Page 130 - 2019SalesTrainingManual.pdf

TRI AL SUM M ARY:
TRIALTO INVESTIGATETHEEFFECT OFUSINGTHEWIEDENMANN CORERECYCLER ON A SAND-BASED GOLF GREEN
BYDRCHRISTIAN SPRING, STRI RESEARCH MANAGER
TRIALOBJECTIVE
T h e o b j e c t i v e o f t h i s t r i a l w a s t o i n v e s t i g a t e t h e i m p a c t o f u s i n g t h e Co r e Re c y c l e r o n g o l f g r e e n p u t t i n g surfaces compared to standard hollow coring and topdressing.
METHODOLOGY
The core recycler was used to collect and recycle cores from the turf surface, following hollow tine aeration on a sand-based green at STRI’s Trial Facility in Bingley, United Kingdom. The effect of recycling of the cores was compared to an area where the cores were manually collected and removed. Following collection of the cores, the whole trial area was top dressing with pure sand (medium grade) to fill any empty tine holes and to make good surface levels. During this process, the amount of sand used to top dress each area was recorded.
The effectsof the core recycler and conventionally collection treatmentswere assessed by measuring turf quality, turf colour, chlorophyll index, NDVI, percentage active bacteria and fungi, surface hardness, soil compaction and surface smoothness. Data were analysed using t-tests to establish if differencesbetween the two treatmentson each green construction type were statistically significant.
MAIN RESULTS
The main effects of the Wiedenmann Core Recycler compared to conventionally collecting and removing cores were:
• Co r e Re c y c l i n g m a i n t a i n e d s o i l o r g a n i c m a t t e r t o t h e s a m e l e v e l a s u s i n g a c o n v e n t i o n a l h o l l o w coring programme.
• UseoftheCoreRecyclerreducedtopdressinginputsbyonaverage40%.
• D i s e a s e i n c i d e n c e w a s s i g n i f i c a n t l y l o w e r o n Co r e Re c y c l e d p l o t s .
• Recycling of cores helped to maintain a significantly higher active bacterial and fungal populat ions.
• There were no consistent treatment effect on penetration depth, surface hardness and volumetric soil water content.
• Onthehighfescuecontentswardofthesand-basedgreen(>85%redfescue),turfstresswas increased after core recycling, which manifested itself as slight turf discolouration. However, thiswasmitigated through appropriate nutritional inputs.
• The benefits of using the Core Recycler were clear and when used as part of a sensible maintenance programme, would provide a very useful tool in a greenkeeper or groundsman’s arsenal.