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/765909
FIELD SCIENCE 10 SportsTurf | January 2017 www.sportsturfonline.com If I had one wish for all sports turf managers and their fertility programs, I would wish for you to use plant growth regulators (PGRs) in season and out of season. The improvement in our wear tolerance, color, turf density and blade durability after just one complete season of PGRs was significant. An added bonus is that PGRs have dramatically reduced or eliminated the annual bluegrass (poa annua) that many of us fight each season. Biweekly foliar applications of Trinexapac-ethyl and Paclobutrazol throughout the growing season also reduced our grass clippings and mowing frequency. The plant energy was not being wasted on what you mow off and throw away, but on promoting healthier, deeper roots even during the heat of summer. Again, healthy roots = healthy turf. As described above, what comes from the bag or bottle is important to growing grass, but there is no substitute for regu- lar, diligent cultural practices. When in doubt, aerate, aerate, aerate! Between home stands or when you have a few days with no field activity, aerate. Oxygen exchange not only promotes healthy roots, but it stimulates the sand-based soil biosphere to do things Mother Nature intended in native soil. Pulling cores, harvesting, and topdressing should always be the top priority. However, in the world of professional baseball, we usually don't have the window to accomplish this more than twice a season. Solid, bayonet tines have become our best friend. After every home stand we open up our heavy wear areas to let them breathe, and punch holes in the entire field a couple more times a season. With a 100% Kentucky bluegrass field, I have cut back on in-season overseeding and choose to concentrate new seed growth and repair for the fall. Slow bluegrass germination, followed by heavy use on infant plants, and high soil temperatures from summer's heat, made in-season seeding a "chase your tail" experience. Our five-cultivar seed blend is costly, so I decided to get the most bang for the buck and put seed in the ground when it had the highest germination probability. Conversely, thanks to PGRs and healthy roots, the rhizomes and stolons in our turf grow enough lateral shoots and adventitious roots to fill and repair wear areas when our field gets 3-5 days or more of rest and recovery. Low soil temperatures in the spring challenge the bluegrass, but deep roots can offset some of that early season beat down. For those of us who grow cool-season grass and host spring When in doubt, aerate, aerate, aerate!