FIELD SCIENCE
FACILITY & OPERATIONS
38 SportsTurf | January 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com
ness will help with what could be a wet
and cold winter.
Throughout the season, we will try to
solid tine aerify a few times before drop-
ping the mowing height in late April. As
soon as seasons end, we will spray out rye
to aid in transition. We have not done it
before but the hope is to transition fully
before summer ball begins in June. Last
year, the rye hung on with all the rain we
had and it hurt in the long run.
Noel T. Brusius, CSFM,
field maintenance supervisor,
Waukegan (IL) Park District
In 2016 our complex will be going on its
6th year of operation. Over the course
of the past 5 years we have developed a
fairly successful maintenance routine that
includes a strong emphasis on cultural
practices including aeration, overseeding,
topdressing, etc. As we do every year, we
will tweak our fertility schedule based off
the latest soil tests and anticipated use.
We also hope to do some experimenting
with new herbicides to help us develop
a strategy to reduce poa annua popula-
tions. Lastly we anticipate finishing up
a complete complex irrigation head
replacement and when finished new soil
sensors will be installed to give us another
tool to monitor turf conditions and
enhance water conservation.
Rebecca Auchter,
grounds maintenance manager,
Cranberry Township, PA
You caught me right on the cusp of con-
sidering how best to implement some
changes based on grounds management
issues that arose over the 2015 season.
I really have two categories that need
some serious consideration over the
winter when I have time to think and
develop an operational plan: 1) agro-
nomic program changes related to soil
amendments and cultivation based on
playability because of increased field use,
and 2) combining different classes of
growth regulators to achieve sustained
suppression of plant height without
diminishing wear recovery or seed ger-
mination.
On the first point regarding amend-
ments and cultivation, the driving factor
is an increase in field use; for example
our soccer fields have increased from
about 160 events per season to more 200
and climbing. For a field with a sand
rootzone I wouldn't be struggling; we
have a pretty sophisticated maintenance
program. But the fields in question are
native western Pennsylvania clay that
compacts easily and has the water infil-
tration capacity of my desktop.
For 2015 we increased aerification
but restricted our choices to primarily
solid deep tines on a 30-day schedule.
Only twice, in July and November, have
we used hollow tines. I am trying to fig-
