How would I care for a turf in a football field? By: Tyler & Michael 9 th

Location/Original Characteristics The Field that I want to make flourish is located in Flandreau, SD. The lawn is about 54,000 square feet in size The current grass type is Scotts® Reseed Supreme Maximum Durability The grass has available irrigation in all areas of the field. The turf has major traffic all seasons.

Soil Charicteristics The soil characteristics are as follows –Moderately coarse soil texture –6.8 pH –10 – 12 inch deep soil depth –The area is mostly flat –A 20 square foot area is sloped at about 3%

Ground preparation To prepare the ground for spring and summer landscaping, we first use a drag with tines attached to dig out all residue and weeds left from last summer or winter weed that wasn’t taken care of. This will also fluff grass up from winter snow pack.

Ground Preparation Next, With more of a commercial job type, use a bigger aerator with bigger spikes to dig deeper and wider, this is the final stage in preparing the field for fertilizer and water applications, this will also help reduce frost left in the ground from the winter, it helps to have a little moisture in the lawn when using this machine, this increases the output of the aerator.

Maintenance I would have to –Drag –Aerate –Fertilize –Water –Mow

Fertilizer Using a Broadcast pull-behind spreader: For spring application- Apply Scotts® Lawn Pro® Super Turf Builder® Lawn Fertilizer, it helps green up faster and feeds plants all the while. You will need about 11 bags of this product to cover the field. A bag of this seed cost about $ According to Our results on the soil test sent in, we should apply ½ lb of nitrogen in early May and mid-September, we can also do this with our broadcast spreader.

Fertilizer As the year wears on and the lawn starts to pick up traffic and weeds, you should apply another weed preventer fertilizer. For our lawn, were using Scotts® Turf Builder® With PLUS 2® Weed Control to help prevent dandelions and crabgrass. This will strengthen the grass and help green it up. You will need about 11 bags to apply over the whole coverage area, they cost about $14.00/bag. IMPORTANT: FOLLOW FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS ON THE BAG, DO NOT OVER-FERTILIZE, THE GRASS WILL DIE.

Mowing We usually mowed once a week depending on the weather and lawn feed times, this helps grass recover quicker. Do not mow it to short!, this will expose the roots to pure sunlight rays and eventually kill over. This also will expose the grass to weeds which is not helpful at all.

Watering and Maintenance In our lawn, we have a mobile sprinkler system that can cover about 1/3 the lawn at a time, we have to make sure to water for about ½ hr each day after every application of fertilizer, usually watering for a week. In extreme heat you want to make sure to keep lawn in near drenching conditions since there is little to none shade conditions.

Fall Lawn care As the months wind down, we should apply the last application of Nitrogen over the area. You should let that stand for 1-2 weeks with watering. The using your aerator go through the lawn again the opposite way you did in the spring which will help the lawn in many ways.

Fall Fertilizer Using our spreader, We need to apply a fertilizer that will help grass withstand the winter ahead and help weed control next spring. So we decided to use Scotts® Turf Builder® WinterGuard With PLUS 2® Weed Control, only a light application will be helpful in this case, so about 9 bags will be needed, they are about $15 a bag. A few weeks after the application, make sure to drag the lawn againto get leftover residue from the year and then lawnsweep or rake up after.

Conclusion After all is said and done for the year, the lawn should be really green and really healthy, following this plan will reduce risks of grass dying and weeds. It will green up greatly after every fertilizer ( if applied right). The mowing was done at the owners intent and watering was on schedule.

Work Cited Scotts Fertilizer Company –Lawn Care Feed Any Season True Value Magazine –Pg. A2