Core aerator question

[brantley]

Are the tines(spoons ?) on a rolling core aerator rigidly attached? I am having a hard time seeing how a core 3 inches deep, as I have seen claimed, can be pulled without without ripping out the surrounding soil as the tine comes back out.

 

[pajoube]

The core is rigid and when you move forward you have the 2 to 3 inch core pulling the plug up along with moving the dirt forward a little. It is not as pronounced as you would think, not like a furrow just a slight indent.
PJ

 

[art]

I've used these before on my lawn and sold and demo'd several with sales. Have had to go slower in some soils to keep from moving to much in sandy type conditions.

 

[JimMc]

A good deal of time has been spent by many companies generating the tine geometry and angle they mount on the spool to minimize this situation. Most tine have a curve and the tip in chamfered as well. Of course, many lawns are aerated with a slicing type aerator which cuts a slit rather than pulling a core. And the debate goes on as to which is better.

 

[bubenberg]

aeration can only be done as other posts on this site so aptly have explained by removing some soil (tilling of some sort) so that the plant root has an easier time too grow.

any other device only adds to the compactation other than the slicing methode.

core aeration also as the plugs desintegrate creats the perfect seed bed for new seedlings so multiple passes IN FALL are very much recommended but not two days before your daughters wedding.
good luck

 

[justractors]

Two days prior to any major event may bring the wrath of the Woman down upon you.
Core aerification is a very common practice on golf courses. At the one where I am currently employed we have two Toro aerifiers a Pro Core 440 which is 44" wide and a Pro Core 880 which is 88" wide. Both are pto driven the small one off a Kubota B7500 and the larger off a Kubota L4310. The smaller unit is used on greens and tees and the other on fairways.
We normally aerify every 30 to 45 days depending on the temperature. Plugging when it is too hot places additional stress on the turf. We also verticutt the fairways to a depth of about 3/4" every other week, the tees to a depth of 1/2" every month, and the greens to a depth of about 1" also every month. The fairways are done with verticut reels on a Toro Reel Master 5400D, the tees with verticut reels on a Toro Greens Master 3100, and the greens with a Graden Verticutter/Scarifier.
Immediately after verticutting and core aerating, the greens are top dressed with a special sand mixture to refill the holes for better ball roll. This sand mixture means the reel cutting edges are "toast" for the next couple of days since metal blades fair badly when subjected to a couple of hours of attempting to cut sand. Within a week or so the greens have healed enough and the sand has found it's way through the canopy so the greens look and cut normally again.
Just the machinery to perform these tasks cost about $125,000 and that is only considering one RM5400D (we use two) and one GM3100 (we have four).

Back to the original question, The aerifiers we use have an up and down movement provided by a gear box, pulleys, belts, and arms. They do not go straught up and down because to do so would cause enlongated holes at the top of the turf, Instead they use a movement that allows the top of the hole to remain round and causes the tine to leave the enlongated portion of the hole beneath the surface. It you were to stick your finger into the hole you would feel that the hole is about 1/2" longer at the bottom than at the top. This is based on a 4" hole depth and will vary depending on hole depth.
The "pile on a bunch of blocks" and tow behind units also leave an enlongated hole but are not nearly as predictable as the pto driven style since the hole depth varies a great deal depending on the consistency of the soil and the weight of the blocks.

Sorry about the length of the post but I do like talking about my work.

Of course this is only my humble but well thought out opinion,
Bill

 

[Turfman]

What are your grass varieties and soil conditions? Are you leaving the cores on the tees and fairways?

Thanks, Turfman

 

[justractors]

The fairways and tees are L93 creeping bentgrass (cut at .400") and the greens are Penn A4 creeing bentgrass (right now being cut at .140" and working to get down to .125" by the end of the season). The rough area are all Kentucky Bluegrass cut to a height of 2 1/2". The Penn A4 has never been used this far north before but seems to be doing very well. It is considered an ultra dwarf and as such has a very dense canopy and must be either aerated or verticut often to allow water, oxygen. and topdressing sand to get trough.
The tees and greens were built using USGA specified soil mixtures (about 80% sand to 20% loam) and the fairways are the areas natural mixture.
The aerated cores and verticutting residue area first drug to remove most of the sand, blown into piles with back pack, walk behind, or tractor mounted blowers, and then picked up by hand on the greens and tees or with a Toro Rake-O-Vac on the fairways.

 

[longway5]

The course where I work uses much the same aerating equipment.
We have two Toro aerators, a walk-behind greens aerator and a ProCore 660. We don't use the walk-behind to much anymore, and tend to set the ProCore up on a L3250 and take care of all the greens in two or three days. We really only do full-green aeration once a year, in mid august when we still have many of the summer crew. The plugs are cleaned up with a John Deere TC125 material collection system, which, if used by a competent operator, will leave very little burn marks on the greens. Snow shovels are also used to move the plugs around. The TC125 will leave some fine dirt behind, but since we come back with a heavy application of sand and a product called Profile (a fine ceramic dust that holds moisture), everything gets swept into the green.
We topdress usually every two weeks during the summer with a very fine application which gets swept/watered/mowed into the greens in about two days or so. You're right about the sand having fun with the reels; we hand-mow our greens in the summer, and since we got a new set of mowers this year, the old set has turned into our topdressing set.
As for equipment costs, I'm just glad I get to use the equipment not have to pay for it.

 

[NYTrainer]

Am I correct in assuming that the sand mixture is mainly used to cut down on fungus type lawn diseases? While I always thought a well screened top soil was an ideal seedbed I was told it fosters lawn diseases, especially during hot humid weather. What is in the top dressing? Is it a mix of sand, peat and ?? I'm sure alot of readers find this an interesting topic. I know I do. Thanks.