The intent is to maintain a healthy stand of turf and plantings that will withstand occasional pest infestations and require only limited use of pesticides. All applications are done as required to maintain the turf in a healthy condition. This is to promote aggressive turfgrass growth with the intent to crowd out undesirable weed growth. Soil samples are done on a rotating three-year schedule to determine nutrient and pH requirements for good turfgrass growth. Some of our athletic fields are soil tested one or two times a year.
Most turf areas receive one application in the fall and one application in the spring.
Applications are generally granular in nature. We are continuously looking into integrating some natural organic fertilizer into our program. We have been testing several natural organic type fertilizers on some turf areas throughout the campus, unfortunately at this time the natural organic materials are much more expensive than other sources. Weedkillers are currently used by target treatment, that is, spraying only the areas that warrant the use of herbicides to eliminate an infestation that is severely competing with the desirable turfgrasses. Our maintenance program does not include the broadcasting of herbicides over the entire campus.