Wood Bay Turf Technology – woodbayturftech.com
We all know that Verticutting and/or Aerating are the necessary secrets to outstanding turf. However, it is so time, labor and intrusive on a course that it’s often put off until absolutely necessary – and unfortunately, sometimes skipped all together.
This article is not about doing away with Verticutting, it is a must-do maintenance practice, but there are some methods to improve turf in-between verticutting or aeration coring.
Extreme Verticutting with a blade is all about deep dethatching. However, it also provides:
- Grass roots better access to oxygen, water, nutrients and less compaction.
- Water conservation by allowing moisture a better path to reach the roots.
- Fertilization is much more efficient for this same reason.
- Prepares turf for much stronger overseeing and quicker germination.
- Is key to improving the overall health and strength of your turf.
- Removing thatch helps reduce insects, diseases and removes debris in your turf.
Alternative to Verticutting
Despite those proven benefits, deep blade verticutting is a huge undertaking. A faster, much less invasive approach is a high speed mechanical rake. Using a tractor with a 3-point hitch or even a ATV Quad, a multi-tine spring loaded rake can quickly pull up plenty of thatch – wet or dry to improve turf quality and visual aesthetics.
Using the tractor hydraulic adjustments or even the fine adjustments on the rake itself, the operator can easily go from a deep dethatching to a light lift of turf grass surfaces. Much of these exact same benefits from a deep Verticutting can be achieved to a slightly lesser extent with regular raking – saving you time, money and delaying the need for deep Verticutting:
- Grass roots better access to oxygen, water, nutrients and less compaction.
- Water conservation by allowing moisture a better path to reach the roots.
- Fertilization is much more efficient for this same reason.
- Prepares turf for much stronger overseeing and quicker germination.
- Is key to improving the overall health and strength of your turf.
- Removing thatch helps reduce insects, diseases and removes debris in your turf.
A considerable point to note – Because of the high speed raking behind a tractor or quad, mechanical turf raking can be done in a fraction of the time and with virtually no impact on immediate play. Another major advantage of mechanical raking is the application and spreading of top dressing. The vibrating tines do wonders on lifting the grass and getting those materials down into the grass.
For those of you that are with Park districts that oversee the turf at public parks or especially sports fields, a single large mechanical rake with spring loaded tines can cross over to virtually ALL sports surfaces as seen with these points below:
- Quickly break up and rake dirt surfaces such as baseball and softball fields. Pulling a smoothing mat behind the rake can accomplish TWO tasks in one single pass.
- Synthetic turf absolutely must be raked to pull up the rubber in-fill that compacts over time. It restores the G-Max rating that can lead to a field being disqualified from sports use.
- Lifts compacted turf grass from overuse to help prepare for more effective mowing on sports fields such as soccer, football, lacrosse or other event venues.
- For those properties that are affected by flood plain issues, or even very heavy rains, a mechanical rake can help lift those grass stems from compaction and better mowing.
In fact, professional sports are deeply invested in both deep blade verticutting and mechanical rakes. Teams such as the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, and Cleveland Browns all use them. Baseball too, the Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, LA Dodgers are just a few of the teams that are maintaining their fields this way as well as many professional Soccer teams around the country and world.
At the next level down, top college programs in all sports are maintaining their sports fields with this combination of equipment. Overseas, many of the major sports venues such as Wembley Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground and Commonwealth Stadium to name a few other sports taking advantage of verticutting and mechanical raking. Even Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby do both verticutting and raking of their turf and dirt tracks.
Wherever you find top grounds professionals who are responsible for impeccable turf conditions, you will find verticutting and mechanical raking as mainstays in the pursuit of top turf health.
Verticutting Blade Tips
The blade is important . . . Make sure that the blade is fitted to work with your OEM heads. Blades can be found to fit any of the major mower products from a variety of manufactures.
Blades should be of a high quality steel, with tungsten carbide tips for durability and long use. They don’t wear down to keep your cutting depths consistent. Blades with side vents will help clean-up and raking of thatch after verticutting.
A good practice is to retrofit an older mower into a dedicated verticut mower. It will save a lot of time and money to have that piece of equipment on-hand with blades mounted and set to go to work.
Step by Step Verticutting
- Don’t fertilize for 45+ days before verticutting. Fertilizer will add to the thatch through growth and you want less thatch to remove. Mechanical raking before deep blade verticutting will help this as well.
- Damp soil/grass is easier to cut into. Not drenched, but damp is better. Depending on drainage and absorption, irrigation a day or two before verticutting is helpful.
- Mow the grass short before Verticutting. Blow or rake excess cuttings before verticutting will make your verticutting more effective.
- Mark your obstacles. You do NOT want your verticutting blades to roll over a sprinkler head, utility cable lines, yardage markers or other hard items. Mark them with some white powder such as flour or field chalk that can be washed away by rain or irrigation.
- Set your blades – Both in depth depending on your turf thickness and how far apart. Usually 1” to 3” depending on how compacted and the type of turf you are verticutting.
- Verticut – Typically in two directions. If you go North | South the first pass, then go East | West on the second pass.
- Rake the thatch up – Once again, a mechanical rake behind a tractor or quad will help this process greatly or a large mechanical leaf blowers can also speed this process along.
- Apply fertilizer – This is the very best time to apply fertilizer to the turf that has been opened up from the blades.
- Turn on the irrigation to soak the fertilizer down into the roots.
- Congrats – You are on your way to much healthier turf.
Summary
Verticutting or Mechanical Raking to remove the build up of thatch in your grass is absolutely necessary for strong healthy turf.
When to verticut is largely up to the geographic area your course or park district is found. Fall is typically a good time in the Northern climates as it is good to remove thatch accumulation before the Winter to insure a good Spring growth. In the South you need to time it to coincide with the overseeing and growth periods.
Mechanical raking multiple times a year will always help your grasses stand up, become healthier and mow better.
Author – Lyall Adams
Lyall is the President of Wood Bay Turf Technology with over 30 years of manufacturing turf equipment for the world of golf and sports. They manufacture the world’s leading verticut blades – The dynaBLADE and the highly sought after mechanical rake – the FDS 9200 Turf Dethatcher.
A trusted resource in the turf industry – Their direct manufacture ensures you the lowest prices and best customer service for all of your turf needs.
Contact: www.woodbayturftech.com Phone: 800-661-4942
