The yearly cycle of turf maintenance

Although every patch of turf is different, the maintenance basics are common to all. The table below shows a typical annual cycle of maintenance for a municipal football pitch with pronounced summer and winter seasonal variations. Use it to inspire your own maintenance regime.
 

Throughout the growing season
  • Mowing: 1 to 3 times a week during the active growing season
  • Solid tining: every three weeks from March until the first autumn frost

 

Our modern seed mixtures need mowing 30% less often than old mixtures –
and they've been tested for robot mowing.

 

March to April
  • Apply herbicide selectively
  • Verticut to extract moss and thatch accumulated during previous winter
  • Aerate with hollow tines and core removal
  • Top-dress or top-dress with decompaction
  • Apply NPK fertiliser, avoiding fast-release N
  • Apply sand
  • Use a drag mat to level out

 

 

May to June
  • Repair the goal mouth by sowing seed or laying fresh turf
  • Verticut and remove extracted thatch
  • Aerate with hollow tines without core removal
  • Apply NPK fertiliser – with increased K
  • Irrigate as needed

 

For a more hard-wearing goal mouth, choose mixtures with high-wear and shade-tolerance, as well as disease-resistance.
And drought-tolerant varieties will need less water.

 

June, July and August
  • Irrigate frequently

 

End of August to beginning of September
  • Verticut or drag the surface
  • Remove matter after a dry or a wet and humid summer
  • Aerate with hollow tines without core removal
  • Apply NPK fertiliser
  • Irrigate as needed

 

You can overseed throughout the season, but always choose seeds that suit the time of the year.

 

Before the winter
  • Aerate with hollow tines and core removal
  • Apply NPK fertiliser – with increased K
  • Apply sand
  • Use a drag mat to level out

 

For increased winter hardiness, choose an appropriate seed mixture.