Verticut and Overseed Bentgrass Putting Green

[@jamesmasanja1963]

Thanks again from Tanzania 🇹🇿 ❤️ ❤️

[@slowmo110]

That kid is going to have a great lawn when he grows up.. 😎 great video

[@ReelTurf]

Glad you enjoyed it! He’s pretty great!

[@JeffSmith-eq3kc]

Interesting! Hope your summer this year has gone alright. Been crazy hot and humid here in MD but I actually had a rather peaceful summer without many issues. My fringes struggled mightily though. Mightily. I actually dug up the entire fringe and seeded it today. Going pure rye this time, no bluegrass. Very strange because my bluegrass chipping areas did great. Always something!

[@chosen1one930]

You should always collect bentgrass clippings. If you dont your grass grows to fast and recieves extra nitrogen which can cause a shit ton of problems

[@ReelTurf]

I agree you should always collect the clippings on a green. I always do. I didn’t in this video to allow viewers to see what the verticutter does.

[@chosen1one930]

@@ReelTurf yes these do technically verticut but very minimal. These are called groomer reels. Made to cut horizontal grass blades and stand grass up while removing very little thatch. Verticutting removes a lot more thatch, generally we areate and do a deep verticutting at the same time twice a year. When we verticut every other week we use the groomers first to make sure grass is standing up not a major problem with the newer cultivar like A-4 bentgrass than than do a light verticutting 1/16 of a inch to 1/8th and a light top dressing. We areate with solid tines 1/8th every month during summer, and hydrojet once a month which is areation with compressed water. Vertidrain every early spring

[@Diego-mc2go]

Great video, man. Love seeing the kiddo helping out too!

[@ReelTurf]

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. He’s pretty great! Loves to mow!

[@dlandes14]

Man I'm really happy to see your green doing so well. I have an area I want to try to grow some bent grass and it's between two fences kind of like how yours is set up. I keep reading online how you should pick an area free of obstructions (fences etc) for better air flow but to see how well yours is doing it gives me confidence

[@ReelTurf]

It works but it’s definitely challenging. The big dead spot I have at the end of the green near the gate is because of no air flow. The fence with the gate is on the south side and the winds blow from the south. That fence is double slatted so no air flows. I think I get away with it because I’m in Texas and we stay pretty dry in terms of humidity and rain. If you are in a northern climate, I think this setup would be detrimental. It takes air to keep the leaf blades dry and combat disease. This is why you often see material stating to build greens in open spaces. It’s also hard to keep my edges watered without the sprinklers washing all over the house and fence. Wide open, if available, is the way to go.

[@dlandes14]

@@ReelTurf appreciate the insight! The area I'm going to try in is open at both ends and the fences are only 4 ft tall with gaps between slats. It's honestly a fairly small area behind my fence that's currently just a weed riddled patch. I've burned it off with round up and thought it would be a decent area to sort of test out to see if it's something I can manage before I try to put one in my actual yard which is in really good shape compared to years past. I'll keep following your journey. I've already learned so much! Thanks for the content!

[@ReelTurf]

Glad it’s been helpful. Good luck!

[@patrickandcourtneyl1348]

Just found your videos. Beautiful putting green! Getting ready to try my hand at it. One of the best parts of your videos is watching your little helper imitate Dad. Enjoy these times while their young, even though it can be a challenge...got two myself.

[@ReelTurf]

Hey there! Welcome! I’ve really enjoyed the putting green. I’m looking forward to it getting even better this year. I cherish every moment with my little guys. I love having them by my side in everything I do.

[@JiPaLa78]

How often do you rain your green in the week in summer? Greatings from Germany

[@ReelTurf]

Hello! It depends on the weather temperatures there. In Texas during summer we are often 100*F - 110*F during summer. I turn on my irrigation for 8 minutes at night. I also would run cooling cycles during the day for 1 minute each at 11:30a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those were the hottest times on the putting green during the day. You do not want to soak the green in the heat of day or you will create disease. It becomes like a boiling pot of water if you do that. Just a simple short cool down cycle can lower the temperatures on the leaf blades 20* quickly and safely.

[@BussKITT]

Where and how do I get that roller

[@ReelTurf]

Hello! I added a link to it in the description for you. Enjoy!

