SportsTurf

September 2013

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.

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FieldScience | By Dr. Cale A. Bigelow PURDUE UNIVERSITY'S Boilermaker soccer complex. Winter overseeding athletic fields update: 2013 B ERMUDAGRASS provides one of the best playing field surfaces throughout many parts of the United States. When properly maintained it forms a uniform, dense, attractive and durable turf. Its strengths are that it readily tolerates close (< 1") cutting heights resulting in a "fast" surface players and coaches like. During the warmer months of summer it is a fast grower. This provides wear tolerance and rapid self-repair of divots from creeping rhizomes and stolons. This dense matrix of stems and roots also provides surface stability, good traction characteristics and an overall stable base for footing. Bermudagrass provides one of the best playing field surfaces throughout many parts of the United States. When properly maintained it forms a uniform, dense, attractive and durable turf. Its strengths are that it readily tolerates close (< 1") cutting heights resulting in a "fast" surface players and coaches like. During the warmer months of summer it is a fast grower. This provides wear tolerance and rapid self-repair of divots from creeping rhizomes and stolons. This dense matrix of stems and roots also provides surface stability, good traction characteristics and an overall stable base for footing. 12 SportsTurf | September 2013 Like all grasses, it is not perfect, and there are negatives. Being a warm-season grass, active growth slows as the days shorten in latesummer or mid-September. As the first hard frosts of autumn approach, bermudagrass begins to lose its vibrant green color and it slowly turns to a golden straw-brown color. In addition to this color loss, rapid growth stops resulting in decreased wear tolerance and less rapid recovery. Probably one of the biggest weaknesses and one that limited wide-spread adoption in prior decades was the risk for severe winter-kill. Turf Top: OVERSEEDING is largely for cosmetic purposes but the cool-season grass also provides some wear tolerance and recovery. Bottom: ANNUAL RYEGRASS, left, compared to perennial ryegrass, right. managers were reluctant to use a grass that "might" need replanting each year. With the development of very winter hardy cultivars and the ability to rapidly establish bermudagrass from seed, it is now used in many areas where it once was never considered. To offset some of the aforementioned negatives and to satisfy the public's desire for green grass "all the time," bermudagrass field managers often overseed with a cool-season grass. Overseeding is largely for cosmetic purposes but the cool-season grass also provides some wear tolerance and recovery in trafficked and heavily divoted areas. In recent years many different overseeding strategies and philosophies have emerged. The purpose of this article is to highlight and share some of these thoughts and considerations. WHAT TO PLANT? Historically, the grass of choice for winter overseeding has been the ryegrasses. This group includes annual, perennial and "inter- www.sportsturfonline.com

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