Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Tiger Contractor · 2025-04-29T12:37:18.920Z

The new grass for Death Valleywas developed at Oklahoma Dtate University and grown in Georgia. https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-football/story/death-valley-to-receive-a-new-playing-surface...grass-grown-on-plastic-23089

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Long reply ....... do not read if your are not interested in Turfgrass

Apr 29, 2025, 11:19 AM

I do not buy, sell, or grow turfgrass, but have been involved in the industry for about 50 years and know most of the people that develop, buy, and sell grass. There is a lot of erroneous or misguided information in previous posts and some good information. I'll try and sum up some grass information and correct few of the misguided comments.

First ..... Clemson has an outstanding turfgrass program. My son graduated in Turfgrass and takes care of a athletic facility at a major D-1 University. He knows what he is doing .....education was great but nothing beats hands on experience. Clemson does a lot of turfgrass research but is not a major player in the development of new turfgrasses. Most of that is done in southern Georgia, specifically around Tifton ..... thus the names T-419 Bermudagrass (Tifton -419), Tifgrand, TifEagle, T-328, TifTuff, and others. Dr. Glenn Burton, who was an agricultural scientist in Tifton, was responsible for many of the early Bermudagrass hybrids ..... great man. I suppose that Tifton is important because it is far enough south to develop Bermudagrass and had great agricultural soil and climatic conditions. Clemson, on the other hand is getting closer to the transition zone and may be in a better location to research things like cold tolerance and help develop a more cold tolerant grass, but maybe not develop new grasses per se. A lot of Bermuda hybrids are developed in Texas, particularly Texas A&M, or at Oklahoma State as well as many of the newer Zoysia grasses. The Walker Course has Diamond Zoysia greens.

On the other had cool season grasses are developed at universities like Rutgers, Umass, Penn State, and Michigan State for obvious reasons ..... they are in zones that favor cool season grasses ....... Bluegrass, Ryegrass, Fescue & Bentgrass. Part of the research on those grasses is to find and develop varieties that do better in warmer climates. I am sure Clemson also does research on those grasses. Many of the warm season grasses that have been used at Death Valley are grown in South Carolina, probably by people with Clemson degrees, but some of the better farms are still in South Georgia and may provide washed sod or sod grown on plastic while some here may not.

Any fancy name attached to sod is normally just another way to market a product. I am sure that the "Ready to Play" (or whatever they are calling it) , grown on plastic, is a great. It is NorthBridge Hybrid Bermuda and the field could be sprigged or sodded with washed NorthBridge Bermuda and get the same results. Obviously spriggs would take a little longer. June 15 would be the perfect sprigging date, so it would have plenty of time to grow in. Sod is more instant and we would be mowing it in a couple of weeks. We would use the summer to topdress and get all of the seams out where the rolls abut each other.

The idea of the sod grown on plastic to keep all of the roots and rhizomes in that 2" profile is plain silly. You want the roots to go as deeply as possible in the sand/peat soil mix that comprises the base growing medium at Death Valley. There may have been a little topsoil added to the mix when it was installed at the Valley, but it basically the same soil mix used on golf greens.

Bottom line is that our groundskeeper, Mike Echols, is outstanding and whatever they do he will make sure that the end product comes out well.

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I’m sorry, but you are misinformed. Bermudagrass goes dormant during cold weather and starts turning off color when the temperature goes down. You really have 3 options. One ….. overseed the Bermuda with Ryegrass, a cool season grass, in early fall while it is still warm enough to germinate, yet is will still be competing with viable Bermuda. Trying to germinate and then grow Ryegrass takes several weeks which you may not have the luxury of having in the first or middle of your season. Second …… paint the grass as it begins to go dormant in the fall. This what Mike does ……. not because he is “painting dirt”. Option #3 is do nothing and play on dormant grass, but because we are on TV for every game this is not a viable option. Some of the newer Hybrid Bermudas keep their color longer in the fall so painting can be held off a little longer in some instances.

We have an outstanding field and Mike does a great job.

Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Word on the internet is that

Re: Word on the internet is that

Clemson ag needs to step up their game***

Re: Word on the internet is that

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

I believe that was tiger contracts whole point

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Recycled straws when they moved to paper straws***

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

I'll try to make this simple.

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Why does it matter?***

Re: Why does it matter?***

Clearly there is a difference between turf management and turf development.***

They spent all the Ag money on the

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

They also moved the strip clubs to cedar creek

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

This is a hybrid.

and I know terms like Manganese and chinchbugs***

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

We have the best turf management in all of college football and I trust them.***

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Long reply ....... do not read if your are not interested in Turfgrass

Re: Long reply ....... do not read if your are not interested in Turfgrass

Re: Long reply ....... do not read if your are not interested in Turfgrass

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

As long as we don't start outsourcing the ice cream im good***

Who has the best product quality? Who has the best price?

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

Re: Frustrated we rely on other schools/states for grass at Death Valley

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