Expressing the dose of topdressing / Topdressing

Expressing the topdressing dose is a mere formality to make it clear in the field notebook which steps have been followed during maintenance.

Topdressing is the application of an even layer of sand on a turf surface.

The recebados achieve a number of objectives, such as:

• Aids organic decomposition of the Thatch. When the sand is introduced between the block of thatch the micro-organisms have a resulting material with a higher rate of macroporosity. This facilitates gas exchange and accelerates decomposition.
• Helps to level the playing surface.
• C4 grass surfaces in temperate latitudes may suffer during winter dormancy. Topdressing helps to insulate the plant from dying.
• Improves soil texture on clay and loam surfaces if applied after tillage such as hollow pricking.
• Dilutes the organic matter produced by the high density of plants. Many individuals die during the season leaving their material on the ground.

A few weeks ago the Asian Turfgrass Center explained why expressing the top dressing dose in the height of sand applied was optimal.

In field notebooks around the world it is found as:

• tonnes/ha
• tonnes per 1000 ft²
• Trucks/ha
• Kg/green
• m³/m²
• Or any other imaginative way of expressing a dose of

The Asian Turfgrass Center recommends expressing topdressing as depth in millimetres as it standardises all applications regardless of sand mass, sand type or moisture content and regardless of the area over which the sand is spread.

It also makes it easier to calculate the dilution of organic matter. If in the first 20 millimetres there is 8% by mass of organic matter, the addition of 1 mm of sand will reduce this percentage by 5%. Since the added sand would represent an extra 5% of height without organic matter.

8-8*0.05=7,6%

A topping can be expressed in as many ways as you like, from the most inaccurate way of doing it by truck to expressing it in the height of sand applied (mm), as if it were rain.

And finally, expressing how the applied layer helps other greenkeepers to understand how these results are being obtained in order to adopt their practices.