Arkansas Turfgrass - Spring 2024

HARD WORK Pays Off

What an awesome conference we had in January 2024! Huge shout out to our sponsors, our vendors, our speakers, and so many that contributed to the success of the conference. It was great to see so many of you there, smiling, engaged, and full of energy. We are so proud of the industry’s support of the ATA and the conference! Thank you!

From what I heard, the Baggo tournament on Thursday night was a blast! Anytime you let turfgrass managers name their own teams, things can get a bit interesting. Then add in a bar tab being paid by the sponsor for a couple hours, and the recipe is set up for lots of fun, great conversation, and emotional acceptance speeches from the winners!! It sounded like that moment sure brought the industry together: from vendors to lawn care folks to golf course people to sports turf to our board members. That is what we envisioned when Jay Randolph and others from the board came up with this idea. It was great to see it so well attended and enjoyed. The biggest thing Courtney and I learned from this year’s conference, don’t call Baggo, Cornhole, and vice versa! You all take this stuff serious!

The association and our board of directors want to give Daniel O’Brien a huge shout out. That guy poured his heart and soul into this organization for three years without any pay, and not much recognition. When Doug Karcher took a job at Ohio State University, the ATA needed a replacement for our educational chair. Daniel stepped up and did an absolutely fantastic job helping plan the educational sessions for our conferences the past 3 years. Daniel has finished his Doctorate degree now, and had to step down from the ATA board to pursue his own speaking opportunities, job interviews, etc. Thank you Daniel! We are thankful for your service, and I am personally thankful for your friendship. The opportunity to get to know you over the past few years has been a blessing to Courtney and me.

From the success of the 2023 & 2024 conferences, the ATA now has two scholarships that we are ready to fund. If you know a student, please be looking out for announcements about these scholarships in the coming months. We are going to be presenting one scholarship to a new student in the field of turfgrass management. The second will be to a student completing an internship. Dr. Wendell Hutchens at the University of Arkansas is going to help us put those together, but students from all colleges and universities in the state studying turfgrass will be eligible. Please help us spread the word!

Courtney and your board of directors have truly worked hard and so well together! That hard work is paying off in so many ways. It’s really been amazing to watch the entire board jump in to support the efforts of the ATA. Special thanks to our president—Richard Covert, Wendell Hutchens, Kyle Sanders, Guy Oyler, Rodney Fisher, Ricky Self, Brandon Bradley, Jay Randolph, and Daniel Baxley. I had to miss this year’s conference because we found out last minute that our kid-sitters (grandparents) were all sick. It was so nice to know that I wasn’t needed, because the team is so dang strong. I knew that Courtney had so much support from these guys, and I’m so proud of the 2024 conferences success.

Thank you to the industry for your support, and we are looking forward to all that 2024 has in store.

Josh Landreth ATA Vice President

Josh Landreth – ATA Vice President

Applying Science-based Solutions Toward Solving Turfgrass Management Challenges

Growing playable grasses in shaded and reduced light stadium environments

By Rhys Fielder, MS student, Tyler Carr, Ph.D.,

John Sorochan, Ph.D., and Kyley Dickson, Ph.D.; Plant Sciences’ Turfgrass Science Program at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville

Modern-day stadiums are often planned and designed to provide versatile functionality and enhance fan experience. These stadiums are usually promoted as the home of a particular sports team; however, these venues may also become host sites for events year-round that range from concerts to monster truck rallies. Currently, ten of the thirty National Football League (NFL) and eight of the thirty Major League Baseball stadiums are either fully enclosed or have large overhangs covering the seating bowl. The encapsulation of the stadium allows for an increase of fan comfort during events, as well as a reduction or removal of environmental factors when planning or hosting events. While these amenities are important for professional venues, any stadium or pitch that receives heavy shade from high walls, overhangs, or partially enclosed roofs, present difficulties to those managing one of the most important assets a stadium has: the playing surface.

We learn and teach these and other practical challenges in undergraduate and graduate level Turfgrass Sciences coursework in the Plant Sciences degree programs at the University of Tennessee. For some undergraduate student interns, as well as MS and PhD students working on cutting-edge research projects to address a knowledge gap, the solution requires understanding the science of interactions between turfgrasses and structures, the players on the field, and the turfgrass managers who are tasked to maintain the highest quality playing surface across the entire span of seasonal use. This understanding is most often informed by our studies of plant physiology, growth, and performance characteristics of different turfgrass species.

