Top tips for dealing with drought
In reading this resource we’re assuming that you don’t have access to irrigation or that irrigation is limited. If you’re looking for best practice guidance on irrigation during hot weather or drought periods please read our irrigation and drought resource in the maintenance tasks section or please read on for our top tips!
During drought…
Firstly consider whether the pitch is safe for play, very hard ground can be a consequence of extended periods of drought and may result in an unsafe playing surface.
In periods of drought look at the pitch and what it is telling you, are there still signs of growth or has the grass gone brown and dormant.
If growth has slowed altogether avoid mowing the pitch as this will just stress the turf further.
If there is still a need to mow the pitch increase the height of cut to a level at which you can reasonably sustain play if required (if you normally mow at 30mm consider mowing at 40mm).
This will improve the turfs’ chance of withstanding drought conditions and reduce the likelihood of bare areas, aswell as providing some canopy cover to slow the drying of soils.
If you need to mow consider carefully the conditions in which you do this, early morning or late evening will be best when temperatures are cooler and ideally not in full sun. Mowing in full sun and heat is a big cause of turf stress and scorch. Also avoid removing more than a third of the grass height in one go.
Avoid practices such as fertilisation and selective herbicide application, these products are unlikely to perform in drought conditions and rather than benefitting the turf may scorch it and cause further stress. Not only that but you’ll be wasting valuable time and money. Applications of liquid fertilisers may be possible but careful consideration will be required so please read product labels carefully and consult a technical representative from the consumables supplier in question.
If you can apply any water avoid the heat of the day, concentrate on the most worn areas and use permeable sheets such as germination sheeting or scaffold netting to slow the drying of the area.
Delay carrying out practices that are likely to further stress the pitch such as scarification.
Preparing your pitch to cope with drought stresses.
The most obvious way if you have access to irrigation is to maintain adequate soil moisture and watering to depth to encourage good root development which will increase drought resistance.
Maintain good grass cover and root structure through sound routine maintenance and appropriately timed pitch renovations.
Soil compaction, lack of or poor irrigation coverage, thatch layers and slope will all contribute to drought stress so addressing one or all of these causal links will help to reduce its impact.
Try and ensure your pitch is populated with as high a percentage of desirable grasses as possible. Perennial Ryegrass is far more tolerant of drought conditions than the most common invasive weedgrass species in the UK Annual Meadowgrass (Poa annua).
Make sure that deep spiking is incorporated in your annual maintenance programme this helps to increase root depth and density. The more these are improved the greater surface area your grass has to draw on reserves of moisture and nutrients in the soil.
If you know your pitches are susceptible to drought during the periods in which you normally do end of season works consider splitting your renovation works spring and autumn. Most renovation tasks if done light touch spring and autumn can take place during the playing season. Early April and late September are more likely to yield the sort of weather that will help you out.
You might think well we can’t over-seed whilst the pitches are in play but you can! Better to lose a little grass through play than suffer no germination at all due to lack of water. Just be aware the highest wear areas like goal mouths might still need to wait till end of season.
Use of surfactant wetting agents could be considered preventatively which help to retain any rain that does fall or irrigation applied in the soil for longer, however, these products can prove expensive if a large area needs treating and they typically need applying in persistent rain or several millimetres of irrigation to be applied afterwards in order to bring it into contact with the soil effectively. These products may be subject to pesticide categorisation in which case certification is required in order to apply them.
