Field Science
8 SportsTurf | January 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com
T
he constant, number one chal-
lenge faced by managers of youth
sports complexes is maintaining a
sufficient number of fields for the
tremendous number of both games and
practices played every season. A general
rule of thumb is for every scheduled
game event there are at least two practice
events; for 200 scheduled youth soccer
games, there are almost 400 practice
events for a total of 600 events. The
demand for fields is unrelenting. In an
environment of fiscal restraint the possi-
bility of purchasing more park space and
constructing new fields is not realistic
for most of us.
One very simple and inexpensive
answer is to maximize the space avail-
able by capturing, for instance, small
common ground areas for practice
fields. At the Culpeper County (VA)
Sports Complex there were several
fairly level, un-irrigated common
ground areas roughly .75 acres in size.
Unfortunately, they were full of weeds
and clumpy cool season turf. So the
question became how to transform
these small, weedy areas into quality
practice fields at relatively low cost?
The surprising answer is yes, by way
of dormant seeding and manipulating
Mother Nature.
Growth blankets
The key to our success in establishing
bermudagrass fields without irrigation
while manipulating Mother Nature
is to use growth blankets in conjunc-
tion with dormant seeding. Under
normal circumstances the time to plant
bermudagrass seed is when the soil tem-
perature reaches 68 degrees. In central
Virginia this normally means seeding
in late May to early June. However,
summers are hot and dry and the
chance of establishment success with-
out irrigation is quite small. Dormant
seeding of bermudagrass without
growth blankets has also been shown
to work in research at the University
of Arkansas. We felt this strategy could
fit our needs as well, but we wanted
even more assurance of success. So
what to do? After a lot of research and
brainstorming, our solution was to use
growth blankets to ensure appropriate
temperatures and moisture.
GrowinG seeded
bermudaGrass fields
without irriGation
■ By Michael a. Skelton
Field 2 before:
Practice field 2 area before conversion
to bermuda
