Time to regrass those bare spots
5 Nov, 2007 Athletic Turf NewsMost high school football seasons are finished but some schools still have play-off games and it's hard to think about the 2008 growing season while this one is still here.
Pam Sherratt, a member of The Ohio State University sports turf team of experts, says that now is the time for managers of cool-season turf sports fields to begin making repairs if they want their fields to start the 2008 season in decent shape.
Football fields, soccer fields, and in particular practice fields are in varying states of disrepair that need addressing now or they will be very difficult to manage next year, she says. Most importantly, any bare soil areas that are not seeded or sodded right now will unvariably become seedbeds for typical athletic field weeds like prostrate knotweed (Polygonum aviculare), crabgrass (Digitaria sp.), and Poa annua. All of these weeds emerge quickly (especially knotweed, which emerges sometime at the end of March in Ohio) and can out-compete the desirable grasses.
Preventing these weeds from establishing in bare soil can be done in a number of ways this fall. Click here for latest Buckeye SportsNote, a down-and-dirty guide on getting some grass growing in those bare spots yet this fall.
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