Some form of putting green cultural practice is likely scheduled for the near future at your golf course. If core aeration is planned, that is an opportune time to establish a nursery from the cores, so sod or plugs are available that match the existing greens should there be a need to repair an area. When a nursery is being established from aeration cores, one question that may come up is what size nursery can be created?
The total square footage of all the putting greens, the tine size and tine spacing during aeration will all influence what size nursery can be established. A good guide to use is aerating 100,000 square feet of putting green surface with 0.625-inch hollow tines on a 2-by-2-inch spacing will yield enough cores to establish a nursery approximately 10,000 square feet in size. If this is your first time establishing a nursery from aeration cores, the Green Section Record article “Establishing a Poa annua and Creeping Bentgrass Putting Green Nursery” details the steps.
A 10,000 square foot nursery will likely be sufficient as an insurance policy. However, if a nursery is being established to have sod available for something like a putting green expansion project, it may be necessary to plan several years in advance to allow for the necessary sod square footage to be established from multiple aerations.
Sod can typically be harvested from the nursery 10 to 12 months after establishment. The mat layer must develop enough so the turf will remain intact when it is harvested, and it must be resilient enough to withstand traffic after installation. For more information on establishing a nursery, reach out to your regional USGA agronomist.
Central Region Agronomists:
Zach Nicoludis, regional director – znicoludis@usga.org