f<\/span>or spectators, watching a football or soccer game in rainy, snowy, or muddy conditions can be quite entertaining, especially as the game wears on and the field and players are reduced to a muddy mess. while the players can easily hit the showers, the playing field is another story. these occurrences keep field and sports turf managers awake at night, as they’re tasked with getting the field back to playing shape for the next event, which might be scheduled for the very next day.<\/p>\n
the new turf baseball field at johnston high school in iowa.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
whether it’s a high school, parks and rec field, a division one college<\/a>, or professional sports field, there are many considerations at play when it comes to sports turf selection and maintenance. “artificial and natural grass turf have significant differences, and how your sports field performs is influenced by a variety of factors,” according to clay schneckloth, a landscape architect at snyder & associates, an iowa-based firm specializing in engineering, 2022世界杯32强预选赛 , and design services<\/a>.<\/p>\n
schneckloth’s firm has worked on a number of athletic facilities in the parks and school sectors<\/a>, including new designs and renovations. while natural turf is still standard, schneckloth is noticing more small market facilities like high schools turning to artificial turf<\/a>, which is often due to the number of events they’d like to schedule. “with artificial turf, they’re not having to ‘rest’ the field like you might have to with natural turf to allow it to recover from the activity; they can schedule activities back-to-back and not have to worry about the natural turf getting beat up or destroyed. also, after a rain event, they’re able to get back on the artificial turf much sooner than a natural turf field.”<\/p>\n
the nevada cubs stadium<\/a> has a natural turf field comprised of kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. drainage and irrigation components were included during field construction to assist with turf establishment and long-term health.<\/p><\/div>\n
for many natural turf fields<\/a> built on native soil, drainage can be a big problem. but budgets might not be large enough to install a synthetic field. another option is installing a sand-based field, which involves excavating a foot or more of soil, installing drain tile, a gravel layer, and a sand-based root zone. another option is the sand cap model, which is less expensive because only a small layer of topsoil is removed from the field and replaced with a layer of specifically blended high sand-based root zone material. the turfgrass is then reestablished from seed. installing a drain system is also necessary.<\/p>\n
the iowa state (isu) cyclones boast a proud sports tradition, and their football team\u2014which competes in the big 12 conference\u2014had a standout year this past season. adam thoms is the assistant professor of commercial turfgrass there, helping to troubleshoot turfgrass problems for the turf managers at isu’s athletic department, who maintain nine natural grass fields and two synthetic fields.<\/p>\n
thoms and the athletic department shared some insights involving their work, agreeing that weather is a big challenge<\/a>. “some years it rains a lot, and it’s hard to get the turfgrass roots to go deeper into the rootzone. drier years it’s actually easier because we can just add the water we need and drive the roots deeper, making a stronger playing surface,” said thoms.<\/p>\n
thoms explained that climate makes a big difference in which type of turfgrass grows best and how you would maintain it<\/a>. “in the southern u.s. it would be bermudagrass, and more northern areas is kentucky bluegrass. some areas use bermudagrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass during the fall and winter months. each turfgrass has its own requirements, but at the end of the day there’s a turfgrass that performs well in every part of the united states.”<\/p>\n