SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/560546
FIELD SCIENCE 26 SportsTurf | September 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com in more heavily trafficked areas rather than seeding the entire field at a higher rate. On a football field this can be the area in between the hashes, in soccer the goal box areas, and for baseball the infield would require more seed than the outfield. Design your plan to fit your fields and meet the expectations of users and administrators. Using higher than normal overseed rates can create immature overseeded grass. The maximum rate is between 30-40 lbs. and sometimes even up to 50 lbs. per 1000 sq ft. For a football field this is between 1728 lbs.-2304 lbs. and 2880 lbs. Usually when higher than normal rates are used, managers are seeding multiple times throughout the season. This helps to create a seed bank where seed will germinate throughout the season. The biggest concerns with higher rates are the extra cost and creating compe- tition for bermudagrass come spring green up. Using lower rates of overseeded grass can still provide good winter green color. The minimum rate for a field should be around 5 lbs. per 1000 sq ft. For a football field you will need 288 lbs. of seed. Anything less than 5 lbs. per 1000 sq ft. creates a thin stand of overseeded grass that is too thin to properly cover the dormant bermudagrass. Using a minimum rate is cost effective and creates less competition come spring green up for the ber- mudagrass. Just be sure that your rate is not so minimal that it does not meet the expectations of users. When seeding, there are two types of spreaders most commonly used to get the seed out: a rotary spreader and a drop spreader. A rotary spreader is quicker and can cover more square footage. A drop spreader is used for going along edges or trimming out a field and/or can also be used for seeding an entire field. The user just needs to be careful to get full cover with both types by using a checkerboard pattern, which is created by going one direction, for example east to west on a field, and then spreading perpendicular to this direction, going north to south. The applicator should split the seed application rate for each direction. Using a checkerboard pattern will ensure good uniform coverage of the field. ALTERNATIVES TO KEEP GREEN There are a couple of alternatives to overseeding a bermudagrass field: painting the fields green or using grow covers to help protect the turf. Not overseeding will make spring green up of the bermu- dagrass and transitioning of the field a lot easier. Painting the field green can be time-consuming and a costly process. There are a number of turf colorant products on the market that can be used depending on the required green color needed. The painting process requires multiple applications that should begin before the bermudagrass goes dormant. Each time painting the manager should go in multiple directions to cover both sides of the grass blades. Depending on the weather paint- ing the field could take 4 to 5 or more applications per winter. Challenges include having to repaint field markings, upsetting equipment managers (green paint tends to stick to white uni- forms and is difficult to remove), and the wearing out of seals on your spray machine's centrifugal pumps. Grow covers can be used to keep the bermudagrass from going completely dormant. The bermudagrass will retain its green color, but will not have normal plant growth like it does during the growing season. The area covered will not be able to recover from damage, but will stay green. Over extended peri- ods of time the crown of the plant will start to separate from the soil, acting as if the grow cover is the top layer of the soil. The field will become puffy, like walking on a sponge. Using covers requires a lot of work to pull them on and off the field. Make sure the covers have complete coverage of the field or there will be dormant spots anywhere not covered. When it comes to overseeding there are just as many downsides as there are upsides. Choose what works for you and your fields. Work within your budget to meet the expectations of users. If you choose to overseed get ready to mow all year long. Be creative with your mowing patterns to make your field look great! ■ ST Scott Stevens, CSFM, is the sports turf manager at Elon University, Elon, NC. He is currently a member of the STMA Editorial Committee. TIMING: choose a time in the schedule when there is at least a week's time of little to no use on the field to give the seed time to germinate SEED TO SOIL CONTACT: mow lower, drag in, verti- cut, and topdress to get the seed down into the soil STRATEGIC SPREADING: go a little heavier with seeding rates in high wear areas on the field LIGHT, FREQUENT IRRIGATION: keep the soil moist GERMINATION: proper temperatures, oxygen, water, and sometimes light are required for successful germi- nation GET THE SEED OUT: seed sitting in a bag of your shelf will not help keep your field green ESSENTIALS FOR ALL YEAR GREEN Painted green only