Verticutting

[@markadams7328]

Doing what the pros do is ALWAYS a good idea!! Thanks for not making this a 15 minute video with 'the same information'.

[@allturf]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@chosen1one930]

Actually you really don't want to do the same thing on home lawns, there is no need unless your growing bentgrass or zoysia grasses that produce huge amounts of thatch. Topdressing fairways isn't good soil, it takes more water to maintain, we do it to have fast firm fairways but it's main purpose is to have areas where the water will drain below the thatch meaning fairways will dry faster. During the growing season I have the greens groomed/verticut every two weeks (A4 Bentgrass) along with a light topdressing that helps keep the entire green draining. If aeration holes get covered with thatch they do not drain near as well. During the growing season I have zoysia fairways verticut every 8 weeks but we also verticut at the same timeto a depth of 6 to 8 inches. It ensures we continue to get more sand into sandy soil. It helps ensure fairways will drain fast and continue to be firm but also what the members want most, being able to drive carts off the cart path. Sand is really good and it's really bad, it requires courses to water so much more, especially courses that have sand based root zone mix from tee to green. It also doesn't hold nutrients very well. Homeowners don't need to aerate every year or verticut, if you topdress use a 50/50 mix of peat and sand it will hold water and drain. Compaction and thatch isnt a huge problem on home lawns unless of course you have zoysia or bentgrass or one of those people that have fairway cut grass or a putting green but every cultivar of grass is different especially newer hybrids where they are quite literally breeding the problems out of grass one step at a time.

[@adamhix3882]

It looks great. Great aerial shots!

[@allturf]

Thanks a lot!

[@theonexx762]

Hi, just curious, don't the heavy machines like tractors create a soil compaction preventing deep root growth or squashing the stems? Or does that apply only with regular grass? Also expected to see some over-seeding incorporated, but I'm guessing it's the regenerating type of grass that fills in the bare spots?

[@ryanlloyd4395]

Great video!!! Do you aerate as well?

[@allturf]

Yes we do! For clarification, we wouldn't aerate at the same time as verticutting as they both do essentially the same thing just in different ways and to different degrees. We also do sand injection, water injection, deep tining, sand banding etc.

[@ryanlloyd4395]

@@allturf thanks for the reply. Keep up the great content. I love watching!

[@nullpha]

i have no interest in golf, but boy do i love grass

[@allturf]

Appreciate it!

[@ArturSmiech]

What is the best distance between the blades of verticutting cassette?

[@nikmak]

Does regular top dressing cause layering issues?

[@allturf]

The main downside of top dressing too much is that it is somewhat annoying for the user if a lot of sand is noticeable. It’s hard to over do it in terms of health for the turf. It prevents disease and is overall one of the best practices for the turf.

[@MatsDawson]

Great Video

[@allturf]

Thank you!

[@laurencerusso3231]

What time a year is this done? Is this done yearly? Every three years? Thanks

[@allturf]

It may be best to do it early, but can be done later as well. It should be done to break up heavy thatch, so the frequency really depends many factors such as the soil complex and the maintenance history. If the soil needed lots of work, it could be done back to back years to get started, but certainly does not need to be done every year. Overall it really depends on the situation.

[@chosen1one930]

​@@allturfthis isn't done yearly, this is done monthly during the growing season, it varies where this is being done. For a home lawn don't bother your turf doesn't need it near as often. Greens have it done most often, we groom/verticut every two week along with a light topdressing this also depends on what type of grass you have. If it's bentgrass most likely fairways are being done every month or every other month. See bentgrass creates a lot of thatch naturally, it's not dead material, it's living material and dead material, certain types of turf create far more especially newer cultivars of bentgrass and zoysia, some newer hybrids of bentgrass are fixing this problem with less thatch but they still create a bunch of thatch. The living part is what creates the most thatch so often with brentgrass, with warm season grasses it can be the opposite with all the stolons and rhizomes the turf going dormant, so many different factors. All of this is mainly done on golf courses to help with drainage and prevent disease, you have to mess something up that looks beautiful to keep it beautiful because the turf grows so dense, if we don't problems follows, water won't drain, insane disease problems that can wipe out a fairways or green in a day or two. I have zoysia for my home lawn and being a superintendent you would think I maintain the turf the same but it's the opposite, I haven't done anything to the soil, no aeration, verticutting or anything in 3 years, the soil profile looks fine, thatch is under control and the turf couldn't look more beautiful. But I do the things that matter, soil test, fertilize properly, soil amendments when needed, water properly when needed and put down any other applications when needed but that's it, in the next year or two I will aerate and or verticut pretty heavily, this will last quite awhile because I do everything I should, scalping the dormant turf in early spring so it doesn't add to thatch, this is all possible because heavy equipment doesn't compact the soil, same as golf carts, mowing 3 times a week, spraying, driving tractors to fertilize and put other applications down and I have proper drainage throughout the yard, these are all things people should spend money on and if you don't have them the turf will look worse and maybe you should aerate and seed every year like my neighbors do with lawn services but they come to me every couple of months during the growing season and ask how they can stop wasting money.

[@vroor32]

​@@chosen1one930I have seeded zenith zoysia that's 1yr old. Are u saying I shouldn't dethatch yet? Wait till spring 2024 to scalp/scarify ? I mow it at 3" coz at 2" it browns out 😢