Our field Surface question

JacketOff

Helluva Engineer
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100% Kentucky Bluegrass year-round. Extremely fast growing in the summer time, and requires a ton of work to maintain. But stays green and pristine in winter-spring as well so that it looks great during college baseball season. When it was installed in fall of 2018 it was the southernmost stadium to be 100% bluegrass because of its fast growing tendencies, and the work required to maintain it in warm weather. Don’t know if that fact still holds true.

 

CINCYMETJACKET

Helluva Engineer
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1,216
LibertyTurns said:
Baseball field really looks great. We used to have some of the best football grass also. Damn shame we went to the cheap crap we have now. I hope we don’t double down on stupid.
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I'm assuming we went back to artificial turf for the football field because we want to host other events, e.g. concerts, there. Concerts, and even football, take a toll on grass every use. Some NFL teams have to replace their grass regularly, if I'm not mistaken, so likely a significant long term cost savings. Fortunately, the turf they have these days is much better, and looks much better, than the turf they had back in the mid 90's. If I'm not mistaken, Tech had artificial turf/concrete when I started grad school there in 1995 before they went to grass. Although my memory from 25 years ago is a little suspect.

The baseball stadium will likely be used for nothing more than... baseball! So I don't think there's much of a chance of going artificial on the baseball side.
 
LibertyTurns

LibertyTurns

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@CINCYMETJACKET The financial reason to move to astroturf on the football field was covered in some football thread here. I actually didn’t think it would be like it ended up and was hopeful before last season. Then I saw it. Really awful looking, like we borrowed a used rug from some high school up the road. We’re stuck with it now until we pay it off I suppose. I just hope we don’t continue to be plagued with injuries as we obviously lack depth on the roster. I’m hopeful we’ll get back to grass sooner than later. Understand the move as the program is in not good financial shape, but damn pass the hat next time. I’d help pay for real grass.
 

CINCYMETJACKET

Helluva Engineer
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1,216
LibertyTurns said:
@CINCYMETJACKET The financial reason to move to astroturf on the football field was covered in some football thread here. I actually didn’t think it would be like it ended up and was hopeful before last season. Then I saw it. Really awful looking, like we borrowed a used rug from some high school up the road. We’re stuck with it now until we pay it off I suppose. I just hope we don’t continue to be plagued with injuries as we obviously lack depth on the roster. I’m hopeful we’ll get back to grass sooner than later. Understand the move as the program is in not good financial shape, but damn pass the hat next time. I’d help pay for real grass.
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I'm a real grass fan myself, so yeah.
 

Dress2Jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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225
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Marietta
LibertyTurns said:
@CINCYMETJACKET The financial reason to move to astroturf on the football field was covered in some football thread here. I actually didn’t think it would be like it ended up and was hopeful before last season. Then I saw it. Really awful looking, like we borrowed a used rug from some high school up the road. We’re stuck with it now until we pay it off I suppose. I just hope we don’t continue to be plagued with injuries as we obviously lack depth on the roster. I’m hopeful we’ll get back to grass sooner than later. Understand the move as the program is in not good financial shape, but damn pass the hat next time. I’d help pay for real grass.
Click to expand...
I think the Sports Turf looks pretty good. Natural grass fields look very good in August/September, but really show the wear and shortened growing season by mid-October. Also, they require a lot of work and having concerts and other events on a natural field is a disaster both appearance and cost wise.

So, it came down to economics and having a nice looking field 12 months out of the year, rather than 4 months out of the year.
 
LongforDodd

LongforDodd

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JacketOff said:
100% Kentucky Bluegrass year-round. Extremely fast growing in the summer time, and requires a ton of work to maintain. But stays green and pristine in winter-spring as well so that it looks great during college baseball season. When it was installed in fall of 2018 it was the southernmost stadium to be 100% bluegrass because of its fast growing tendencies, and the work required to maintain it in warm weather. Don’t know if that fact still holds true.

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Thanks. That's interesting. Are you close enough to the program and/or field manager to find out what type of cultivar (?) it is? I've owned and/or maintained lawns here in Atlanta for well over 40 years and the only Kentucky Bluegrass I'm familiar with doesn't look like that in August nor is it recommended to cut it as low as the turf manager at RCS seems to cut it. It seems to be a very fine-bladed grass and not like what I've always known. Everything I've read about KBG flies in the face of the turf program at RCS. It looks great!
 
LongforDodd

LongforDodd

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Dress2Jacket said:
I think the Sports Turf looks pretty good. Natural grass fields look very good in August/September, but really show the wear and shortened growing season by mid-October. Also, they require a lot of work and having concerts and other events on a natural field is a disaster both appearance and cost wise.

So, it came down to economics and having a nice looking field 12 months out of the year, rather than 4 months out of the year.
Click to expand...
Depends on what grass your turf is. Only warm season grasses look good in the warm months and just soon as the weather starts to cool off, those warm season grasses stop growing and it starts to look worn. What Jacketoff says we have at RC is a traditional cool season grass which starts to look worn as the weather warms up.
 
BonafideJacket

BonafideJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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200
LongforDodd said:
Thanks. That's interesting. Are you close enough to the program and/or field manager to find out what type of cultivar (?) it is? I've owned and/or maintained lawns here in Atlanta for well over 40 years and the only Kentucky Bluegrass I'm familiar with doesn't look like that in August nor is it recommended to cut it as low as the turf manager at RCS seems to cut it. It seems to be a very fine-bladed grass and not like what I've always known. Everything I've read about KBG flies in the face of the turf program at RCS. It looks great!
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Per the article starting on page 8 of the link below, it's Barenburg HGT Bluegrass. Not sure if that's what you're looking for as I'm not a turfgrass guy in any way, shape, or form.

SportsField Management - October 2020
 

Dress2Jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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225
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Marietta
LongforDodd said:
Depends on what grass your turf is. Only warm season grasses look good in the warm months and just soon as the weather starts to cool off, those warm season grasses stop growing and it starts to look worn. What Jacketoff says we have at RC is a traditional cool season grass which starts to look worn as the weather warms up.
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Context, context, context...My comments were related to the post I quoted which referenced the football field.
 
LongforDodd

LongforDodd

LatinxBreakfastTacos
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3,194
BonafideJacket said:
Per the article starting on page 8 of the link below, it's Barenburg HGT Bluegrass. Not sure if that's what you're looking for as I'm not a turfgrass guy in any way, shape, or form.

SportsField Management - October 2020
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Thanks. That's good stuff and an interesting read. I've had an interest in growing grass since I was a kid. Chris has a first class field with the right underdrain system that makes it a lot easier to grow that stuff especially in the South. I see how his *** was puckering up that summer when we had all of those days above 90º.
 
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