Now that we have finally reached fall, we wanted to take another “look ahead” while reflecting on this past summer!

When we think of summer, we often recall memories of summer camps, vacations, and fireworks. But turfgrass managers think back to the weather! Growing grass in the transition zone means we have great grass-growing weather for Bermudagrass in the summer and Cool Season Turf in the spring and fall.

Bermudagrass:

For Bermudagrass, it was a slow start to the season due to cool temperatures. That said, the final stretch of weather post-Labor Day saw some great Bermudagrass-growing weather. This will help keep Bermudagrass green a bit longer into late fall. However, it is essential to be mindful of cool temperatures and frost when scheduling fall events. Stay off the frost!

Cool Season Turf:

As mentioned, it was a chilly start to summer. I remember feeling like we were in San Diego (aside from the smoke from the wildfires) as we had cool nights and warm days, but we also had no rain! As we went through this dry spell, many non-irrigated fields showed signs of poor soil conditions. While we like a “drier” spring, roots search for water and go deeper into the soil, which is why we aerate and deep tine. We could have used a few timely rains to help with new seeding applications.

Eventually, we warmed up and received consistent rains, keeping things green for most of June and July. Unfortunately, we ended summer on a poor weather stretch for non-irrigated fields as we returned to sweltering and arid conditions with a heat wave that concluded after Labor Day.

We are finally in some great cool season grass-growing weather since temperatures don’t dip too severely, so Bermudagrass should continue to hang on with some color. For some Bermudagrass fields, we will be overseeding with ryegrass. For others, we will be doing weed control along with pre-emergent to keep poa annua away to maintain a consistent brown surface!

Our cool season fields are all being seeded throughout September (we held off for one week after Labor Day due to the heatwave) and early October. Any field requiring additional seed will be seeded throughout October, and seed rates will be increased as needed for any summer stress or fall wear issues.

Starting at the end of September, we will begin our field renovation processes for baseball fields. This will include improvements anywhere from a mound and home plate touchup to new base installs and complete infield renovations. We will also be out at some of your favorite local and private golf courses in the area to aerate fairways, deep tine greens, and provide drainage solutions.

Popular trends:

HGT Bluegrass (cool season bluegrass grown as far south as Georgia Tech University) will be going into more high-use fields, although it does prefer more water than other bluegrasses. Overall, it is an excellent choice for irrigated fields.

Bermudagrass for driving range tees: the proof is that this trend started several years ago, and still continues year after year. Clubs are switching to cool season Bermudagrass varieties for driving range tees and, most commonly, Par 3 Tees.

Thank you all for your continued suport of Windview Athletic Fields!

-Chris