We're Getting There......

After a winter that seemed never ending, we are finally starting to feel seasonal temperatures.  This week, we completed greens aeration.  From what I've gathered, its been due for a while.  Weather forced us to cancel it last fall, and almost put us back again this spring, but we made it through without issues.  With the rain on Monday, 4/29, we were able to feed the greens with a granular quick-release fertilizer to help them recover from the scheduled aeration..
This spring we aerated greens with a 3/8 inch diameter hollow tine on a quad-tine block.  This doubles the amount of cores pulled to help give more of the benefits gained from aeration.
After the greens were aerated, and topdressed, some bulk amendments (calcium and potassium based products) were added to amend the soils.  Soil tests revealed that the average pH of our greens was at 5.2.
When the soil pH is in that range(low, very acidic), many nutrients become locked in the soil, and are unavailable to the plant.  I plan to manage the pH at around 5.8 to 6.0.  This will help free up nutrients, and help our greens perform a bit better through the stresses of the season.  It may help them "wake up" a bit faster in the spring as well.  To raise the pH I have put together a program of calcium and magnesium based products that will get the reading up to where I want it to be.
You will start to see us running the irrigation system more now that we have aerated.  All of those tiny open holes coupled with the warm, low-humidity weather will really dry the greens out quickly.  You may see us watering with the overhead sprinklers, and hand watering with the hoses several times a day.  This is normal during the aeration recovery process.
While working with the hand watering crew today, I snapped this picture of number 16.
      

Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate.
Thanks,
Chad