Cover Story
Establishing Seeded
Bermudagrass Sports Fields
without Irrigation
By Mike Skelton, Parks Superintendent, Culpeper County Parks and Recreation
The
constant, number-one challenge faced by managers of youth sports complexes is maintaining a sufficient number of fields for the tremendous number of both games and practices played every season. A general rule of thumb is that for every scheduled game event, there are at least two practice events. For 200 scheduled youth soccer games, there are almost 400 practice events, for a total of 600 events. The demand for sports fields is unrelenting. In an environment of fiscal restraint, the possibility of purchasing more park space and constructing new fields is not realistic for most of us. One very simple and inexpensive answer is to maximize the space available by capturing, for instance, small common-ground areas for practice fields. At the Culpeper County (VA) Sports Complex, there were several fairly level, unirrigated common-ground areas of
approximately .75 acres in size. The sites were not fit for play because they were full of weeds and clumpy, coolseason turf. Is there an inexpensive way to transform these small weedy, unirrigated common areas into quality practice fields at a relatively low cost? The surprising answer is yes — by way of dormant seeding and manipulating Mother Nature!
Dormant seeding
The key to our success in establishing bermudagrass fields without irrigation and to manipulate Mother Nature is to use growth blankets (light-colored blankets that allow a great deal of light penetration) in conjunction with dormant seeding. Under normal circumstances, the time to plant bermudagrass seed is when the soil temperature reaches 68°F. In central Virginia, this normally means seeding in late May to early June. However, summers are typically hot and dry, and the chance of establishment success in non-
14 | Virginia Turfgrass Journal March/April 2016 www.vaturf.org