aeration of turf is almost always a
good thing but it is useful to distinguish between drainage and aeration effects. Drainage is the rate and manner in which excess water is removed from the soil. What I refer to as aeration is the restructuring of the soil to bring about more deeply rooting grasses and hence healthier turf. Deep air injection can achieve results in both these areas. Drainage may sometimes be improved by the simple act of perforating, with the probe, an impermeable layer within the soil profile that may be unreachable using conventional equipment. The compressed air injection brings about a soil restructuring, or aeration effect, over a much wider area around this. In most cases, this too will improve drainage but the key advantage is the formation of macropores (air spaces) within the soil structure. It is surprising how many turf problems can be attributed to deep compaction and which can be alleviated in this way.
Considering the use of this method on golf greens, the one area of practical concern, and there is perhaps only one, is the occasional tendency for the treatment to produce a slight mounding effect as the turf level is raised around the point of probe penetration. This can sometimes be sufficient, at close mowing heights, to cause scalping of the turf by the mower, an effect that can be quite long lasting. The best solution would be to insert the probe at closer spacings. This will cause the fluctuations in surface levels to be less as the whole surface will be raised more uniformly. By this means, the structure of a very large volume of soil will be improved, but this may be a rather too costly option. The other solution is to lower the extent of the blast of air that is delivered with each penetration. This will reduce the extent of the aeration effect, but is readily achievable with Terrain’s equipment.
HENRY BECHELET S.T.R.I. Email:
info@stri.co.uk
I saw this form of
aeration at Grimsby golf club and was really
impressed. It’s an
incredibly good way of relieving deep comp- action, although
the situation at Grimsby was extreme. I would recommend this form of aeration in a specific situation where the relief of deep-seated compaction would improve drainage. You have to balance the advantages with a certain element of surface disturbance.
NOEL MACKENZIE Sports Turf Consulting Email:
nm@sportsturfconsulting.co.uk
Deep compressed air aeration equipment has been around for a long time and it certainly has a part to play. Potentially yes, I would recommend it in circum-
stances where there is
compaction at depth, or a pan below the normal operating depth.
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