Heat continues to prevail across most of the country…  Those cool season plant carbohydrate reserves are getting burned up quickly!  We are starting an aggressive aeration and renovation project this week on 9 cool season fields.  Gas exchange is more important than ever in such heat-  It’s essential to get the soil opened for the stressed plants.  We all CAN, and WILL, WIN this battle with the heat!

Today SoccerPlex is wrapping up the Club National Championship for lacrosse.  Over 500 games in 4 days- Cool season fields averaged 20 games a piece, bermudagrass averaged 32 games.  Yes. That is a bunch!

 And what a successful event!  We learn more and more each time we host such an event about how to bring fields through such heavy traffic.  Ask Matt Carroll (John Deere Landscapes in Atlanta) or John Torres (Head Groundsman at PPL Park in Philly) about our 1st lacrosse tournament in 2009.  We will never forget it.  WoW. The destruction. And from 1/2 the number of games.  It’s exciting to have success like this weekend in comparison to those events just 3 years ago.

That fact brings me to laying out the next batch of topics to explore with you.

What has played the biggest role preparing fields to be able to handle this many games?  Especially after 3 weeks ago hosting the 2-day Nations Capitol Cup lacrosse event (220 games) and 12 days ago hosting the All American National Lacrosse Classic (80 games w/ a day of practice and skills).

Ultimately there are 2 things that allow us to survive:

1)  Ultra strong, durable and healthy grass plants

2)  Managing the traffic instead of letting the traffic manage us

The strong, durable and healthy grass plants come from aggressive aeration, nutrient management, and bio-stimulant and growth regulator utilization.  The results are amazing: bluegrass w/ leaf blades the width of fescues and the density of bermudagrass.  As we work through these pieces, I look forward to the ideas and information we can share with each other.

 Managing the traffic is the most fun piece of the puzzle though.  There is no science involved-  no respiration.. no gibberellic acid or cytokinins.. no chlorophyl, bore-0-phly (haha!).  Just outside the box, creative, off the wall ideas to move around and combat traffic.  No answer is wrong.. no idea too far-fetched.  The limits for the possibilities are endless.

Stay tuned this week as we work through these topics to create ideas and help each other find new ways to host more events, generate more revenues for our facilities, and increase our expertise and job security!

Cheers to a successful Sunday