Demo Day Thank You!

Simon Gumbrill & Jerad Minnick Share at Demo Day

THANK YOU to everyone that took part in the demonstration at Maryland SoccerPlex on Monday, June 3rd.  Heavy rains Sunday night limited to the amount of work that was able to take place, but that did not limit the discussions and information sharing between the nice sized group that gathered.

Special thanks to Mr. Simon Gumbrill of Campey Turf Care (Manchester, UK) and Mr. Hans DeKort of Imants (Reusel, Netherlands) for taking the time to be with us.  And special thanks to them for building and providing the turfgrass market with such well build and precision machines.  The relationship between Campey and Imants is absolutely “Perfecting Play”.  

Also, thank you to Mr. Niels Dokkuma from SGL  (Netherlands) for joining us.  The age of growing grass year round w/ lights for even non-shaded fields is coming… and SGL is leading us there.  Exciting things ahead!!

And additionally, a thank you for Mr. Yousef Bagdady for joining us from Garden & Farm (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).  Garden & Farm is one of the finest turfgrass equipment distributors in the world, and Mr. Bagdady being with us illustrates why.  The idea sharing was beneficial for us all!

More to come w/ the re-growth of the fields.  We are absolutely on track to re-open by 1 week from today…  June 15th.  A sneak peak at the results so far:

Patriot Bermuda Greening 5 Days After Cleaning Off

Thinnest Area Prior to Patriot Bermuda Being Cleaned Off 6 Days Before

Evolving the Practice: Fraze Mowing Bermudagrass Comes To Maryland SoccerPlex

Fraze mowing bermudagrass w/ the KORO Universe® Field Topmaker rotor became an active practice on dormant bermudagrass at FC Dallas Park in March.  Now for the 1st time, the practice has been used on bermudagrass greening up and starting its summer growth at Maryland SoccerPlex (NW side of Washington, DC).  The Patriot bermudagrass on  7 fields at SoccerPlex has been actively growing for about 3 weeks…  so fraze mowing is taking place right at the time of transitioning the rye grass overseeding out of the bermudagrass.

Fraze mowing 2 fields took place on Thursday of last week, May 30.  The top 1/2″ of the field was removed w/ the benefits being:

1) rye grass removal

2) poa annua and weed seed removal

3) thatch/organic build up removal

4)  smoothing the surface of the top of the field

With all the removal, the bermuda stolons and rhizomes were exposed to the sunlight to be allowed to green up completely and actively grow across the field instead of fighting to get up through the shade of the thatch/organic and competition of the rye/ poa.

Fraze Mowing w/ KORO Universe Field Topmaker

Bermuda Plants Exposed w/ Removal of Rye, Poa, Weed Seed, and Thatch/ Organic Build Up

Stolons & Rhizomes Exposed

Following the “cleaning off” via fraze mowing, the fields were scarified at 1″ deep w/ a verticutter in 2 directions to cut the stolons and rhizomes to increase the number of plants and promote lateral and leaf growth.  Each point the bermuda is cut will promote growth and increase density as the fields fill-in.

Results of Fraze Mowing w/ KORO Universe & Double Scarifying w/ Verticutter

Following fraze mowing and scarifying, the fields were put into a heavy watering cycle to keep the bermudagrass soaked down in the soil… much like sprigs would be soaked when they are planted from sprigging.  The water will help the remaining dormant plants to green up and start to grow.. and reduce the stress of the fraze mowing.

In 5-7 days time when leaves have re-generated and can be foliar fed, foliar bio-stimulant will be applied to promote more leaf and shoot growth.  Because the leaves were removed from fraze mowing, the photosynthetic surface has been removed.  Thus the additional of carbohydrates, amino acids, and plant hormones will provide food and energy to promote quicker regeneration .  1/2 lb of ammonium sulfate will also be applied, along granular polymer coated nitrogen (N) to release at 1/10th lbs N a week for the next 18 weeks and polymer coated phosphorous (K) to also release at 1/10th lbs K for the next 18 weeks.

The 2 fields clean off on May 30th re-open on June 15th to full play.  (so closed 16 total days) Stayed tuned to track the re-establishment!

Fraze Mowing Patriot Bermudagrass

Fraze Mowing Patriot Bermudagrass at Maryland SoccerPlex w/ Universe® rotor on KORO Field Topmaker