14 April 2017
 Categories: Environmental, Blog

A sports field is only ever as good as the grass used to create it, and this is is especially important when laying a new turf playing field. Choosing turf with an unsuitable species of grass can cause a sports field to quickly turn into a muddy morass or a sun-baked plain of bare earth, as fragile grasses die under heavy foot traffic and inclement weather.

As such, choosing the right species of grass for your field's new turf is vital, and there are few grass species more suited to the tough demands of sports fields than kikuyu grass. This hardy and highly adaptive grass is capable of taking all kinds of abuse, and has many advantages associated with its use. 

What are the advantages of choosing kikuyu grass or my sports field?

Hardiness

Kikuyu grass is practically impossible to kill and is highly resistant to nearly any type of damage you could imagine. Heavy foot traffic, including sports players wearing damaging cleats, is weathered exceptionally well, with any damaged grass quickly regrowing as long as its roots remain relatively intact.

In terms of weather resistance, kikuyu grass is very resistant to sun damage and is unphased by all but the most prolonged droughts, even re-greening quickly once a drought has passed. Heavy rainstorms are rarely a problem for this redoubtable grass, as its roots are capable of quickly absorbing large amounts of ground water and preventing water-logging and root rot.

Easy weeding

Kikuyu grass is resistant to a variety of widely-used weedkillers and herbicides, making the process of keeping weeds out of your field much easier. Kikuyu fields can be sprayed thoroughly with weedkillers to remove weeds, while the grass itself remains intact and undamaged.

Exceptional self-repair

As previously mentioned, individual blades of kikuyu grass are capable of growing back quickly if damaged. However, kikuyu grass is also quick to propagate and spread to nearby areas of bare earth, a particularly useful quality when dealing with large-scale field damage. Large divots, tire tracks and other areas of damaged earth are quickly covered by new grass, even without help from seeding or fertilisers.

Adaptable to different soil types

Kikuyu grass is capable of growing in a wide variety of soil types, from alkaline soils rich in clay and lime to more acidic, sandy soils found in hotter areas. Consequently, kikuyu turf requires very little ground preparation before it is laid. Fertilisers commonly used to help other turf types establish themselves are unnecessary for all but the most barren soils.

Winter ready

Kikuyu turf is even capable of weathering cold winter weather and will not suffer from yellowing that can make your field fragile and unsightly.