Sports Turf And Amenity Grasses

"A key is provided to identify grasses easily using diagrams. Meticulously drawn illustrations provide an invaluable identification aid. This reference work will be essential reading for turf professionals, horticulture students and those working with public land."--BOOK COVER

This book describes our current knowledge of soils and turfgrass science as applied to the design, production and management of natural turf. The first five chapters cover general principles while further chapters apply these to specific contexts. These include golf courses and bowling greens, soccer, rugby and cricket fields as well as tennis courts, and horse racing tracks. There are also chapters on amenity grass and warm-season turfgrass. The book is aimed at students taking courses in turf science and sportsground management, amenity horticulture, and landscape and recreation provision and management. It will also be a standard reference work for practitioners working in sportsground management or related subjects such as landscape architecture.

Turf and amenity grasslands in their multifarious form, including sport pitches, playing fields, golf courses, lawns, motorway embankments, roadside verges, urban parks, and open spaces, have a significant impact on our everyday lives. Each year central government, local authorities, sports clubs, and other organizations spend large sums of money establishing, maintaining, and managing such grasslands. It is essential that all these bodies meet proper standards of provision and manage their grassland efficiently and in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way. This book will help them to achieve these objectives.

Vital for a game of cricket or golf and enjoyable when picnicking in the park, turfgrass provides a wide range of aesthetic and recreational benefits. However, managed turfgrass is prone to damaging outbreaks of insects and mites. Pest Management of Turfgrass for Sport and Recreation is the first comprehensive work on the plant-eating insects and mites of the grass and non-grass species currently maintained as ornamental lawns and turfgrass playing surfaces throughout Australia, the South Pacific and South-East Asia. This book provides an industry reference for the identification of pests affecting the roots, stems and leaves of turfgrass and control of these species through integrated pest management. It contains information on the distribution, ecology and biology of pests and how to monitor them. The integrated pest management approach outlined in the book includes natural environmental controls, beneficial and predatory species of arthropods, resistant cultivars and insecticidal and miticidal pesticides. Pest Management of Turfgrass for Sport and Recreation is an essential manual for managers of sportsgrounds, bowling greens, lawn tennis courts, golf courses, racecourses, ornamental landscapes, amenity parklands, public reserves and turfgrass production farms.

The Sports Turf Research institute has had an extensive programme of research, funded primarily by the governing bodies of individual sports, to examine the most appropriate material for construction and maintenance work.

Fertilizer application plays an important part in obtaining amenity turf of the highest standard, be it in the role of aiding wear tolerance in soccer turf, disease resistance in the turfgrasses of the golf green or providing the visual appeal of an ornamental lawn. These, and other factors in turf quality, are affected by the type of fertilizer used, the amounts applied and the timing of application.

Many leisure activities involve the use of turf as a surface. Grass surfaces on golf courses, bowling clubs, cricket pitches, racetracks, and parks all require maintenance by trained personnel. International Turf Management Handbook is written by a team of international experts. It covers all aspects of turf management and in particular * the selection and establishment of grass varieties * soils, irrigation and drainage * performance testing and playing qualities * issues relating to specific playing surfaces In its depth of coverage and detailed practical advice from around the world this comprehensive handbook is destined to become the standard reference work on the subject.

Covering the establishment and care of grass for a wide variety of sports such as association football, rugby, hockey, lacrosse, the Gaelic games, American football and including facilities such as polo grounds, this work provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject. Divided into nine sections, a detailed introduction to the sports to be catered for is followed by sections on: pitch construction and design; sands for construction and top dressing; frost protection and soil warming; grasses for winter pitches; maintenance machinery; fertilizers for pitches; weeds, pests and diseases; and end of season renovation.