Air Exchange

Published September 19, 2006

When we think of soils and the plants growing in them we often overlook the importance of air and the exchange of gases as a vital part of growing healthy turf. The photo above is clear evidence of that gaseous exchange.

Last night we received over an inch of rainfall. As the rain moves through the soil profile it displaces the air in the soil. Since we have a very shallow rootzone and horrendous drainage, the rootzone becomes completely saturated with water leaving no room for air. The air must go somewhere and is forced upward. The combination of a dense surface matt and the water filling in the air gaps, the thatch acts like a seal preventing the air from escaping. As gravity pulls hard on the water the air is forced upward under pressure. As the pressure builds, it becomes great enough to rip the turf roots and thus creating the bubbles you see in the photo.

Having bubbles like this on a green is not a good sign. In fact it reassures the need for not only drainage on the greens but the need to aerify. The addition of drainage in our greens would allow the water to move through the soil profile and reduce the saturated conditions on the greens after a rainfall. Playability would certainly improve, and the overall agronomic health of the turf would improve as well. Aerification helps by temporarily creating open channels by which air can move freely between the atmosphere and the soil but by no means is aerification a cure for this condition.

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