Establishing faster-growing, durable football fields

Researchers find most-effective seed mixture, planting times for fall sports fields

MADISON, WI — A study published in the February 2008 issue of HortScience offers new information that can help schools and contractors get outdoor athletic fields ready for fall sports more quickly. Results of the research study will help schools and communities pare down the usual 9- to 12-month waiting period between planting new fields and opening the fields to autumn football traffic.

Dr. John Stier, Associate Professor of Horticulture at University of Wisconsin-Madison, led the 2-year study of seed mixtures and planting times. He noted that football fields are usually planted using slow-establishing Kentucky bluegrass seed mixed with a lower proportion of perennial ryegrass seed. The objective of this study, explained Stier, was to evaluate the effects of planting time and seed mix on three different blends of the two seeds.

The researchers also studied each seed blend’s ability to stand up to “football-type traffic”. “We were interested in determining the amount of time needed for athletic fields to establish before they could successfully support autumn sports. We also wanted to see if the amount of time (to establish the fields) was affected by grass types and mixtures, and how planting time affected the relative proportions of different grass species that became established.”, stated Stier.

During each year of the project, field plots were seeded three times: in late summer, as a dormant planting in late fall, and in the following spring. Each plot was subjected to simulated football traffic (simulating either one or four weekly games) from mid-August through mid-November of the year in which spring seeding occurred.