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Matt Vandelac

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Heat and Compacted Soil
« on: July 10, 2012, 05:57:23 PM »
At a Minnesota golf course, a natural gas pipeline went through the course. Consequently, there are 100' wide paths of highly compacted soil going through three fairways. The turf is not growing in these areas. We have purchased and Aerway with shatter and straight tines and plan to use them to release the compaction in order bolster the turf growth. My question is, can this take place in the extreme heat that we have been seeing? Any suggestions?

Randy Thompson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Heat and Compacted Soil
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2012, 10:18:53 PM »
Matt,
My two cents, the heat shouldn´t make much difference, obviously fall is the ideal time. The soil could dry out a little quicker so it will have to be watched but if there is not much grass there now it won´t make a difference. Hope there planning to get some new soil into the holes if not you may have limited results. If your always having problems with growing grass it could be more involved than just compaction. During construction we have a common problems of haul roads for greens construction and filling bunkers with sand. Aerifying after, usually is not enough and neither is rotatilling. We have started stripping these areas and adding new soil once construction is completed. The problem is that the soil structure that was formed over some million years has been destroyed and aerifying doesn´t restore it. Good luck!