A turf care professional does not need to leave it to luck when dealing with the weather and how the ground that he cares for reacts.
By taking core soil samples and analysing the soil structure it is possible to plan your maintenance regime easier using the right information with far better results.
Our soil samples, which are encased in a one metre plastic tube can serve more than one purpose when used as a soil analysis technique.
Firstly the soil layers are visible to the full one metre depth that the probe operates allowing anyone to see the profile of the soil beneath the turf and how it may have been treated or what might be causing restrictions.
It is possible to get a clear idea of why waterlogging might be happening or understand why the soil is draining too quickly and respond with the necessary remedial action. It might well explain soil dressing habits over previous years but compaction layers further down can be missed if exploration cannot go deep enough.
Using Terrain Aeration’s specially built Soil Corer, core samples can be taken easily with no mess.
What next, and how Terrain Aeration can help…
Having identified layers and soil structure to a one metre depth, you can plan your maintenance, whether immediately or as an end of season operation.
Compaction panning – all of Terrain Aeration’s Airforce Terralift machines reach one-metre depth to aerate and relieve waterlogging. Injecting dried milled seaweed on the tail end of the air blast sticks to the walls of the fractures and fissures, swelling and contracting with the moisture content in the soil, helping to keep the fractures open longer.
This deep aeration process will keep the soil open and working for at least 5-7 years on football pitches and even longer on golf greens, back gardens and around tree roots.
Free draining soil – using the dried milled seaweed as a carrier for a more even spread; injection of water storing polymer will expand with the rainwater/irrigation water in the soil and be available for the roots to access. Once the polymer has been injected, it is slow to break down and therefore long lasting and especially useful in today’s increasingly drier climate.
Trees can be more susceptible to drought and this is a better way of managing mature trees without causing further stress.
Soil coring can help to identify oil and diesel contamination in the soil; allowing you to react quickly and treat immediately by injecting a oil digesting media into the soil, using the seaweed as a carrier.
Oil migrates in the soil in various directions and coring will show how far it has travelled. Getting air to one metre depth will allow the media to degrade the hydrocarbons within that depth as this is the important area to treat.
This summer is predicted to be hot and dry, with a few thunderstorms – far different from the previous two years. Keep your ground in play and revenue coming in.
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