Over the past few weeks while the football team has been playing away from Williams Brice Stadium, we noticed some work being done on the football field. Gamecock Athletics' Sport Turf Manager Clark Cox took the time to explain to me the maintenance his crew was performing. Cox holds a degree in turf management and I think I learned more about grass in a few minutes than I had learned in my lifetime. All our athletic fields at South Carolina are bermuda grass (Tifway 419 hybrid variety, bet you didn't know that one!) which thrives in the heat of South Carolina, but it takes more than a little bermuda to keep our fields in premium condition.
Once the weather starts to cool bermuda grass starts to slow down and doesn't repair itself as well, eventually going dormant and turning brown. To maintain the look and condition of the field throughout the season it must be supplemented with another variety. After the Alabama game, Cox and his crew "overseeded" the field with ryegrass, a grass that can maintain a green cover through the colder months, then covered it with a sand topdressing and watered it for several days. Once the ryegrass has time to take root and start growing, the crew resumes their regular mowing.
Above: Cox shows the ryegrass growth approximately one week after overseeding
Of note, one of the things that takes a significant amount of time on game week is painting the field - the endzones, numbers, hash marks, the Gamecock at mid-field, etc. Cox's crew typically starts on Thursday morning preparing the field for a Saturday game day, painting all day Thursday until about mid-day Friday.
More from Cox in the video below:
- Brittany Lane, Spurs Up Blog
Once the weather starts to cool bermuda grass starts to slow down and doesn't repair itself as well, eventually going dormant and turning brown. To maintain the look and condition of the field throughout the season it must be supplemented with another variety. After the Alabama game, Cox and his crew "overseeded" the field with ryegrass, a grass that can maintain a green cover through the colder months, then covered it with a sand topdressing and watered it for several days. Once the ryegrass has time to take root and start growing, the crew resumes their regular mowing.
Above: Cox shows the ryegrass growth approximately one week after overseeding
Of note, one of the things that takes a significant amount of time on game week is painting the field - the endzones, numbers, hash marks, the Gamecock at mid-field, etc. Cox's crew typically starts on Thursday morning preparing the field for a Saturday game day, painting all day Thursday until about mid-day Friday.
More from Cox in the video below:
- Brittany Lane, Spurs Up Blog
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