[@fifthcircle1]

That's it, I'm switching to C4 for fertilizer. LOL!!! I started looking for a SunJoe dethatcher/scarifier a little late I guess. They're all sold out, or marked up a lot more that what I thought they were selling for ($150...not $250!???). I wish my Jacobsen had a scarifier of some sort. Oh well. Too late to overseed for me now. I'm up in Nebraska. A few days of highs that hit 80 left, but it's down in the 50's and 40's at night already. Maybe next year.

[@ReelTurf]

C4 definitely gives the yard a boost 💪🏻. It’s interesting that the SunJoe machine keeps being a popular topic. Verticutting and dethatching are two completely different applications. A verticutter has carbide blades that are very sharp and make a clean cut to stimulate more growth. Whereas dethatching and scarifying is more of a power rake that removes dead thatch material. You would never want to use a machine like that on low cut turf. Those rake tines cause a lot of damage and are used primarily on high cut lawns like fescue. Low cut turf doesn’t generate a lot of thatch material like higher cut turf will. In higher cut cool season lawns, I can see this machine helping remove the thatch material to allow seed to get to the soil. Your temps are quite a bit cooler than us right now. We’re still hitting 90* some days and our nights are in the 60s.

[@jasont9045]

I’d let the area by the back fence grow into a fringe. That heavy mower turning that grass is damaging. The other side of the green you have more room to turn the mower beyond the green. I know golf courses have struggles with collars. Idk my 2 cents. Great video!

[@ReelTurf]

You’re absolutely right about the mower tearing up the collars. I can’t even get grass to germinate there for whatever reason. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. That’s why I think there must be some weird disease in the soil. Something that propiconazole doesn’t seem to phase. I need to do some in depth soil tests there and figure out what’s going on. Another subscriber used to work for a golf course superintendent and he thought it was poor airflow. I still think that is likely it since our winds blow from the south and the fence is double slatted and blocks the wind there.

[@plettskiproductionschristm4132]

Nice Video! What type of bentgrass seed do you recommend? Also, If I don't want to get a roller, can I just run the greensmaster without the blades engaged to roll it?

[@ReelTurf]

Glad you enjoyed it! My putting green is Pure Select Creeping Bentgrass. At the time that was all I could get in low quantity. It scores well in the NTEP trials (National Turf Evaluation Program). If I were to do another one I would be looking for 007 or 777. You can use the greensmaster to roll the surface but it won’t have the same effect as a roller. A roller weighs several hundred pounds where an entire greensmaster may weigh less than 200lbs but it’s so balanced that you’re not getting that weight directly down on the ground. For a small green, the greensmaster is fine but my 550sqft green and larger I would recommend a roller if possible.

[@chosen1one930]

Its creeping bentgrass never overseed, the turf heals itself and thats why golf courses never overseed unless you lose large patches of grass

[@ReelTurf]

Perhaps it’s my bent variety combined with the low amount of direct sunlight but mine doesn’t creep very well. I understand that a golf course doesn’t do this while they are maintaining a green daily. Under ideal conditions of mowing frequency, fertility program, and full sun all day, greens recover very rapidly. I lost the entire left side of my green the previous year due to an irrigation failure. This is why I’ve had to help fill it in. If I overseed the green at all, it’s been once a year in the fall.

[@chosen1one930]

@@ReelTurf you should invest in better cultivars of bentgrass, Penn G bentgrasses are more shade tolerant, 007 bentgrass can have round up sprayed directly onto the grass and it wont die but everything else like bermuda weeds etc will die. 007 bentgrass comes in seed, its called a SUPER BENT since this were all created by man and from some of the best bent grass in the world

[@chosen1one930]

@@ReelTurf New ultradwarf Zoysia grasses are all the rage now, performing better than some Bentgrass and Bermuda greens, Laser, Primo and 2 others have been already converted over on some of the best golf courses.

[@chosen1one930]

@@ReelTurf Trinity, Primo, Prizm and Laser are the new ultradwarf cultivars for greens or really anywhere, fairwats, tees and lawns

[@ReelTurf]

I’ve always liked 007/777. I purchased 007 to renovate my backyard and repair the left side of the green I lost. However I later determined it was substituted with a variety called Focus. It is nowhere near the same as 007. That was extremely frustrating! Focus didn’t rate well in the NTEP trials either. I had a very difficult time getting that stuff to germinate. I’ve always thought if I build another green I might do 777. The resistance to roundup of 007 is intriguing as we commonly have Bermuda grass here. I would assume that must be used at a very low rate?

