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Queenstown, Otago, New Zealand
Jake Miller is a turf manager with over 2 decades of experience in the field. His career focuses on producing world class turf and garden surfaces for his clients. He holds a bachelors degree (Lv6) in Sports and Urban Turfgrass Management and a Minor (Lv4) in Soil Science (North Dakota State University, 2009).His expertise is in mountain based regions. He is also an expert in irrigation systems programing, troubleshooting, design and installation.

Soil Disturbance - Planet Air

Soil Disturbance is a vital part of plant and soil health. These days turf managers are using everything short of a chisel plow to shake up their soil matrix. This method falls under the form of slicing. It is an implement called Planet Air.  


Above is a video demonstrating the use of a Planet Air on the Events Lawn at Lahontan Golf club. This lawn was used for many functions including but not limited to Croquet, Yoga, Lawn Bowling, and Weddings. The implement has 5 or 7 shafts that rotate on a center shaft. Each of the smaller shafts carries blades that are curved at the end and sharpened along the leading edge. As they rotate they penetrate the soil at your desired depth setting and "kick" as they hit the bottom. This helps incorporate sand, move organic matter through the profile, and aids in gas exchange. Slicing methods are favored over conventional ground disturbance methods because they have little to no disruption in surface quality.

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