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/560546
www.stma.org September 2015 | SportsTurf 21 Graff 's Turf has been working with AstroTurf on the XtraGrass product and is the US distributor for it. Graff says, "Both companies view this arrangement as a partnership and everybody respects the expertise of the others. We let them know upfront that we wanted to be involved in the customer support through the grow in and the establishment process of the natural grass and they totally agree with that." Graff 's XtraGrass brochure explains the product like this: "XtraGrass is a network of synthetic turf fibers woven into a strong backing material and laid directly on a standard field base. It is carefully topdressed with sand and overseeded with your choice of turfgrass. The grass seeds germinate and grow between the synthetic fibers and through the backing. This creates a strong natural grass surface, which is more resistant to heavy wear. As the grass grows, 60% of the backing material biodegrades, leaving more room for the roots to grow through, while still retaining a strong support structure for the grass." The hybrid concept has been used before. SportGrass, a synthetic turf combining polypropylene blades and a tightly woven, synthetic mesh backing was installed on a well-drained sand-based field. Natural turf was seeded or sprigged into the synthetic turf and topdressed with amended sand. In another hybrid system, TS II (MotzGrass), the backing was burlap plus mesh, with the burlap intended to degrade over time. Both of these products were installed on fields in the US with vary- ing degrees of success and all were removed and replaced with other field systems. Graff says, "XtraGrass has a more porous backing than SportGrass or the TS II MotzGrass, which allows for much bet- ter root penetration. This product has been used in Europe for 12 years. They have refined the process and the product. We are getting a very well developed synthetic layer and good informa- tion on the grow in for those installations seeded or sprigged on the site and those seeded or sprigged by turfgrass producers to be installed as sod." Building on that background, Dr. John Sorochan, associate professor of Turfgrass Science for the University of Tennessee (UT) reports research is underway at the UT Center for Athletic Field Safety. "We have established XtraGrass plots with bermu- dagrass, turf type tall fescue, perennial ryegrass and bluegrass," says Sorochan. Initial research results on both bluegrass and bermudag- rass plots showed XtraGrass offered an improved percentage of green turf cover compared to non-XtraGrass plots after 30 events. Clegg surface hardness values were less than 100 Gmax for all plots tested even after 30 events. Additional research is underway. Sorochan did a great deal of research on the original SportGrass. Graff did the original grow in at the farm and then installed the SportGrass on Folsom Field at the University of Colorado. Thus both are aware of the problems involved with previous products and the steps taken with XtraGrass to avoid them. Sorochan says, "We will be incorporating some of the new technology into our research, including the fraze mowing that is widely used on athletic fields in Europe. The process removes the surface organics, leaving the plant's growth point and root system intact, basically allowing the turf to start over. We want to evaluate the effectiveness of fraze mowing on thatch man- agement control, especially on the bermudagrass. We'll also be gauging what impact fraze mowing makes on the synthetic fibers in terms of damage. We'll continue to simulate traffic at various levels on each of the trial plots and look at the wear comparisons." This cutaway view shows the components of the XtraGrass hybrid system. Image courtesy of AstroTurf.