Around the Turf Scene

As we approach the fall season, the environment transitions to cooler temperature and different sun angles for less intense heat throughout the afternoon. This is the best time of the year for summer recovery, and this sets the tone for healthier turf in the spring.

“You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” Remember those commercials about oil filters? This same catchphrase can be applied to using Mesotrione at seeding time.

Now’s the time to start planning aeration for your course. Aeration is a critical practice to help your course recover from summer stress, but it also requires some recovery of its own.

An irrigation audit measures how much and where the system is watering. STMA recommends the “catch can” method to conduct an audit, which involves placing catch cans in a grid pattern on the field. After leaving the system on for a period of time, you measure the water in each catch can and identify discrepancies between different locations on the field.

At this time of year, drought stress can pose a threat to athletic fields. Drought-stressed turf…

The chosen mixture should consist of a majority of the grasses listed below. Use the information below as a starting point, but please remember every situation may be different.

It may be tempting to go for the grass seed with the lowest price tag, but you get what you pay for with seed. Low-quality grass seed has lower germination rates, higher weed content, and other costly problems.

This time of year, some sports fields are home to a couple of unwanted visitors: nutsedge and goosegrass. 

While some baseball and softball fields continue to host tournaments after the end of spring season, many can reduce maintenance practices for the summer. If your field won’t be in use again until fall, you can implement different midsummer maintenance practices. Your goal should be to keep the field in shape and to do so as efficiently as possible.