Infield Grass Maintenance

.

Yes indeed...be careful of those birds! If you get a flock of these birds on your infield you're out of luck. Once they get started they never stop!




.

TCB,

I wish I could give you something comprehensive, but although I was born and raised in Ohio, I’ve lived in Ca for over 30 years now and am not familiar enough with back there to offer many specifics. However, I can offer a few things, for whatever they’re worth.

The best thing you can do to get specifics is to either get to know the head greenskeeper at the best local country club and ask him, or if you have a local university that does a lot of work in agronomy and such, and contact them for help.

One of the easiest ways to control, not eradicate but control CG, is frequent mowings. CG reproduces by seed, so if the seed isn’t allowed to mature, it won’t spread so aggressively. And that brings up another “issue”. If you only treat the infield grass, chances are you’re gonna be pretty much wasting a lot of time and energy. Since CG propagates by seed, if there’s a bunch of CG between the dugouts and the IF, seeds are gonna get on shoes and be transferred to the IF grass.

The best control is to eradicate it all over the field, but I realize that might be an expensive proposition. A good alternative is to make sure you have a plan in place that keeps pre-emergent in place for the seasons when CG will sprout. Again, I could give you general times, but the best thing is to contact someone local who knows for sure.

As for overseeding, it CAN be a wonderful thing, but it CAN backfire. If you overseed with the wrong kind of grass, or use a cheap grade that has a high percentage of weeds in it, you can cause yourself more trouble than you started with. But, if you use the correct seed and a high grade of it, then follow the directions meticulously, it will rejuvenate your turf. And remember, healthy turf is always much better looking and easier to maintain. So don’t skimp on fertilizer, don’t over or under water, keep the mowings as frequent as possible, and make sure the mower blades are sharp.

Good luck!

Stats,

Thanks. Sorry us Buckeyes lost you to the better climes in Cali.....

No, we'd do the whole infield AND the grass in foul territory. Strangely enough, the outfield grass has little crabgrass in it.

I DO plan on using a pre-emergent in the spring, but still wondered if I should try to kill what is there now, or just overseed here in the fall and let the "good" grass and the crabgrass fight it out until the spring.

I think the "frequent mowing" thing is probably what happened. It was being mowed a couple of times a week up until mid-July, and then all of our games were AWAY. That meant the field wasn't being worked, and that seems to be when the crabgrass really took hold, so it makes sense.

Unless I hear otherwise, I think I'm going to let the crabgrass go, cut it often, and start aerating and seeding here in a couple of weeks. Then hit it with the pre-emergent and fertilizer in the spring. Hopefully that will get back my good infield.

Any other ideas from anyone, feel free to chip in.

Well TCP, as you can hopefully tell, my heart still resides in Ohio. I still live and die with the Tribe, and my son is a total OSU nut, to the point of having the OSU logo tattooed on his shoulder! But we’re northern Ohio folks, having been born and raised near Youngstown.

The outfield grass seldom gets the foot traffic the IF does, but be assured. Unless you do something soon, it won’t be long before its everywhere.

There a chemical treatments that will eradicate CG that are used out this way, but I truly don’t know how effective they’d be back that way. Sometimes a chemical depends on heat and/or H2O, and while whe have lots of the former and little of the latter out here, ya’ll are pretty much the opposite. That’s why I said to get the help of the best local expert possible.

If I remember correctly, July is the killer month for heat, and that’s what CG loves to reproduce in. Too bad too. If you can just mow often enough to keep the seeds from forming, its fairly easy to control. The problem is, once it gets more mature, the stalks with seeds start growing closer to the ground, and mowing won’t get them. It’s a shame, but CG is pretty much something you have to prevent to control.

I wish you luck!

Tribe fan here, too. But also love (and am frustrated by, the Reds)

Finally went to s sod place here and had a long sit-down with the main "grass" guy. Came to the decision to use some Q4 to kill the CG, nutsedge and a few other broadleaf weeds on the grass. Then, in a week or so, it will be OK to plant seed (didn't know that, but he confirmed it would be OK) I'll probably need to rake out all the CG corpses, and then I'll have bare spots, but we'll trust that the seeding will "take" and will fill them in. Then it'll grow in September and October and be ready in the Spring.

At that time, I'll also put down a pre-emergent to hopefully keep the crabgrass from coming back.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by TCB1:
Tribe fan here, too. But also love (and am frustrated by, the Reds)

I guess I was just too far north to get excited about the Reds.

quote:

Finally went to s sod place here and had a long sit-down with the main "grass" guy. Came to the decision to use some Q4 to kill the CG, nutsedge and a few other broadleaf weeds on the grass. Then, in a week or so, it will be OK to plant seed (didn't know that, but he confirmed it would be OK) I'll probably need to rake out all the CG corpses, and then I'll have bare spots, but we'll trust that the seeding will "take" and will fill them in. Then it'll grow in September and October and be ready in the Spring.

I’m sure glad I kept my mouth shut about suggesting any specific product. To tell the truth, I’m not familiar with Q4, but a quick look showed it to be what looks like a pretty powerful herbicide. Looks a lot like Roundup. Just make sure you follow the directions!

FWIW, here’s a hint about getting rid of the debris after the weeds are dead. Get a lawn vac if you’re able. If there are any viable seeds and you start raking, all you’ll be doing is spreading them around.

The nice thing about the general climate and soil back there, is that it does make for great plant growth. My guess is you’re right on the money with the timing, and if the winter holds off a bit, or the spring starts a bit early, you’ll be just that much ahead.

quote:

At that time, I'll also put down a pre-emergent to hopefully keep the crabgrass from coming back.

Unfortunately, its impossible to stop it completely, but if its at least controlled, its not too bad at all. But consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to deal with wild Bermuda or Poa! I don’t remember if Nutgrass was a problem back there, but its another one that really gives athletic fields a lot of trouble out here.

quote:

Thanks for your help.

Didn’t do anything but talk with someone about something we both care a lot about.

Have fun!