ALM Note: sportsturf survival without irrigation this summer?

Thinking about sports turf performance this summer without irrigation?

It is probable that many sports turf areas will not survive the summer.

Many cool season turf areas have root zones of less than 75mm. At average rainfall levels this means that additional irrigation will probably not be required at the moment and through September.

By October however, this general model based on averages indicates that without supplementary irrigation, cool season turf areas are likely to be in decline after around 3 weeks. By November this will be closer to 2 weeks and in December, January and February to 1 week.

With deeper root zones, say 100mm these intervals extend proportionally but in November and December we might expect serious decline after 2 weeks without significant rainfall.

Clearly management practices that increase root depth and ensure optimum turf nutrition will be advantageous but serious decline seems inevitable unless we have a cool wet summer.