May 2020 Pitch Diaries
May is a month when spring really bounces into full flourish, with fresh leaves on all of the trees, and many flowers coming into colourful bloom. The grass plant takes full advantage of longer days, warmer temperatures and available soil moisture by producing a large volume of leafy growth.
In a naturalised situation, this is energy expended in advance of flowers and then seed later in the summer. In a sports turf situation, the plant is still responding to these cues and drives, but it is our intervention with a lawn mower which tames the growth into a lush sward, albeit with one species of note proving the exception, Poa annua.
The start of May often heralds the onset of Poa annua seed heads across surfaces, and a subsequent drop in aesthetics and playing performance as a consequence. Grooming allows for mechanical removal of the seed heads and is a tried and tested method for minimising the negative effect on play and performance during the annual window of Poa annua flowering.
May 2020, however, marks the first opportunity for UK turf managers to access and utilise the plant growth regulator - prohexadione-calcium. Prohexadione-calcium is a Class A late gibberellin inhibitor, a trait it shares with the long established and successful trinexapac-ethyl. With regard to Poa annua, prohexadione offers two advantages; it regulates Poa annua on a par with perennial species, this allows for greater consistence of growth regulation across surfaces over time. Secondly, it regulates the flowering potential of Poa annua, a trait which mitigates the negative consequences of this plant's inflorescence upon both aesthetics and playing performance.
In this month's diaries we look into these metric of primary day to day concerns as well as our usual offering of nutrition, aeration, water management and pest advice.
Don't forget, you can also use our Pitchcare Forum, where members can ask for and offer advice on the whole range of sports turf surfaces issues.