[@Joshua-xj4go]

Is bentgrass not aggressive enough that you need to overseed? I thought it was the Bermuda of cool season turf

[@ReelTurf]

Bentgrass is probably a lot more aggressive in cool season areas. I'm in West Texas with temps that reach upwards of 110* in the summer. The bent is really on a fine line of dormancy in those conditions so it doesn't creep aggressively in those conditions. I truthfully do not need to overseed every year. It's just something I like to do. It improves my putting surface quality each season. Bentgrass certainly doesn't spread aggressively like hybrid bermuda does in the heat. Not here any ways.

[@caseymac2287]

Your green looks great! This makes me excited to see mine next year. I just got my andersons 10-10-10 and fungicide. Keep em coming!

[@ReelTurf]

Thanks! Good luck with the grow in!

[@deltah2o982]

Thanks 4 the info! How long do you wait to mow after overseeding ?

[@ReelTurf]

With the putting green, I can only let it grow out for about a week. Even then I’ll raise the height of cut to .1600” up from .1560” I know that may seem ridiculous that 4 thousandths make a difference but they absolutely do at that height. I mowed for a week at .1600” then another week at .1580” and now I’m back to .1560”. Now if this is just a home lawn you could probably go a couple of weeks without mowing. Bent doesn’t seem to care at higher heights.

[@deltah2o982]

Thanks. I just recently put in a true putt creeping bluegrass putting green and overseeded 8 days ago. I think I'll mow today. I was mowing it at 3/8". With the new growth I'll probably have to mow at 3/4. Does that sound about right ?

[@ReelTurf]

Truthfully you should be fine at 1/2. Bentgrass is very comfortable will low heights of cut. I would start there and work your way back down. Assuming you have a front roller, mow at 1/2- it cuts and pushes the grass blades over. If it’s still looking fuzzy, lower your height and mow again. Stay after it until you’re able to return to 3/8 within a week. Of course use your common sense, if it’s not looking or feeling right back off.

[@ReelTurf]

I just noticed you’re talking about creeping bluegrass... I still think what I said above will hold true. Let me know how it goes!

[@kentfallin5296]

What bent grass seed are you using, and where do you get it? I’m in East Texas (Tyler) and I’m curious if I could get away with it all year like you do.

[@nickc2124]

Another awesome video! Is the verticutter what Toro is calling their “groomer”? Or is that something different? Do you always cut with the verticutter engaged or do you turn it off/raise it up so it’s not contacting the grass?

[@ReelTurf]

Yes, groomer is often what people call it. Toro makes several grooming attachments in brushes and a verticutter. When the attachment is on, it’s always engaged when the reel is spinning. The reel drives the pulley system on the verticutter. The verticutter has some pivot points that allow you to lift it up to keep it from contacting the grass. It has the depth adjustments on the sides that you see me move in this video along with two bolts on the side that allow it to be deep or raised. If you think about it, I’m cutting at -1/8 below 0 when it is lowered. To keep it from hitting the concrete when I set the mower down, I raise it back up. This isn’t something you want to leave on and mow with all of the time. It also changes the bedknife angle to a far more aggressive cut than you would normally mow with.

[@chosen1one930]

You shouldnt overseed after verticutting, bentgrass is creeping and after areation or verticutting it will heal quite quick, we verticut every other week with a light topdressing. I maintain A-4 Greens and Tees and mowing at .1000 for greens, .350 tees

[@ReelTurf]

This is interesting! So if you’re mowing at .1000 what height is the verticut set to? Do you verticut every other week on the tees as well? Does the topdressing sand eat up the reels at that frequency?

[@mcnasty39]

I’ve got the same mower, just bought it. How do you engage the verticutting reel?

[@ReelTurf]

The verticutter is engaged with the reel. There is a pulley system on the left side of the mower (when looking from the front) that is driven by the reel. They work together.

[@lvond555]

This is grooming and NOT Verticutting. Verticutting is spaced further apart and go deeper down to the soil.