Is Hollow Coring and Deep Scarification of Golf Greens Really Necessary?

If sports turf managers were to start from scratch today, to design a way of maintaining low thatch, decompacted, fast draining rootzones for their greens then key design parameters would be - minimal disruption, minimal cost for manpower, machinery and consumables like sand, fertiliser and pesticides while converting thatch to plant food and humus instilling natural processes that create free draining, friable rootzones.

Most agronomists suggest a physical solution is the only answer, removing thatch and hollow coring and top dressing to dilute thatch, improve drainage and relieve compaction, but hollow coring and heavy top dressing with up to 200 tonnes of sand per year is time consuming, expensive, and really annoys the paying customer resulting in lost play and lost income for the club.

The Alternative Option

Symbio has developed another option adopted by many golf course and sports pitch managers that have been successfully managing their playing surfaces for many years without deep scarification or hollow coring and heavy top dressing.

Symbio uses bacteria and fungi to degrade thatch and encourage natural processes to decompact the rootzone and incorporate these processes into the daily management of the golf course.

To successfully implement this strategy the first misconception to knock on the head is that organic matter is bad. It is not. Organic matter in the rootzone comprises roots, humic compounds, partly degraded humus and soil microbial life which by itself can weigh up to 3 tonnes per hectare. All the humic compounds start life as thatch which when degraded converts to humus and beneficial organic acids and supports essential microbial life.

Visit Symbio on stand B7 to find out how you can reduce costs, please your customers and increase profits by getting natural processes to work on your course.