Greens Maintenance - The Pro's and Con's



Tine Holes

Organic Matter Accumulation 

Why doing nothing ultimately has detrimental effects and costs money….

Fibre (thatch), building up in the surface and  / or rootzone ultimately leads to a number of negative consequences and their effect is far reaching, here are some, but not all of the issues related to organic matter accumulation….

 Excess surface fibre leads to the plants root system being concentrated in the surface of the sward (Bridged Rooting). As such it is susceptible to environmental stress from water-logging or droughting out, so the grass cover suffers leading to a poor playing surface. These roots are also inefficient at nutrient uptake and so fertiliser longevity is compromised once the nutrient has moved past the surface roots. This leads to ‘light switch’ tendencies, i.e one minute the surfaces look fine, the next, they are yellowing off / thinning.
 Excess surface fibre will swell when wet and effectively ‘cap’ the surface reducing water movement from the surface to the rootzone below. This manifests itself as a soft surface, prone to foot-printing and also puddling / flooding after low amounts of rainfall, so more course / ground closures due to reduced playability.
 Increased pathogen activity – This costs money plain and simple, as a wetter, more stress-susceptible surface, is a calling card for Fusarium, Dollar Spot, Anthracnose Foliar Blight, Anthracnose Basal Rot, Fairy Ring, Thatch Collapse, Plant Pathogenic Nematodes to name but a few. All of these require treatment with expensive fungicides that cost upwards of £600 per hectare per application.
Stress is also increased due to a decrease in the actual mowing height because the mower sits down in the thatch surface and so instead of cutting at a bench-setting of 4mm, you may actually be cutting at <2mm. This puts the plant under more stress and heightens issues on the turf related to stress.