As of Wednesday we completed the slicing work in the fairways, and the timing could not have been any better. We received 1 inch of rain yesterday and I would bet that without the holes the water would have just ran off. The ground was so dry that I actually had to change the tines on the Aerator and replace them with a smaller tine. In the pictures above you can see the aerator working and also that we end up with about a 2 inch channel into the ground.
To go along with the coring, and the solid tining in the fairways we are starting to apply our fall fertilizer on the course. As I have stated I want to encourage rooting and recovery from the summer as well as giving the turf some micro nutrients that the soil tests have shown low or lacking. The fertilizer we are applying is a natural based product with essential minor nutrients. The fertilizer is composed of
feather meal, fish meal blood meal, and bone meal. there is some fast releasing Nitrogen in the product as well. All these "meals" tend to smell. I think the it is a great smell. Most fertilizers smell like fertilizer in the traditional sense and applying a more natural product, always seems to make more sense.
Cost is always an issue anymore with the increase in the oil prices the fertilizer prices are going through the roof. It has been very tough this year buying products that have almost triple in cost from last year alone. For the most part I strongly believe in the soil and tissue tests that we have been doing here at Hawks. I have been able to have fairly strong turf running quite a bit leaner on the fertilizer this year. Using the soil testing, I am giving the turf just enough to survive and achieve championship conditions.
In the post this year I have talked about many different factors on the golf course and your yard. All are connected in a way. Too much is usually not good, and too little will most always not be enough. I try to lean on the too little side most of the time. There is a fine line that I walk and when it works everyone has a smile on at the end of the round.
Below is a link to the USGA golf course record. The link show the improtance of fall fertilization
http://www.usga.org/turf/green_section_record/2007/sep_oct/soilfertility.html