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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/32290
FieldScience until 6 April 2006 with green Evergreen turfgrass cover (Covermas- ter, Inc. Rexdale, ON). Sod was harvested from a local sod farm and then installed on the sandy loam soil at the research site. Sod rooting strength was determined using rooting boxes that were installed beneath the sod (Fig. 1). The peak force required to extract each rooting box was recorded (Fig. 2). Root pulls were conducted monthly to assess root development over time; May, June, July, August 2006. The study was repeated the following year. During the second year of the study, root pulls were conducted in April, May, June, July, and Au- gust 2007. >> Figure 2. A ROOTING BOX following extraction from a covered December sodded treatment, April 2007. ber/early December, leaving the spring as the primary turfgrass es- tablishment time of year. Unfortunately, this is also a time when many athletic field managers are pressured to open fields for use by those participating in spring sports. Early season field use and non- optimal environmental conditions of the early summer months can make turfgrass establishment difficult during this critical period. Success of a conventional sod installation and subsequent root de- velopment depends heavily on a number of different factors such as environmental conditions, matching the soil texture on the sod to your site, the condition of the sod (i.e., amount of thatch, time from harvest to installation, soil depth uniformity, etc.), soil nutri- ent levels, soil pH and time. Time, the factor that’s probably the most predictable, but unfor- tunately often times is the most difficult to control given the amount of scheduled field use. Assuming good environmental con- ditions, high quality sod, and proper soil fertility, 6-8 weeks from installation to field use would be a desirable, estimated timeframe for sufficient rooting to produce a quality playing surface. However, a timeframe of that magnitude is very difficult to obtain on a field that is traditionally heavily depended upon to support many ath- letic activities. The difficulty remains in identifying low/no use time periods for turfgrass establishment. For those in the Northeast, I think many would agree from December through March could be labeled a low/no use time period. Research was initiated in 2005 at the Uni- versity of Connecticut Plant Science Research and Education Facil- ity to determine if there were any potential benefits or hazards related to late fall sod establishment in the northern region. The objective of this research was to quantify the effect of sod installation timing on the rooting strength of Kentucky bluegrass. This study looked at four sodding dates (December 2005, May, June, and July 2006) with anticipated field use in early August 2006, simulating a typical field renovation or new construction that may occur. The May 2006 date served as the control, which would be considered a typical spring establishment date. The December 2005 sodding date had a covered treatment and an uncovered treat- ment. The covered treatment was covered from 2 December 2005 10 SportsTurf | June 2011 >> Figure 3. DECEMBER COVERED TREATMENTS exhibited higher color ratings through the month of April during 2006 and 2007. Note the uncover December sodded treatment located between two covered De- cember treatments, April 2007. RESULTS Sod installed in December consistently increased rooting strength over all other sod installation dates indicating a consider- able advantage to late fall sod installation for more extensive root development throughout the subsequent growing season. Addition- ally, during both years of the study late fall installed sod (December covered and uncovered) produced similar or higher rooting strength in May of the subsequent growing season compared to rooting strength values in August. This suggests that athletic fields estab- lished in December may be ready for play in May of the next year. Based on the differences produced using the turfgrass covers, be- tween year 1 and year 2, if spring athletic field use is anticipated and/or maximum root development is desired the newly sodded field should be covered from the sod installation date until shoot growth begins in the spring. The turfgrass covers will also ensure better turfgrass color early in the spring (Fig. 3). This primarily benefits athletic field managers that have intense field use in the fall coupled with spring and early summer athletic field use the next year. The primary increase in rooting strength in the 2006-2007 study occurred from April to May in both the De- cember and December covered treatments (Fig. 4). These data sug- gest that if spring installation is imperative, establishing sod as early as possible in the growing season is essential to enable the turfgrass to produce the highest possible rooting strength prior to fall athletic field use. In both years the study was conducted, sod rooting www.sportsturfonline.com