Vertical Mowing

The greens at Olde Florida Golf Club are being aggressively vertical mowed this week.

A vertical mower, also known as a "verticutter" or "dethatcher" has a series of revolving blades that cut through the thatch and bring it to the surface. The Graden units being used at Olde Florida are equipped with a 2 mm (thickness) blades, mounted 1 inch apart and are set to cut to a depth of 1 1/2 inches.  

#1 Green, May 27, 2014

Aggressive vertical mowing is a terrific cultural practice to remove "thatch". Thatch is a layer of organic tissue between the soil and the green leaves of the turfgrass. It’s usually made up of the harder to decompose parts of the turfgrass plant. A small amount of thatch (up to 1⁄2 inch) is good, but too much prevents turfgrass from adequately rooting into the soil, it reduces drainage, it enhances pest pressure and probably most noticeable to the golfer, excess thatch makes the course feel "puffy" or "spongey". 

Aggressive vertical mowing is performed in the summer months at Olde Florida Golf Club. Among other reasons it's done this time of year because this is when the warm-season turfgrass (bermudagrass) is most actively growing and the length of recovery is lessened.

#15 Green, May 28, 2014