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Rolling to Improve Establishment

Easily my favorite tweet of the week was:

And in typical Twitter fashion the idea snowballed to produce my second favorite tweet of the week:

Obviously, this is common knowledge but to see such a clear example is pretty cool. You can even see the gap between the steering rollers on his Tru Turf Roller. Yes, you can even tell the brand of roller based on the establishment pattern.

This is something that Dr, Thom Nikolai also found in his rolling research. Check out the following video about rolling for seed bed preparation.


While it might seem like common sense to refrain from rolling during establishment, Thom has some advise that might surprise you.

"If we roll the plots several time per week for the month or so before we can get out there and mow, it seems to help the tillering and it fills in a lot quicker and obviously gives you better playing conditions right at the beginning."

This is pretty cool stuff and food for thought for those coming out of winter with damage on their greens. My plan is to roll twice a week on the damaged greens and probably a lot more on the healthy greens this spring while my winter damaged greens recover.


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