Madison, Wisconsin
May 13, 2008
A
study published in the February 2008 issue of HortScience
offers new information that can help schools and contractors get
outdoor athletic fields ready for fall sports more quickly.
Results of the research study will help schools and communities
pare down the usual 9- to 12-month waiting period between
planting new fields and opening the fields to autumn football
traffic.
Dr. John Stier, Associate Professor of Horticulture at
University of Wisconsin-Madison,
led the 2-year study of seed mixtures and planting times. He
noted that football fields are usually planted using
slow-establishing Kentucky bluegrass seed mixed with a lower
proportion of perennial ryegrass seed. The objective of this
study, explained Stier, was to evaluate the effects of planting
time and seed mix on three different blends of the two seeds.
The researchers also studied each seed blend’s ability to stand
up to “football-type traffic”. “We were interested in
determining the amount of time needed for athletic fields to
establish before they could successfully support autumn sports.
We also wanted to see if the amount of time (to establish the
fields) was affected by grass types and mixtures, and how
planting time affected the relative proportions of different
grass species that became established.”, stated Stier.
During each year of the project, field plots were seeded three
times: in late summer, as a dormant planting in late fall, and
in the following spring. Each plot was subjected to simulated
football traffic (simulating either one or four weekly games)
from mid-August through mid-November of the year in which spring
seeding occurred.
According to Stier, all planting dates provided acceptable turf
quality by September, regardless of seed type. However, Kentucky
bluegrass-based mixtures planted during the summer provided
better turf quality than mixtures planted in the spring.
Dormant-seeded mixtures provided the poorest turf quality. The
team found that turf seeded with 100% perennial ryegrass was
less sensitive to planting dates than Kentucky bluegrass turf.
Summer and spring plantings provided similar quality and dormant
seedings resulting in superior quality to Kentucky
bluegrass-based dormant seedings.
Additionally, simulated traffic studies revealed that different
levels of traffic did not affect turf species proportions. The
most consistently desirable results were obtained with a mixture
containing 70%-80% Kentucky bluegrass and 30%-20% perennial
ryegrass. The best results for mixtures dominated by Kentucky
bluegrass came from fields seeded in late summer.
Stier added that perennial ryegrass could be planted in spring
and provided ideal ground cover with few weeds, but mixtures in
which Kentucky bluegrass seed comprised 50% or more of the turf
needed to be planted the preceding summer. Dormant seedings did
not perform well, leading to relatively poor ground cover and
significantly higher weed populations.
Summarizing the impact of his team’s research, Stier said: “The
research outcomes can allow school systems to prepare better
bids for construction and renovation of sports fields, making
the fields more likely to meet expected performance standards
and ultimately reduce costs to the school districts.”
The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS
HortScience electronic journal web site:
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/43/1/240
Founded in 1903, the American
Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest
organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural
research, education, and application.
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