Trees

Many members focus on the trees in the spring when they first come to the course and see the results of our winter tree management plan. I wanted to share some of the work that we did this morning to the maple tree next to 1 tee that was planted last spring.

The air-spade is a handheld soil excavation tool connected to a large air-compressor. The high-pressure stream of air is funnelled through a small nozzle breaking dense soils into small particles particularly useful in removing soil while leaving tree roots undamaged. When required the air-spade is a fast and accurate method for the removal of soils for investigating sub soil conditions.

The Air-Spade is a truly versatile tool that can be used in a wide variety of tree care and utility applications including:

• Aerating or reducing soil compaction
• Excavating tree root collars and trunk flares
• Investigating damage caused by tree roots
• Inspecting girdling roots
• Root pruning
• Cultivating soil
• Vertical mulching
• Radial trenching

The air-spade process was a huge success for us on the maple tree located on the 1st fairway until the October snow storm damage some of the branches. The leaves doubled in size from one season to the next because of the air spade. I expect the same results in the years to come for the maple at 1 tee.