Turf: Selection, Establishment, and Maintenance Chapter 13 Turf: Selection, Establishment, and Maintenance

Turfgrasses are among the oldest species used by human beings to fashion the outdoors into residential and recreational areas that suit their needs. Today, full-service lawn care corporations are leading profit makers among landscape professionals. The main reason for the ongoing interest in turfgrass and improved turf care is because nothing has ever surpassed a top-quality lawn as the ideal outdoor surface.

Residential use is the term used to describe turf associated with private homes, estates, and apartment and condominium complexes. Commercial use is the term used to describe turf associated with corporate landscapes, shopping centers, and office buildings. Municipal is the term used to describe turf associated with civic buildings, community centers, highway dividers, and airports. Recreational use us the term used to describe turf associated with parks, golf courses, country clubs, stadiums, and athletic fields.

Can you label these?

Correct selection of turfgrass for landscape requires knowledge of: Landscapes Geographic regions Soil types Altitudes Environmental conditions

Turfgrasses are monocotyledons, meaning they have only one seed leaf in the embryo, whose growing point is at the crown near the soil. One of the objectives of good turfgrass management is to encourage growth as quickly and as uniformly as possible.

Different ways grass produce new shoots: Rhizome-producing (rhizomatous) – the shoots produced beneath the soil’s surface and send new plants to the surface. Stolon-producing (stoloniferous) – the shoots produced extend outward from the parent plant along the surface of the soil. Bunch-type – new lateral shoots termed tillers are produced from axillary buds within the leaf sheath.

Rhizomatous and stoloniferous grasses tend to reproduce more quickly and evenly than bunch-type grasses. Leaf texture is mostly a measure of the width of the leaf blade. The wider the blade the coarser the texture. Generally, fine textured grasses are considered more attractive.

Density refers to the number of aerial leaf shoots that a single plant or species produce. Seed size varies greatly among grass species. Fine-textured grasses have small seeds; coarse-textured grasses usually have much smaller.

Categories of Grasses Cool-season grasses – favored by daytime temperatures of 60 – 75 degrees F. Warm-season grasses – favored by daytime temperatures of 80 – 95 degrees F.

Purity – the percentage, by weight of pure grass seed. Percent germination – the percentage of the pure seed that was capable of germination on the date tested. Crop seed – the percentage by weight of cash crop seeds in the mixture. These are undesirable for lawns.

Weeds – the percentage by weight of weed seeds in the mixture. Noxious weeds – this is usually the number of noxious weeds per pound or ounce of weed seeds. Inert material – the percentage, by weight, of material in the package that will not grow.

3 factors to consider when deciding installation method: Grass seed is commonly formulated as either a mixture or a blend. A mixture combines two or more cultivars of a single species. A blend combines two or more different species of grass. 3 factors to consider when deciding installation method: Species of grass The type of site Immediacy of the need for usable turf

Four methods of installing turfgrass: Seeding Sodding Plugging Sprigging and stolonizing

Seeding is the most common and least expensive method of establishing a lawn. A hydroseeder is a spraying device that applies seed, water, fertilizer, and mulch simultaneously. Sod is established turf which is moved from one location to another.

Plugging is the most common method of installing lawns in the southern sections of the U.S. A sprig is a piece of grass shoot. Stolonizing is a form of sprigging. The sprigs are broadcast over the site, covered slightly with soil, then rolled or disked.

Six steps to a successful lawn Plant at the proper time of year. Provide the proper drainage and grading. Condition the soil properly. Apply fresh, vigorous seed, sod, plugs, or sprigs. Provide adequate moisture to promote rapid establishment of the lawn. Mow the new lawn to its correct height.

Grading can alter level land so that is slopes slightly. Proper drainage permits the water to move slowly into the soil to the turf’s root system where it can be absorbed, yet pass beyond the root zone before it collects and does harm to the plants. Drainage is critical to the survival of the lawn, no matter what the species.

Most turfgrasses grow best in a loam or sandy loam soil with a pH that is neutral to slightly acidic. (7.0 to 6.5) Proper seeding is applied to the prepared soil in a manner that will distribute the recommended quantity evenly; otherwise, a patchy lawn develops.

Proper installation of sod includes installing sod as soon as possible to its cutting. Keep the soil moist, and do not try and stretch the strips. Proper plugging includes setting them into the conditioned soil at regular intervals (12-18 in.) and in staggered rows to maximize coverage. Proper sprig installation requires planting two to three inches deep in rows 8 to 12 inches apart. Distribute evenly over the prepared soil and push down into soil with a stick.

The soil and developing grasses should not be allowed to dry until the new grass is about two inches tall. The first objective when mowing a lawn for the first time is to encourage horizontal branching of the new grass as quickly as possible.

Two types of spreaders Rotary – dispenses the material from a closed hamper onto a rotating plate that then propels it outward in a semicircular patter. Drop spreader – dispenses the material through holes in the bottom of the hamper as it is pushed across the lawn.

Windy days are not suitable for calibration. Patching is warranted where bare spots are at least one foot in diameter. Aeration of the lawn is the addition of air to the soil. Proper aeration cuts into the soil about three inches deep and either removes plugs of the soil or slices it into thin furrows. These holes allow for better air flow into the soil.

Vertical mowing is a technique that can break up the soil plugs left by an aerator or even remove excess thatch if necessary. Lawns should be fertilized just before they need the nutrients for their growth. Cool-season grasses should be fertilized early spring and early fall. Warm-season grasses should be fertilized in late spring.

To obtain the fullest benefit from fertilizer, it should be applied in an amount the turfgrass can use fully before it reaches beyond the root zone. Turfgrasses are among the first plants to suffer from lack of water since they have shallow roots as compared to trees and shrubs. The best time of day to water lawns is early in the morning.

Watering early morning is most efficient because watering late in the day will result in greater evaporation. Watering in the early evening or later can promote disease because turf pathogens thrive in lawns that remain moist late in the evening.

Three types of Mowers Flail – used for utility and stabilization turfgrasses that are only cut a few times a year. Reel – blades rotate in the same motion as the wheel.

Cont.’d Rotary – blades move like a ceiling fan, cutting the grass off as they revolve.

Not to be confused with patching, overseeding is the planting of new seed into an established turf area to extend its time of use. Selectivity is an important characteristic of turf herbicides so that the desirable grasses are not damaged by the control effort.

Weeds are only one of the pests that affect turf installations. With turf, as with any crop, the best defense against most pests is the selection of resistant varieties and the creation of a growth environment that favors the turfgrass more than pest.