Bermudagrass Scores Touchdown

The Chapmanville High School football field, located in Logan County, was covered by dead or dying sod. Numerous bare spots riddled the playing field. It was not the green, lush turf that the school or community wanted. Thanks to the efforts of school personnel, the coaching staff,  the athletic association and the NRCS, the field was improved.

The Plant Materials Center provided Quickstand Bermudagrass sprigs and sprig planter This service was made available as a part of our technical assistance to the Guyan Conservation District. The District provided money to help with the cost of fertilizer. Local efforts were well coordinated by David Dean, a member of the coaching staff at Chapmanville High School. Earl Hager, Guyan Conservation District Supervisor for Logan County, was also instrumental in the projects success.

Two weeks prior to planting, the field was sprayed with the herbicide Roundup to kill the existing vegetation which would compete with the new planting. The field was ‘sprigged’ on May 2, 2003. Fifty bushels of Bermudagrass sprigs were planted on the field. The large farm tractor needed to pull the planted was provided by Dave Cyfers, a science teacher at the school. A cultipacker, furnished by Barker’s Dairy, was drug over the new planting, insuring adequate plant to soil contact. The day after the planting, the Chapmanville Volunteer Fire Department thoroughly soaked the field by pumping thousands of gallons of water from the Guyandotte River. Ammonium nitrate was applied according to soil test the first week of August.

Four weeks later, it was evident the planting was a success. The playing field was covered with a soft, green carpet of Bermudagrass. The athletic field was heavily used during the 2004 season and but held up better than other ground covers. Unfortunately, the athletic field will soon be replaced by a new school building.

Quickstand is a newer stain of Bermuda that features winter hardiness, quick spring green-up, and safety (compared to clumpy grass). This cultivar has proven to be incredibly cold hardy. It not only survives, but thrives at 3000 feet in elevation in West Virginia. Quickstand establishes rapidly (hence it s name). Quickstand is thick and dense enough to support heavy play without overseeding. If damage occurs in the spring, it recovers on its own during the heat of summer—it can grow actively during the summer months when limited rainfall and high temperatures restricts the growth of traditional cool-season grasses.

However, like most bermudagrasses, Quickstand does not produce viable seed. Thus, new stands must be established by transplanting live plants through a process called “sprigging". Sprigging is an intensive process that requires specialized equipment which is not readily available. The Anderson Plant Materials Center recognized that equipment unavailability was a problem so purchased a no-till sprig planter for use in establishing demonstration plantings.

Interest in use of bermudagrass as forage to alleviate the “mid-summer slump” has increased dramatically within the Center’s service area.

The NRCS (then Soil Conservation Service [SCS]), Alderson Plant Materials Center (then Quicksand Plant Materials Center) in conjunction with the University of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service announced the naming and release of ‘Quickstand’ bermudagrass in 1992.

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