WINTERIZATION

Photo by Daniel Charles Hextall on Unsplash

By Mary Helen Sprecher

Students have returned to school , leaves are falling and , depending on where you are , homecoming might be in the rear-view mirror ; all of which means , if you work in a fourseason climate , you ’ ll have to get your field ready for winter .

And you know what ? Even if you work in a climate where sports run all year long , it never hurts to have your fields receive a little extra care as the seasons change from football to field hockey to lacrosse . Here are some best practices for winterizing fields — or just moving them seamlessly from season to season . After all , even in warm climates , sometimes resting fields between sports is needed .

“ Often , the coaching staffs and the ADs run their programs from a calendar , and there is no room for any field recovery in the schedule ,” said Mike Munie of Perfect Playfields and Links .

NATURAL GRASS FIELDS In parts of the country with severe winters , grass goes dormant by the middle of October , while areas slightly southward could see dormancy in November . Winterizing work that begins in the fall will serve two purposes : It can help protect the fields from winter damage and make the fields ready for use earlier in the spring .

For cool-season grasses , early fall fertilization allows the grass plants to store carbohydrates to tide them over winter and spur new growth in the spring . Expect to see wear in high-traffic areas of the field , so put in the time now to ensure the rootzone and grass will be ready for the spring season .

The fields will have become compacted through use during the season . Healthy grass will continue to grow , but to survive and thrive over winter , core aeration ( or , alternatively , slice aeration ) will bring in much-needed oxygen . Dethatching the field should follow .

40 SportsField Management | October 2023 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com