• Topics: Environmental Horticulture  | Environmental Conditions and the Lawn  |  Trenholm, Laurie 

Minimizing Traffic Damage to Your Florida Lawn¹

Effects from vehicular or foot traffic can cause injury to turfgrass in two ways. The first site of injury is grass shoot tissue, where physical damage to leaf blades is manifested by abrasion, tearing, or stripping of the leaf tissue. This injury results in death of the leaves and a reduction in photosynthetic capacity. The second site of damage from traffic is the root system. Damage to the root system results from soil compaction due to weight of the traffic. Root growth and viability is greatly reduced, resulting in less capacity for roots to seek out water or nutrients. Often damage from traffic will cause both types of injury simultaneously. Rates of recovery of the grass vary based on: a) the capacity of the grass to tolerate traffic injury; b) growth rate of the turf, which will determine how long it will take the grass to grow out of the injury; and c) degree of severity of the injury. In addition, there are specific management and maintenance practices that will improve the wear tolerance of your turfgrass.

Wear Tolerance of Warm-Season Grasses

The warm-season grasses grown throughout Florida are generally more wear tolerant than cool-season grasses grown in northern climates. A typical ranking of wear tolerance of our warm-season grasses is as follows:

1. zoysiagrass

2. seashore paspalum is equal to bermudagrass

3. St. Augustinegrass

4. bahiagrass

5. carpetgrass

6. centipedegrass

In some cases, a species may have one cultivar (or type) that exhibits good wear tolerance and another with poor tolerance. For example, seashore paspalum cultivars "Sea Isle 2000" and "Sea Isle 1" both have excellent wear tolerance, while wear tolerance of the cultivar "Adalayd" is poor. These differences exist due to genetic differences within a species and differences in rate of regrowth.

Factors that Enhance Wear Tolerance

The factors, other than genetics, that are important in determining wear tolerance are:

• Amount of shoot tissue present to absorb the injury

• Proper hydration status. A lawn which is adequately (not overly) irrigated allows leaf tissue to better absorb the impact of the injury

• Proper fertilization practices, which will impart greater overall stress tolerance and will best allow the lawn to outgrow the injury. Potassium is particularly important in improving wear tolerance.

How You Can Improve the Wear Tolerance of Your Lawn

The first step to improving wear tolerance is to avoid the injury if possible. If vehicular or foot traffic is ongoing, then pavement, bricks, or stone would provide a better ground cover than grass. Avoidance of repeated paths from traffic will also alleviate injury, and will provide the grass with time to revive. Another tool is selection of wear-tolerant turfgrasses. Centipedegrass or bahiagrass are poor choices for high-traffic areas, while zoysiagrass or seashore paspalum would be better suited in these locations.

Fertilization

Fertilization regimes strongly influence the ability of the grass to withstand injury, as well as to outgrow it. Excess nitrogen fertilization (in amounts higher than indicated in the Florida Lawn Handbook) will reduce wear tolerance. This occurs because the nitrogen causes rapid growth of the grass, which results in lush, succulent tissue that is less able to withstand the injury. Proper nitrogen fertilization, however, will improve wear tolerance in two ways. First, it will promote greater shoot density (number of shoots per unit area) of the grass, thereby providing more shoot tissue to absorb the injury. Secondly, it will allow for faster regrowth following the injury and will promote new lateral growth to help the grass cover any bare ground resulting from the injury.

Potassium fertilization also strongly influences tolerance to many stresses, including wear injury. Adequate potassium fertilization will allow the grass to survive with less injury and to retain adequate carbohydrates for subsequent regrowth. Potassium should be applied to traffic-stressed turf in an amount ranging from one-half to equal amounts of potassium to nitrogen. For example, a 16-4-8 fertilizer would supply half the amount of potassium to nitrogen.

Mowing

Proper mowing practices influence your grass wear tolerance. Higher mowing heights will improve tolerance, because: a) this increases the amount of shoot tissue available to absorb the injury; and b) this results in deeper rooting than you would find in a closely mowed turf. Deeper rooting provides greater stress resistance. Scalping, or low mowing, of a stressed turf will result in greater damage, slower recovery, and possible death of the turf.

Irrigation

Irrigation also can influence wear tolerance. Deep rooting is encouraged by infrequent, longer irrigations, applied only when the turf shows signs of wilt. Daily or frequent watering results in roots that remain in the top few inches of soil, and a grass plant with less capacity to withstand any environmental or biotic stress. It is important, however, to apply adequate irrigation to wear-stressed turf. As mentioned above, this allows the turf to better absorb the injury and results in less damage than would occur on dry turf.

Aeration

If soil compaction is the primary problem, there are several steps to be taken. First, compaction can be alleviated by aeration of the soil, which helps loosen the soil and allows oxygen to reach the roots. Aeration can be as simple as using a small foot-press aerator in small areas to a job requiring commercial equipment to drill holes in the soil. This procedure should be followed by topdressing, which is application of soil over the top of the turfgrass. Over time, topdressing may alleviate compaction, reduce thatch, and improve the drainage or water retention of the site.

Remember that some traffic may be unavoidable on your lawn. In these cases, adopting a "wear-tolerant" attitude may be helpful.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.

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