A hydraulic headache

A nightmare for turf care professionals is when you get a hydraulic leak. One greenkeeper took to social media to ask for tips and tricks for dealing with the damage. Here is our advice... 

It has a habit of occurring in the worst possible place and at the worst possible time. If the machine is at operating temperature, the heat from the oil causes an initial burn to the turf, just the same as pouring hot water or spilling your cup of tea.

Hydraulic fluid is toxic to both the roots and the soil, disrupting photosynthesis and respiration, literally smothering the life out of the soil. By taking oxygen out of the soil, it kills the microorganisms in the soil.

Clean up as much of the spill as possible with absorbent paper. Apply liquid carbon to secure the oil and neutralise it. It is important to do this as soon after the spill as you can.

Some of the social media advice included:

"You could try and to punch solid lines. Do this multiple times closest spacing possible and then repeat after 2-3 days be gone in a week."

"You can also seed the greens a lot. A harder method coming into the dryer months. Punch pot seeds in by hand and the rub the seed in."

"It could be too late to ‘fix’ it now as the heat of the oil normally does the damage. You should water the area soon after the damage has been caused."

“Water, water and more water ASAP.”

“Topdress.”

“Scalp the area as low as possible to remove as much oil as possible.”

No one method is universally accepted for mitigating the effects of a hydraulic leak, simply because no single method for mitigating the effects of a spill is appropriate for all situations.

In this study, detergent was the most effective corrective treatment. Within 4 weeks 85% of the turf had recovered, compared to 30% recovery in 4 weeks with both activated charcoal and calcined clay fines.