We're talking the basics here, as in rudimentary, elementary and fundamentally. The key to keeping roots in greens healthy and able to withstand a sweltering summer has more to do with utilizing the essentials of turfgrass management than some far-out agronomic alchemy. Several agronomists with the United States Golf Association (USGA) are as sure as Sherlock Holmes about that.

"I don't think there are any secrets here," says Patrick Gross, director of the USGA Green Section's Southwest region. "Although superintendents are fascinated with the myriad of new products, agronomy 101 will be the most important factor to help them grow healthy roots."

Says Keith Happ, senior agronomist for the Green Section's Mid-Atlantic region: "There aren't any magical cures out there ... no matter how many guys try to find that wonder drug in a bottle. It goes back to the basics. The research is pretty clear on what works best."

The basics, says James Skorulski, senior agronomist for the Green Section's Northeast region, mean the need to get smarter with cultivation practices. For some superintendents that could indicate a return to doing things from which they've gotten away.

The time to achieve healthy root growth is now, says Charles "Bud" White, senior agronomist for the Green Section's Mid-Continent region. White advises superintendents in the area he serves — including Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma — that they should prepare in the spring for the worst summer growing conditions possible (read: stifling heat and humidity) in regard to maintaining healthy roots.

Poking holes Back to agronomy 101, which begins with the importance of air movement, Gross notes.

"Roots need air as much as they need water," he adds. "The diagram shown in every class about soil mentions that soil should have 25 percent water-filled pores, 25 percent air-filled pores and the remaining portion is the mineral content of the soil. Shallow rooting starts to develop when many of those air-filled pores are lost."

Aeration, of course, is vital to achieve proper air movement. Happ agrees that poking holes is one of the best ways to sustain healthy root growth. "No matter how hot it is, we know that superintendents will create or stimulate root growth if they aerify," he says.

That said, aeration these days can be much more involved than just poking holes, Happ points out.

"We've got everything from water injection to sand injection to solid tines," he says. "We've got so many fantastic tools now to poke holes and keep air in the profile that [superintendents] have a chance to [create] a really strong foundation to grow grass."

These days, superintendents are able to aerify without disrupting the soil very much, Skorulski says, noting that he recommends deep quarter-inch pencil tines for such procedures.

Gross adds that many courses supplement spring and fall aeration treatments with less-invasive practices during the summer to keep the surface open for adequate air and water penetration. There are a variety of methods available for this purpose, including spiking and slicing, he notes.

Superintendents can't afford to aerify only in March and then wait until August to do it again, White stresses. But the fact that they're hesitant to aerify more than once has more to do with (no surprise here) golfer pressure than anything, he adds. "A lot of times superintendents are scared to stir the water," he says.

However, if golfers are complaining, the course as a whole, including the people in the pro shop, needs to do a better job of communicating to golfers and members why aerifying is important, White says.

White advises superintendents in his area to aerify their courses' bentgrass greens twice — in mid-March and in early May. They should use small tines the second time around so the greens can heal in a few days.