THATCH- your friend and food for fine grass! T
hatch is only a problem because, in the sterile environment of sportsturf, it does not degrade. Traditional turf management encompasses soil physics and chemistry but almost completely ignores the third element, the soil biology necessary for healthy plant growth. Ignoring soil biology results in thatch which develops because of forced growth caused by excessive chemical inputs, and must be removed by physical means. The simple solution is to add soil biology to your management programme and thatch will be degraded in situ and converted back to plant and microbial food, humus and organic acids - the building blocks of healthy soil soil.
headaches does it give the sports turf manager? It causes disease, dry patch and fairy rings, water
playing surfaces that seem to eat fertiliser, water, fungicides and top dressing.
retention, black layer, poa annua ingress and slow
By Martin Ward, Symbio Dead grass, how many
Traditional physical and chemical solutions cost money
Hollow coring and scarifying needs expensive machines and lots of topdressing. On putting greens the disruption means you lose days of green fee income. To hollow core a hectare of greens and apply 30-60 tonnes of topdressing costs £2,000 - £3,000 per operation and, on championship courses and pay and play courses, many times this sum may be lost when reduced green fee income is taken into account. However, if you have a reasonably well draining rootzone all this work
is unnecessary!
Let us start by looking at the underlying problem. Thatch is made up of dead grass, shoots and roots that build up on the surface, which is usually diluted with top dressing.
This dead vegetable matter is full of the nutrients and trace elements that have been applied to the sward. If you could rip off the thatch layer and compost it you would make nutrient rich compost full of NPK, humus, organic acids and the bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes that make up healthy living soil.
Living soil degrades thatch as it forms. To degrade a build up of thatch quickly and evenly you need two simple ingredients, soil microbes, especially fungi, and air, everything else is provided in your daily management routine. The best form of aeration for thatch degradation is frequent use of small micro tines or a sorrel roller; there is no need to damage the playing surface in any way. Soil fungi need to be added to all but the most naturally managed surfaces.
This can be easily done with a commercial inoculant like Symbio ThatchEater. It is important that the inoculant is fungal dominant because, in the natural environment, fungi degrade the
PRO-FLEX 120
Handle Those Difficult Curves 3.1m cutting widths
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