Sustainable Sports Fields and Golf Grounds Management
Peter Joseph Ashe, CSFM UNCGreensboro
Introduction: March 3, 2011, NCAPPA Conference, A Call for Papers!
-David Hatch’s E-mail and December 20th deadline extension.
People Management - Teamwork - Cooperation
-UNCG Spartan Sports Turf Team - A front line skilled work force!
-Evolution from a Hispanic to Guilford Tech CC Turfgrass Program student workers.
- Hire smart, train hard, manage easy! The value of continuing education.
-Work with Coaches and Athletic special events personnel
-Facilities Departmental support: Plumbers, Electricians, Sign shop, Campus Grounds
-We are Physical Plant/Facilities Operation/ Sports Fields Grounds
-Customers are Intercollegiate Athletics, Physical Education, Student Recreation
-Always planning ahead. Defining daily priorities: Weather, growing season, competition schedules.
-When in doubt? Student’s first. Optimism is Our Oxygen!
Uniqueness of Sports Fields – There is not one field complex in America that is run strictly by the book.
-So many variables, so many strategies, so many ways to succeed.
UNG Greenboro Sports Turfgrass Facilities - Various and diverse bermudagrass fields
-Student Recreation Field- Sand capped with internal drainage, 3 acres
-Soccer Practice Field- Native Piedmont soil, No drainage, 2.5 acres
-Soccer Game Field- Sand by-pass drainage, 2.5 acres
-Baseball Field- USGA-like constructed root zone and drainage, 3 acres
-Softball Field- Sand based engineered root zone and drainage, 1 acre
-Golf greens and range practice facility, 3 native soil putting greens, 2 sand based greens, 1 acre
- Park and natural acreage, lawns, urban forest and wetlands, 10 acres
IPM - Integrated Pest Management - Integrated Plant Management
-Goal: Create turfgrass density to out-compete weeds and build field surface resilience.
Soil Science 101 : ‘Understand and manage what’s below the turf and you’ll have turf to manage.’
-The best Sports fields and Golf turf requires drainage, drainage and more drainage.
-Soil testing: Diagnostic tool, nutrient needs, soil ph, field construction diagnostics
- Soil cultivation: Various aerator machines create many benefits:
-relieves soil compaction, fights thatch buildup, relieves bad gas, helps promote water and
nutrient percolation, encourages beneficial soi l micro organisms, resolves soil layering
problems, and generally encourages healthy root systems.
Field Nutrition Management: Controlled release granular and Foliar spray spoon feeds
-Essential macros, N, P and K, and minors Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, and on.
- Know your turfgrass roots and nutrient uptake ability.
Cool season grass - Warm season grass
Water (Irrigation) Mangement: Drought extremes, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2007.
-Field and Golf turfgrass irrigation water source conversion from city to wells.
-Not every blade of grass has to be lush and green. Drying out prevents insect egg hatch.
–Irrigation timing, evapotranspiration, hydrophobic conditions, wetting agents, dealing with hot spots.
TGRs - Turfgrass Growth Regulators – lowers input needs. A tool to give consideration.
-Less grooming, less water, less fuel - more horizontal growth, more density, more wear tolerance.
High traffic field areas should be given priority. Concentrate time, resources, energy, seed, fertilizer and
sod on predictable high use, wear areas saves money.
If possible groom fields when grass is dry for best quality manicure. Always recycle mower clippings.
-To Keep nutrients - build soil structure - save money
Reel mowers produce a cleaner cut and healthier grass on Bermuda fields. Rotary blades are 2nd best.
-Keep mower adjusted and Gillette sharp! ‘You can’t get a clean shave with a dull razor.’
Surplused utility powered vehicles - Reduced, Renovated, Recycled
Golf Green Management - Cool season bentgrass. Careful irrigation and nutrition monitoring is key.
-.125” - The country club mowing height of cut.
-.1875” - .250” - More grass blade, more photosynthesis, more golf green vigor.
- Preventive vs. Control fungicide applications, EPA, changes from grams to pints, ounces to quarts.
-Biostimulants, sea weed,stimulate plant hormones creating environmental stress tolerance in grass
-Light foliar feeds and ultra dwarf bermudagrass green conversion trends
- Building the Game-UNCG Students, Faculty, Staff and Community Golf
Campus Grounds- Converting cool season fescue lawns to warm season zoysiagrass.
-Less water, less weeds, more durability.
Investing in more seed for fescue lawns to create turf density vs. pre-emerge herbicide regimens.
Micro treatments with 1 gallon sprayers, Spred-Rite granular applicators and mechanical knife-outs.
Henry David Thoreau wrote all about nature’s glory, but he never mentioned the mosquitoes?
-We must live with some of the uncertainties that happen in nature. Will expectations change?
-Plants and turfgrass can exist quite well under certain pest thresholds.
An example of a pesticide used as critical tool: Transition zone, October-seed ryegrass into Bermuda.
-In May- transition out ryegrass with a low dose herbicide to expedite bermudagrass grow back.
Conclusion: IPM - Use pesticides only as a last resort. “Make every day earth day.”- Kevin Trotta
With budget fluctuations, it does not take extra dollars to keep facilities trimmed, clean and tidy.
Sustainability : Rather PMP ( Prudence, Moderation and Persistence) are appropriate values.
The Sodbuster’s Crede:
“Every blade of grass is a study and to produce two, where there was but one
Is both a profit and a pleasure”
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