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Rocky Mountain high expectations
1 Oct, 2005 By: Ron Hall Athletic Turf NewsA city, a contractor and a fertigation supplier become partners to dramatically improve sports fields in Colorado Springs
Residents of Colorado Springs have high expectations when it comes to their recreational opportunities. And it's not just because their city is located at 6,000 ft. elevation, almost 1,000 ft. higher than Denver. God it seems created Colorado Springs for outdoor sport and recreation. Nearby Pikes Peak and the towering red sandstones at the Garden of the Gods inspire hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
 This 300-gallon tank at the Skyview Sports Complex is one of the largest fertigation units installed at the parks. |
But it's the city's incredible park system that gets the most use and scrutiny from its 370,000 residents. In fact, like most growing communities, its public parks, and especially its sports fields, get way too much use. The turfgrass on these public facilities can get pounded into dust. Park officials here, however, are fighting back on turfgrass wear by using a technique that remains grossly underused by landscape maintenance contractors and fixed-site grounds professionals even though it works —in a word, fertigation.
"In our parks that have fertigation we're seeing quicker greenup, the turf recovers more quickly after intensive use and we're seeing more vigorous growth overall," says Kurt Schroeder, park maintenance, trails and open space manager.
Schroeder came to Colorado Springs 25 years ago, attracted by the region's beauty and its outdoor lifestyle. Originally from Baltimore, he earned his degree in park management from Texas A&M, did a student internship in the mountains and came back to live when he had the chance. Today he oversees its vast network of parks, trails and sports fields.
Ferti-what?
What's fertigation? It's a term coined for application of fertilizers in irrigation waters through sprinkler systems. Some people refer to the process as "chemigation" since other plant- or soil-enhancing chemicals (wetting agents, organics and humates for example) can be added to the irrigation in addition to fertilizer. In fact, that's the case with fertigation at the Colorado Springs parks.
Whatever you call it, fertigation (let's use the most common term) offers compelling agronomic and, in some cases, economic advantages for turf managers. Another point in its favor, the technology is neither sophisticated nor unduly costly. Although fertigation has been slow to be adopted outside of golf turf management, results such as those enjoyed at Colorado Springs will change that.
In 2004 Houston-based Turf Feeding Systems installed 21 fertigation systems on community parks, landscapes and sports fields. The city committed more than 200 acres of turf and landscapes to the program then closely observed how it worked.
The city's biggest and most obvious challenge was its sports fields. The long seasons and almost constant play never gave the grass time to recover. That's the biggest challenge that most community and school sports turf managers face. Most use granular fertilizers in an attempt to get the grass back to a denser condition for both appearance and safety's sake. But once the fertilizer is applied to the field, the manager has no control of recovery from turfgrass damage. He or she can only turn up the water, and any water restrictions severely limit the fertilizer's effectiveness and their options.
Fertigation gives the turf manager more options for helping the turfgrass recover from wear. All the field manager needs to do is turn up the injection rate of the nutrients and watch the grass grow. That's exactly what's taking place in Colorado Springs.
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