In the real-world scenario that we present here, shaded turfgrasses in stadiums experience considerable challenges to photosynthetic processes that would not typically inhibit plant development in an open-air environment. Unlike humans, plants have the remarkable ability to generate their own food through the process of photosynthesis. A combination of water, carbon dioxide, and light energy allows the plant to manufacture carbohydrates to be used for energy. These three ingredients can be naturally provided by the environment. Within a stadium environment, irrigation can be used to fulfill water needs and air circulation systems such as fans can even be supplemented to increase carbon dioxide availability. However, one of the most difficult challenges a stadium or partially enclosed structure creates is the imposition of shade that reduces the amount of available light.

Shade can be defined as a reduction in both light quality and light quantity. Light quality is explained by observing the wavelengths in light, which are measured in nanometers (nm) and range from very short to very long. Turfgrass requires light quality to be within the range of 380–700 nm in order for photosynthesis to occur. Light quantity is the actual particles of light that provide the necessary energy for photosynthesis to occur. A shade situation appears when there is not enough light energy (quantity) being supplied to the turfgrass for sufficient photosynthesis to occur.

What has been (and can be) done to address these challenges?

In many instances, the simple answer has been to install artificial turf surfaces that do not require light at all. Yet simple solutions can bring challenges and consequences of their own. The decision to switch to artificial turf is often made contrary to player preference and injury data. Results from the NFL Players Association’s (NFLPA) 2010 NFL Players Playing Surfaces Opinion Study documented that 69.4% of players preferred to play on natural grass versus preference for artificial turf (14.3%). More recently the NFLPA president, JC Tretter, released a statement that calls for all NFL stadiums to have natural grass playing surfaces. Tretter cited NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018, which reported that artificial surfaces increased the likelihood of a player suffering a non-contact lower extremity injury by 28% compared to grass. Faced with calls for action and preferences of players, stadiums that have extreme shade issues and boast artificial surfaces are forced to consider the difficult questions: Is it possible for our venue to support natural grass? and How can that turfgrass be managed for playability across event activity and growing seasons?

Answers to parts of those questions can be supported with solutions from supplemental lighting. Supplemental lighting for stadiums is like the lights used in a greenhouse. They work by replacing the photosynthetically active light that a plant would usually obtain from natural sunlight. Supplemental lighting products for stadiums generally rely on illumination from one of two different light sources: high pressure sodium (HPS) or light-emitting diode (LED) (Figure 1). Currently, the most widely used supplemental lighting systems in the United States and worldwide utilize HPS rigs.

Stadiums housing NFL teams in Miami, Jacksonville, Green Bay, and Kansas City have had success using HPS light systems to promote photosynthesis on areas experiencing shade issues. Colder climates, such as in Green Bay, receive added benefits from HPS lights, as these systems can increase temperatures at the grass surface up to 5°F (3°C). Green Bay routinely reports daily low temperatures below freezing between November and January, so the heat emitted from the HPS lights likely allows the grass to recover between games when there would otherwise be little to no recuperative growth, potentially resulting in a safer surface for the athletes. If excess heat from supplemental lighting is not desired, such as a stadium in a hot climate, one may elect to use LED lights.

Figure 1. Light-emitting diode (LED; top) and high-pressure sodium (HPS; bottom) supplemental lighting systems for use on turfgrass. (Source: sglsystem.com)

LED light systems provide two distinct benefits compared with HPS. First, LED lighting uses less energy during operation than HPS systems. The principle is similar to replacing incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs in residential and commercial buildings. Another benefit of LED systems is the ability of operators to select a desired range of wavelengths from different portions of the light spectrum. This capability is not available with HPS lighting. Although LED systems are currently more expensive up-front than HPS, the gap in cost has been narrowing with advances in technology.

Taking Science to the Gridiron and the Pitch

Since summer 2019, The University of Tennessee has been conducting supplemental light studies in cooperation with Stadium Grow Lighting to quantify how warm- and cool-season turfgrass species respond when grown under light supplied from only LED or HPS systems (Figure 2). These are important questions to answer, as indoor stadiums create situations where all light must be supplied supplementally.

An important way to measure how a cool-season grass, such as Kentucky bluegrass, responds to supplemental lighting is to quantify the turfgrass quality. A subjective way to assess quality is by estimating the percentage of green turfgrass coverage over a given area. In general, greater turfgrass coverage corresponds to greater aesthetic quality.

Throughout the trial, our team identified no significant differences in green turfgrass coverage when comparing HPS and LED in the absence of natural light (Figure 3). Kentucky bluegrass maintained turfgrass coverage greater than 90% when grown under both HPS and LED lights. In addition, turfgrass coverage greater than 95% was observed continuously for the first 24 days.

So how could it be possible for an indoor or heavilyshaded stadium to grow natural grass? Our preliminary results with Kentucky bluegrass show that this species can be grown using supplemental lighting when no natural sunlight is available, like in an indoor stadium. The ability of a turfgrass manager to effectively grow natural grass in a stadium while continuing to host external events will only increase the capability of the venue to generate revenue throughout the year. Current and future research at the University of Tennessee is underway and being planned that will provide innovative solutions to other problems associated with growing turfgrass in situations that require solutions for shade and supplemental lighting.

