AERATION
Although most of the water drained away within 24 hours , because of the drainage problem , part of the green remained underwater so long the roots of the grass began to rot .
“ We use contractors Avonmore Associates to do spraying , aeration in autumn and top dressing and we worked with Avonmore ’ s Brian Buttler to take some core samples . While the topsoil was good , we found there was no drainage layer ,” says Ian . Brian ’ s view was the constant walking on the green over the many years had caused severe compaction . They coupled this with another reason . The green sits on yellow clay , being near Bedford , which is famous for brick making using the clay over the past hundred years . Ian had seen an article on a South Wales bowling club that had a similar drainage problem and they had called in Terrain Aeration , whom Brian also knew of . Whereas normal aeration is an accepted part of a good greenkeeping regime , it only reaches a depth of inches .
Terrain Aeration ’ s system treats the ground down to a depth of one metre . At this depth , the ground is usually so
compacted it requires fracturing to open up fissures and allow drainage . Their Terralift machine hammers a hollow probe through the soil using a JCB road breaker gun , and compressed air is released up to 20Bar ( 280psi ). At the end of the air blast , they inject dried seaweed , which sticks to the fissure walls . This expands and contracts with the moisture in the soil to keep the area breathing . Ian and club member volunteers who help maintain the green backfilled the 1.5-inch probe holes with Lytag aggregate and covered with topsoil . The green was playable almost immediately .
“ Had we put in field drains it would have been very disruptive and using Terrain Aeration ’ s system meant we could do the work in the season ,” says Ian . “ Then we had no rain for some weeks so we had no idea if it had worked until the heaven ’ s opened in June . After severe downpours , we found the green drained far better than in years and the club is overjoyed with the result .”
Terrain Aeration 01449 673783 www . terrainaeration . co . uk
GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | August / September 2021 45