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Deeper penetration relieves compaction Pontarddulais Bowls Club and Graig Merthyr Bowls Club share the same Council-owned green in Swansea. The green there has seen around 90 years of play and until early in 2018 had always been free draining, with regular treatment such as Vertidraining, although it had become noticeable the green was changing. Built on shale, the gradual compaction was taking its toll. Club Treasurer Bryan Gillard remembers watching what happened to the green when it rained heavily. “The green was filling with water and after the heavy showers it remained quite sodden and unplayable. It seemed no amount of work could get it back into shape.” This left 50 or so members without playing facilities until it dried out. Bryan invited specialist aeration company Terrain Aeration to advise on the situation. It became immediately clear that much deeper aeration was needed than the usual Vertidraining, to relieve the compaction and
panning beneath the surface. Terrain Aeration’s deep penetration aeration system uses their Terralift machine to drive a probe one metre deep into the soil, through the compaction, where it releases a blast of compressed air, fracturing the soil. On the tail end of the air blast dried seaweed is injected, which sticks to the walls of the fissures. This is finished with the probe hole being filled with porous Lytag aggregate and topped with the usual top dressing. Here the seaweed will remain, swelling and contracting with the moisture in the soil, maintaining the aeration, drainage and allowing oxygen to get to the roots. In some instances water-storing polymers may also be added with the seaweed. The process is repeated over a staggered grid every two metres to ensure the fissures are fully interlinked. The result is immediate and vastly improved draining, allowing play to commence straight away.
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Great condition all year Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Berkshire, Goring and Streatley Golf Club offers a testing 18 holes over a half downland and half parkland course. Despite the challenges this brings to Course Manager, Matt Aplin and his team, when it comes to maintenance, the greens are renowned for being fast, true and in great condition all year round. The combination of a Redexim Carrier and Verti-Drain 1513 from Charterhouse Turf Machinery is the latest weapon in Matt’s armoury to improve the greens, tees and approaches even further. “Though we have quite a large machinery fleet, we only have one tractor” explains Matt, who heads up a team of six greenkeepers. “This meant when it came to greens maintenance, if we were using the tractor to hollow tine, we then couldn’t topdress on the same day as the tractor was tied
up. Fundamentally this restricted us being able to conduct some operations, especially aeration, as much as we’d like to.” Matt spoke to his local dealer Lister Wilder, who demonstrated a number of power unit and aerator combinations. “With a lot of the competitor machines, the aerator was limited to 4” penetration depths, whereas the Verti-Drain could go down to 6”, making a big difference to root depths, along with creating heave.” As well as easing the strain on the club’s tractor, another key factor for the purchase was to use a lighter weight unit on the greens. “It’s simple to use, safer being outside the cab and more efficient than navigating the tractor with a heavy spiker on the back.”
Turf Matters | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2018 | 43