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Figure 3. Green turfgrass coverage for Kentucky bluegrass grown exclusively under high-pressure sodium (HPS) or lightemitting diode (LED) supplemental lighting systems from November 8 to December 11, 2019 in Knoxville, TN. Images demonstrate the response of Kentucky bluegrass to HPS (top row) or LED (bottom row) after 0, 14, and 24 days.

Figure 2. The shade structure at the University of Tennessee where supplemental lighting studies occur.

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Highlights from the 2024 ATA Conference

TheATA Annual Conference was held January 25 – 26, 2024 in Hot Springs, and as always, members enjoyed networking, education, the trade show, some friendly competition and recertification opportunities. This event was a great opportunity for Arkansas turf professionals to come together to share and learn from another year of hard lessons and well-earned victories.

We had approximately 200 attendees for Thursday and 100 attendees that returned on Friday. We also had 36 Vendors for Thursday’s Trade Show.

The speakers were great and spent both days educating the attendees for pesticide recertification and much more.

Past Board Members

Honored

We appreciate these individuals for time spent volunteering to help the ATA and the turf industry. Not pictured / present but also recognized were past board members Jeff Haskins and Steve Ibbotson.

Congratulations to each of our Award winners from the 2024 ATA Conference!

Arkansas High School Field of the Year

Little Rock Christian Academy Baseball Field

Golf Course of the Year

Bella Vista Course Complex

Field of the Year

Springdale Parks & Recreation

Michael Rush

Mark Brown with ATA President Richard Covert

We had our 1st Annual Baggo Tournament on Thursday night and had a blast.

Thanks to our sponsors – Cunningham Recreations / RJR Enterprises, Arkansas Turf Support, & Keeling Company.

Team Diamante was the WINNER!! Baggo Tournament

1. What is Matrix?

• Reinforced product grown at bottom of sand based profile

• Sprigged field to insure highest percolation rates

• Ready to Play product

2. Where is it used?

• High demand athletic fields: football, soccer, baseball, softball, and rugby.

• High traffic areas: Horsetracks, goalmouths, and tournament crosswalks.

Winstead Turf Matrix is a 100% USGA sand based , ready to play sports turf replacement system that enables instant use straight after install, perfectly suited for high demand stadium / elite field applications

Winstead Turf Farms, Inc. 22860 Highway 196 Arlington, TN 38002 901-268-8803

winsteadturffarms.com @winsteadmatrix

Arkansas Turfgrass Association P.O. Box 1862 • Lowell, AR 72745 Tel: 479-301-5534 Published by:

Thank You to all of our sponsors, vendors, speakers and attendees who made this event a success!

ATA OFFICERS

Richard Covert, President Baptist Health Systems Richard.covert@baptist-health.org

Kyle Sanders, Immediate Past President Sanders Ground Essentials 501-315-9395 kylesanders@sandersground.com

Courtney Landreth Executive Director ataturfgrass@gmail.com

Pat Berger, Director Emeritus University of Arkansas • 479-575-6887 pberger@uark.edu

Charlie Bowen, Director Emeritus Arkansas Hydroseed • 501-315-7333 charliebowen@yahoo.com

Daniel O’Brien, Educational Chair dpo001@uark.edu

Seth Dunlap Arkansas State Plant Board seth.dunlap@agriculture.arkansas.gov 501-225-1598

Daniel Baxley Parks & Recreation Director of Mountain Home dbaxley@cityofmountainhome.com

Brandon Bradley Picture Perfect Lawns brandon@pictureperfectlawns.com

Mark Brown Nabholz • 501-749-7459 rmbrown2@ualr.edu

Rodney Fisher Agra Turf, Inc. • 501-268-7036 agrarod@yahoo.com

Josh Landreth, Vice President Ace of Blades • 479-530-7001 aceofblades@cox.net

Guy Oyler Jerry Pate Turf & Irrigation goyler@jerrypate.com • 501-317-5980

Rodger Pevehouse Life Member

Jay Randolph Sebastian County Park Admin. & Golf Course Superintendent jrandolph@co.sebastian.ar.us

Ricky Self Cypress Creek r.self@yahoo.com • 501-605-8000

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS TURF TEAM

Mike Richardson, Ph.D. Professor 479-575-2860

mricha@uark.edu

John Boyd, Ph.D. Visiting Assistant Professor Cooperative Extension Service Little Rock 501-671-2224

Jwb019@uark.edu

John H. McCalla Jr. Program Technician III 479-575-5033

jmccall@uark.edu

Rhiannon de la Rosa M.S. Student

Daniel O’Brien Ph.D.

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