Topdressing

[Mataura Valley]

Will a club with soil based greens who have decided to now topdress after coring and aerating with sand regret it later.I have understood, soil on soil,sand on sand.??

 

[rulie]

Will a club with soil based greens who have decided to now topdress after coring and aerating with sand regret it later.I have understood, soil on soil,sand on sand.??

I'm not a greenkeeper, but do believe that sand topdressing after coring soil greens will help with drainage and dispersion. Others with knowledge will hopefully respond!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

It’s pretty standard in my experience, soil gets compacted which affects drainage and water absorption ( rain runs off rather than going into the ground)

Coring makes holes, sand fills the holes,

It’s a bit messy for a week or so, then it settles

 

[3 jabber]

Normal practice to core and inject sand.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Will a club with soil based greens who have decided to now topdress after coring and aerating with sand regret it later.I have understood, soil on soil,sand on sand.??

Nope won’t regret it

It wil help with drainage , thatching etc

It’s standard practice to do it a couple times of the year

 

[clubchamp98]

Coring is done to take out toxic materials that build up as well.
Dead insects ,dung etc stop water penetrating the green leading to flooding and soft surfaces.
Sand is used to fill the holes but eventually will just mix in with the soil.

Grass will not creep over a hole so the sand helps the roots to grow over the hole.
It’s usually done spring and autumn as the grass must be still growing.
but some courses only do it once now if they get an air2G2 ( fracking machine)

A lot depends on the soil composition and how much compaction there is.

 

[jim8flog]

We do ours when the grass is actively growing (as do most courses in this area) normally April and August. There was a time when it was October but it has been shown that his is too late for the green to recover.

We have traditional greens which were just built on the existing soil and I believe we always use sand mixed with seed.

I would question any club using soil unless they know ehre it comes form as it could be introducing weeds etc

Back in the 80s we had a riddling shed and used to collect the cores for re use by adding in to the mixture.

 

[rulefan]

topdress after coring and aerating with sand

That's what the STRI told us when I was there.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

We do this about twice a year.Over a few years , the difference in green quality and drainage is immense.
Any course that does'nt is asking for their greens to suffer.