Don’t Leave Your Pitch In The Dark
The autumn and winter months require a shift in approach for pitch management. The worries of coping with heat and drought stress have passed and the focus has shifted to maintaining turf surface quality including turf density and plant health as daylight hours and light quality reduce.
Depending on location within the UK a turf surface will typically receive around ten hours more daylight in late June than in late December. In addition, whilst we can expect an average of seven hours of sunshine a day in summer this falls to only one or two hours in winter. Consequently, it should be no surprise that natural turf struggles to deliver high performance playing surfaces during the winter months.
For those turf managers maintaining turf surfaces within stadiums the growing environment is even more difficult with stands and infrastructure creating greater challenges around light levels, air movement and soil temperatures. In addition, sand-based constructions with regular irrigation inputs provide perfect conditions for plant parasitic nematodes and these turfgrass pests combined with low light levels can be responsible for widespread turf decline within high profile sports arenas.
During the summer months there are sufficient levels of natural sunlight to allow turfgrass plants to achieve the desired rates of respiration, photosynthesis and growth. However, when exposure to sunlight is compromised grass plants become significantly weaker, resulting in a more fragile root system with lower energy reserves. In turn this makes it more difficult for the grass plants to recover from play, mechanical stresses such as aeration or mowing and periods of high disease pressure. As a result, the turf surface may show reduced density of ground cover, reduced wear tolerance, a lack of turf vigour and poor colour.
Techniques developed to address winter performance issues have included under-soil heating, SubAir systems, germination sheets and covers and for nearly 20 years the addition of lighting rigs to provide artificial sources of light. However, in addition turf managers should also consider the technological advances made within nutritional programmes to help deliver results.
Redox TurfRx
The Redox TurfRx nutritional range has been specifically designed to put turf health first and increase the grass plant's ability to be self-sufficient, to reduce the reliance on fertiliser and pesticide programmes that may have become considered routine and to apply nutrition in the most plant available forms possible.
TurfRx OxyCal
Within the Redox TurfRx range the product TurfRx OxyCal can be hugely advantageous in low light environments caused by shorter day length, weather conditions or shade. This product is designed to increase photosynthetic efficiency and is consequently extremely beneficial for pitch management when low light levels impact turf quality and resiliency.
Turfgrass research completed at STRI in 2020 showed TurfRx OxyCal to improve turf health in areas of shade. The trial confirmed TurfRx OxyCal improved both turf quality and sward density when the trial area was subjected to severe abiotic shade stress. Applications of TurfRx OxyCal subsequently reduced the level of fungal disease activity when compared with untreated control plots.
TurfRx OxyCal works by accelerating photosynthetic activity and in addition stimulates production of a broad range of antioxidant compounds. As a result, the grass plant's defences are better able to cope with the stresses associated with shade or low light levels.
TurfRx OxyCal boosts key plant enzymes and polyphenols which in turn enhance plant growth, even when the growing environment is not conducive for optimum plant growth. The active oxygen along with properly complexed calcium and specific carbon compounds provides a great source to light starved plant cells, allowing them to produce enough enzyme strength and hardiness to accelerate photosynthetic activity. The complexed potassium in TurfRx OxyCal improves stomatal response time which is also key in low light situations. Photosynthesis is all about protein production in plants, the more active the photosynthetic cycle is, the more food the plant is producing for its survival.
When light is compromised, oxygen-free radicals increase within plant cells, cell wall formation is destroyed and leaf integrity is compromised. TurfRx OxyCal increases antioxidant and polyphenol levels, reduces cell decline, improves cell wall formation and retains the integrity of the leaf; the "solar panel" of the plant.
TurfRx NatureCur
Within the Redox range the product TurfRx NatureCur can also be valuable in low light environments. When integrated into a comprehensive nutrition and soil health programme, NatureCur allows for positive root growth under conditions of severe abiotic stress including shade.
TurfRx NatureCur optimises root quality and quantity; both being essential for water and nutrient uptake. By increasing the relative strength and viability of root metabolism, the foundation for healthy turf growth and surface resiliency can be achieved.
In stadium pitches nematodes can weaken turf roots, making them less efficient at translocating water and nutrients. Even when nematode damage is low level, it can make pitch surfaces more vulnerable to environmental stresses including low light levels as well as disease activity.
NatureCur also stimulates metabolic pathways in the plant that naturally produce thousands of different carbon compounds. Depending on the stress event some of the naturally occurring compounds are known to be toxic to plant parasitic nematodes, having the potential to impact their ability to feed.
Application Rates
OxyCal and NatureCur stimulate the plant's natural defense mechanisms, to defend itself from fungal, bacterial or other pest pressure. Combining TurfRx OxyCal with TurfRx NatureCur is a practical solution to address turf issues caused by the problems of low light and shade. Make monthly applications throughout autumn and winter employing:
- 4.5 Kg/Ha TurfRx OxyCal
- 5 L/Ha TurfRx NatureCur
The Aquatrols Mission
Aquatrols is committed to pioneering new methods that advance conservation and health for agriculture, turf and horticulture. The Redox TurfRx range offers new technological solutions for the modern turf manager. As autumn and winter light levels make the development and retention of high-quality natural turf pitches progressively difficult so these two TurfRx products have an increasingly important role to play in turf surface management.
For more information, please contact your local Aquatrols account manager. Visit: eu.aquatrols.com