Functions, Quality and Selection
 Students will:
 Know the three purposes and functions
of turfgrass.
 Know how to determine turfgrass
quality.
 Know the guidelines in determining
turfgrass selection.
 Know the two types of turfgrass.
 People enjoy its beauty
 Conservationist appreciate its positive effects
on the environment.
 Athletes like the surface it provides on playing
fields.
 Turf appreciates property value
when maintained.
 The three purposes and
functions of turf:
 Utility
 Ornamental
 Sports
 The utility functions of turf are how it helps the
environment.
 Utility turf has many functions.
 Stabilizes the soil and reduces erosion.
 Cooling effect on the environment in hot
weather.
 Helps clean the air by
removing toxic emissions.
 Enhances areas around homes,
businesses and in parks.
 Form of decoration.
 Brings beauty to areas that might
otherwise be unattractive.
 All types of playing fields.
 Surface reduces injuries to players
 Surface can be specially groomed to provide
the area needed for different sports.
 A lot of research has been done to improve
turfgrass for sports fields.
 Technology has been established to help
maintain turf for sports fields.
 Turf quality is the excellence of the turf
 It is closely related to the function of
turf
 Turf quality is based on utility,
appearance and playability.
 Visual turf inspection is often used to
assess quality.
 There are six common visual factors
used to assess quality.
 Density, texture, uniformity, color,
growth habit, and smoothness.
 The number of aerial shoots per unit
area.
 How many blades (leaves) are present.
 The width of the leaf blades.
 Wide blades form turf with a coarse
texture.
 Narrow blades produce a fine texture.
 The evenness and distribution of the
turf on site.
 Involves the mass of aerial shoots that
form the visible surface.
 Gives the surface a smooth,
even appearance.
 Measure of light reflected by the turf.
 Most turf should be a rich green color.
 Different species are different colors.
 The type of shoot growth
 Bunch, rhizomatous and stoloniferous
are types of shoot growth.
 Horizontal growth patterns are a
problem in stoloniferous turfgrasses.
 Surface feature that affects visual
quality and playability.
 Preparation of the soil prior to planting
turf is important in smoothness.
 Functional turf quality is how well a
turf achieves its purpose.
 There are nine functional factors in
turf quality.
 Rigidity, elasticity, resiliency, ball roll,
traction, yield, verdure, rooting and
recuperative potential.
 Involves the resistance of turf leaves to
compression.
 Related to wear resistance.
 Influenced by plant tissue, water
content, temperature, plant size and
density.
 The tendency of leaves to bounce back
once a compressing force is removed.
 The capacity of a turf to absorb shock
without altering surface characteristics.
 Growth medium is a factor.
 The average distance a ball travels upon
being released on a turf surface.
 Mechanical devices are used may be
used to release a ball at a consistence
speed to obtain measurements.
 Indicates the positive planting of feet
and positive movement which is
unhindered by the turf or soil surface.
 The better the traction the more the
turf and soil hold firm to this
movement.
 This is important in sports activities on
athletic fields.
 Measure of clippings removed with
mowing.
 Indication of turfgrass growth as
influenced by fertilization, irrigation
and other cultural and natural
environmental factors.
 The measure of aerial shoots remaining
after mowing.
 Increasing verdure can correlate with
increasing resiliency and rigidity.
 The amount of root growth
evident at any one time in the
growing season.
 Estimated visually by
extracting a turf core with a
soil probe or knife.
 Soil is worked free or washed
away to expose the roots.
 The capacity of the turfgrass to recover
from damage caused by:
 Disease organisms, insects, vehicular
and pedestrian traffic, flooding, spills
and scalping.
 A good turf begins with selecting the
right turfgrass.
 Climate, use, maintenance needs and
characteristics of southern and
northern turfgrasses are important in
selecting the kind to grow.
 Turfgrasses are place in two groups.
 These groups are based on the ability of a species
to grow and serve a useful purpose in the climate.
 Southern- Warm Season Turfgrass grows best
at 80 to 95 degrees F.
 Northern- Cool Season Turfgrass grows best at
60 to 75 degrees F.
 Both Warm and Cool season turfgrasses can go
into dormancy when exposed to extreme
weather conditions
 It is important to grow the correct type
of turfgrass for your region.
 Those in a transition zone (area
between climate zones) need be
cautious when selecting a turf grass.
 Tall fescue and ryegrasses are popular
turf for the transition zone.
 The family of grasses is Gramineae or
Poaceae.
 There are six subfamilies, 25 tribes, 600
genus and 7,500 species.
 Fewer than 50 are planted as turfgrasses
throughout the world.
 Cultivars are named after people, places,
use, plant characteristics, or any
combination.
What are the three purposes and
functions of turfgrass?
2. List three visual qualities of
turfgrass.
3. List three functional qualities of
turfgrass.
4. What are the two types of
turfgrass?
1.
 You are going to build a turf grass box to do some
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comparison.
Your box will be 1ft x 2 ft
Will be made from pallet wood
Pre-Drill holes before screwing them together
Drill drainage holes in bottom in case of over watering
Should look like this at end