BASEBALL
Annual bluegrass was the predominant grass species that comprised the Cipperly Field outfield by early summer 2024( images taken June 26, 2024). A plan was devised for nonselective control of the outfield in August 2024 and establishment of perennial ryegrass, which is known to exhibit exceptional tolerance to ethofumesate.
As reported in the March 2005 issue of SportsTurf, the first— and most aggressive— effort to control annual bluegrass( both the baseball outfield turf cover and the soil seedbank below) involved the application of dazomet( Basamid G) in late summer 2004( Park, 2005). Similar to practices employed for golf course fairway renovation, dazomet was applied to the surface of the outfield in August 2004 to provide nonselective control of the existing turfgrass and annual bluegrass cover, as well as control of the underlying soil seedbank. The application was watered in, and irrigation runs over subsequent days were made to seal the fumigant in the soil and improve control of the annual bluegrass seedbank. A blend of five Kentucky bluegrass varieties was seeded two weeks after the dazomet application. Kentucky bluegrass establishment was rapid that autumn and a playable surface formed by spring 2005. This strategy, however, did not provide a permanent solution to the annual bluegrass dilemma.
Cipperly Field and annual bluegrass were again the subjects of an article in SportsTurf in 2015. The article detailed the renovation efforts during 2004, annual bluegrass re-incursion, and a new strategy that involved mesotrione( Tenacity Herbicide) applied four weeks in a row during spring 2013 followed by three applications of amicarbazone( Xonerate Herbicide) every 10 days during autumn 2013( Himes, 2015). Cipperly was quoted as observing“ a lot less Poa annua” the following spring, and he and Radcliffe repeated the mesotrione and amicarbazone application program during 2014, with a modification during autumn of that year that included a tank mixture of the two chemistries. Short term success? Perhaps.
RECENT EFFORTS The calendar eventually turned to 2024, and a new crop of annual bluegrass, emanating from the ever-persistent annual bluegrass seedbank, had taken hold in the Cipperly Field outfield. The prolific nature of an annual bluegrass seedbank should not be underestimated; one researcher suggested that the surface layer of soil might contain 30 million annual bluegrass seeds per acre where annual bluegrass has persisted( Renney, 1964). The next generation of annual bluegrass was met with new tactics and a new sports field manager, Mike Morvay.
A graduate of the Rutgers University turfgrass program, Morvay’ s career included extensive time working in professional baseball. Morvay and I concluded that a late summer and autumn nonselective renovation program was the best course of action per visual inspection of the outfield( and my knowledge of prior renovation efforts). Research conducted at Rutgers would serve as the blueprint for the renovation strategy( Park and coworkers, 2019). The crux of the plan involved changing the species composition of the outfield to perennial ryegrass and capitalizing on the tolerance of perennial ryegrass to the herbicide ethofumesate( Prograss 1.5 EC), which has selective postemergence activity on annual bluegrass, particularly at elevated rates and when annual bluegrass is in the seedling stage.
A nonselective herbicide was applied to the Cipperly Field outfield in mid-August 2024. Following complete control of the outfield, a blend of three perennial ryegrass varieties was slit-seeded on August 28, 2024; two of the three varieties had demonstrated elevated tolerance to gray leaf spot disease in research trials. As expected, perennial ryegrass seedling sportsfieldmanagementonline. com May 2026 | SportsField Management
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