Mark’s time at FULFORD
of topdressing on the greens. Where we used to do it several times a year we try and do this just once, or twice, if absolutely necessary.” The greens at Fulford are fairly large and flat averaging 550 square metres in size and are the pushed up soil type. Work begins on the greens mid to late April when they are verticut using thatchaway reels, aerated and topdressed by hand with 70/30-fen peat and kiln dried sand rootzone mix. This is applied at a rate of 1-2 tons per green.
The greens are then dragbrushed and oversown with a bent/fescue seed mixture. They are mown every other day until temperatures and growth rates increase to a level when mowing is required every day to maintain a summer height of cut of 4mm. Greens are mown at 6mm during the winter
months.
The condition of the greens will dictate whether Mark applies any further topdressing materials. None is applied throughout September and October to minimise damage to leaf tissue and to reduce the threat of fusarium attack. The benefits seen from reducing the amount of topdressing are less disease, reduced plant stress and damage from abrasions, together with less damage to bottom blades and the subsequent financial saving in material costs. Greens, tees and fairways are aerated on a two to three week cycle, varying the type and size of tines used. A combination of aeration machinery is used throughout the year. The main aeration aids are the VertiDrain, John Deere Aercore and SISIS Slitters. The greens aeration programme has
changed very little during Mark’s time - they are solid tined to a depth of 150mm every three weeks throughout the playing season and, come autumn, are deep slit or vertidrained to a depth of 300mm. For the past five years Mark has used a HydroJet aerator during the summer months which has proved to be very effective during drought conditions. This, in turn, has helped improve the efficiency of watering during the summer months.
The staff spend a lot of time walking
the greens inspecting for weed disease and repairing foot marks and pitch marks. The greens get a lot of verticutting throughout the year with the aim of keeping thatch to a level below 2mm. During the winter the greens are fed with a low dose of nitrogen liquid fertiliser and a dose of
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