IRRIGATION & DRAINAGE
16 SportsTurf | May 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com
FIELD SCIENCE
BY EVAN MASCITTI, DR. ANDY MCNITT & TOM SERENSITS
decreasing sunlight significantly reduce turf recovery.
In many cases, thick-cut sod (up to 1.75-inches thick) is
installed to provide a "new" playing surface. When installed
correctly, thick-cut sod can be played on almost immediately.
Once the new turf is installed, the field's initial performance
is determined by the care and maintenance that it received
at the sod farm. The new field must be safe and playable right
out of the gate. Thus, the sod grower must institute practices
in the production field that result in a turf with excellent
divot resistance.
To our knowledge, no prior research had studied the best
way to pre-condition thick-cut Kentucky bluegrass sod for
divot resistance. We designed a 2-year study at Penn State
to test various cultural practices and their relationship to
performance of thick-cut sod. Our goal was to determine
which treatments during the production cycle would yield
the most divot-resistant sod immediately after installation.
TREATMENTS
Treatments were chosen based on input from sod growers,
including James and John Betts of Tuckahoe Turf Farms in
Hammonton, NJ, NFL field managers, and other researchers.
The experiment was conducted at University Park, PA.
N
owhere is the familiar hierarchy of field safety,
playability, and aesthetics more crucial than in the
National Football League. In the philosophical
sense, a safe field is like an insurance policy for
NFL teams. Pro athletes are pricey investments
(as well as human beings!) and stable turf reduces the chance
for player injuries, which are already common in football. A
tightly knit turf with a dense network of roots and rhizomes
provides divot resistance and surface stability. Aesthetics
are also important, and a safe field can certainly look good.
However, the research outlined in this article demonstrates
a scenario where maximum safety and performance were
achieved by sacrificing some degree of visual quality.
Nearly all grass fields in the NFL are re-sodded during the
season, with some being resodded multiple times per season.
Many professional stadiums also host large concerts, college
and/or high school games. The additive effects of wear and
non-football events eventually reduce turf cover despite the
field manager's best efforts. The wear is both intense and
concentrated: the majority of play occurs between the hash
marks, which are only 18 feet, 6 inches feet apart in the NFL
compared with 40 feet in college and 53 feet, 4 inches in high
school. Heavy field use combined with low temperatures and
LEAN AND MEAN: SOD PRODUCTION
FOR IN-SEASON FIELD REPLACEMENTS
Thick-cut, big-roll sod being installed for Super Bowl 50
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
WEST
COAST
TURF.
