A Rock-Hard Turf Question

Being in Dr. Ken Diesburg’s turf classes at the University of Illinois-Urbana can be hard. Rock hard. Hard as concrete.

Diesburg says his favorite question to pose to students — requiring an essay answer — is, “It is claimed that turfgrass can be grown on concrete. How would you accomplish such a feat?”

Gulp!

The answer is given after Diesburg has presented to the students the environmental parameters needed for plant growth.  Here’s how it can be done.

“They would need a textured concrete, like a sidewalk has, to catch the seed,” Diesburg starts.

“By supplying a continuous trickle of nutrient solution, and the capillary properties of water spreading it across the concrete plane, the seed would get plenty of moisture, oxygen, light and nutrients. Assuming the temperature is within the cardinal range for the species, the seed would germinate and form soilless sod over the subsequent month,” he says. If that was your answer, give yourself an A+.

“One point, here, is that perennial grasses don’t need a particulate media to hold them upright,” Diesburg notes. “Their leafy canopy holds itself upright very well. Soilless bentgrass sod for sale is grown in such a way.”