Strippers Bare All on the Greens...

I am not sure what you were expecting to see, but I am talking about stripping the thatch layer off of Greens in preparation for Mini Verde sprigs in less than two weeks. Our process evolved as the week progressed with our initial plan of a Deep Tine Aerification, followed by a double aerification using a 5/8" tine, then aggressively verticutting to remove as much thatch as possible, and finally rolling to smooth the surface. Everything was going great until we began verticutting and literally chunks of our 5/8" thick mat of thatch were coming up and other sections were still intact. After lengthy discussions about the cause and what to do going forward, we decided it was best to completely remove the entire thatch layer with a Sod Cutter and shovels.

Here is a picture of the sunrise that greeted us on Tuesday morning and we thought we were in store for a great week.

As the sun crested the horizon we began our process of deep tining to alleviate any layering within the soil profile that could create drainage issues over time. We used a tine that was 3/4" X 10" on 4" centers. Here is the machine on #1 Green.

Once the above process was finished on a green we began our double aerification of Greens using the Toro ProCore 648 with a Turfpride Core Collector, this combination may be the biggest improvement in our industry in many years. We used a 5/8" inside diameter tine on 2" centers, but going two directions allowed us to effectively remove 31% of the thatch layer. Our staff is aerifying #1 Green the second direction in the picture below.

For optimal effectiveness we try to offset our second direction by 35 degrees. Here is a picture of the greens after the deep tine and two directions of aerification.

Once we reached this process we rolled the Greens with our Salsco Roller and then used a 3 ton steel drum roller to firm the surface as we were about to verticut the remaining thatch layer. When we began the verticutting process our goal was to remove as much of the material as possible without have any voids in the thatch layer. The voids would create a large variation in the playability of the Greens as certain areas might be firmer or softer than other areas. Here is Zach Abernathy verticutting #3 Green, this is where we decided we have to do something drastic to fix the issue for the short and long term.

Our solution, strip the sod with a Sod Cutter and let all see the Greens while they are completely bare of a thatch layer. This was a very grueling task as we measured the weight of several 1 square foot areas and the average weight per area was 20 ounces. This does not seem like much but when you multiply that by 117,000 square feet, our staff shoveled 234,000 pounds of thatch off of the greens. This will allow is to begin the renovation process with 100% of the thatch removed, which is the most ideal situation for our club and the Greens for the future. Here is #13 Green prior to running the Sod Cutter.

Here is a photo of the same Green approximately halfway through using the Sod Cutter to separate the thatch layer from the original sand/peat mix that will encompass the Green and Tournament Collar.

Here is our staff shoveling the material during the clean up process, it took on average 1.8 man hours per 1000 square feet to clean up and haul the material away.

Once the material was removed we used our verticutter to smooth any flaws in the surface prior to rolling the Green. The verticutter was set at 1/8" below the surface to aid in soften the surface. Here is Tim Murdock on #13 Green.

We finished off the process by using a 3 ton vibratory steel drummed roller that we rented. This will smooth and compact the surface to ensure there is no settling once the sprigs are in place and we have begun the grow in process.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog and we hope that we did not disappoint you by the title of today' blog. Remember, you can never judge a blog by its title. Please feel free to ask any questions and we will continue to update our Twitter account @WindermereTurf daily so feel free to follow us on there.