Grass Runway Question

[wvrailfan]

For those of you involved with your club's field maintenance, what kind of grass do you use on your grass runway?

Our club has a 450 foot by 30 foot grass runway and we have recently been the recipient of some help from our local county golf course grounds crew. Last summer they came over and smoothed out a rough portion of the strip. This year they are aerating and topdressing with sand, the entire runway. They have also contributed some new grass seed, which is a mixture of Bermuda and some other strains. The plan is the Bermuda will eventually take over the entire runway. According to the guy in charge, even though the Bermuda will go dormant each year during our West Virginia winter, it should come back each spring with a vengeance. It can withstand long hot dry spells and can be cut as short as 1/2 inch, which makes it idea for a RC runway!

I was just wondering if anyone else has had experience with Bermuda in the northern half of the U. S.?

[TiredIronGRB]

Can't really help you on the Bermuda, on my home runway (550'X40') I use regular fescue grass and I cut it at 3/4" three times a week and it stays green all winter.

[dahawk]

Ours is about 450 x 50. We planted a hybrid Bermuda a few years ago that wasn't supposed to grow more than 1.5 in. tall. Not really. Finding that there are areas of St. Augustine coming in. Not good. We do keep it short by mowing twice a week.We do need to aerate. The Corps of Engrs. who we lease the field from will not allow us to bring anything in like sand.

Our field guy works very hard to keep it nice and for the most part, it's a nice field.. I think he likes nice lawns and thick golf course fairways. If I had my way I'd scalp it and paint it green. LOL Much better for edf's with small wheels.

[wvrailfan]

Thanks guys. The Bermuda we are using is a hybrid called Yukon. It is suppose to weather our winters better than standard Bermuda. According to the superintendent at the golf course, this Bermuda is very aggressive and will eventually take over the runway. The fact that it turns yellow and goes dormant during the winter is not a big issue to us, as long as it holds the soil through the winter, which I am told it will. I guess we will see. I am glad our club has a knowledgeable crew helping with our runway.

[Dewey H Lee]

Wow Wvaitfan. Your lucky to have a ground crew that cares. Our runway is 650' by 75' wide ans we have a contract lawn service that is suppose to come by each week and cut bit for some reason that doesn't happen. We have centipeigh and weeds. When its not cut you're mowing down dandielions with your prop. It just killes me that i pay 100.00 a year and show up on weekends to find the grass 6" high. Most of the others fly nitro so they dont care . Im the only one that has any foam warbirds that ive seen in 3 years that lve been a member. Have tried to get them to apply for the field betterment grants through ama and possibly do geotech. But they wont do it for some reason. We are limited to 49 members.by the owners of the property which just happens.to be my relatives so they have already said they wouldn't mind.

[E-Challenged]

I fly at a city park field that usually has weeds and pebbles. We pay a $55 city flying permit fee annually and are severely restricted from using pesticides and mowing/scraping the strip. Paving the strip is out of the question with pressure on the city from local naturalists and ecologists. We are under constant threat of field closure due to US Fish and Wildlife protection of tiny "fairy shrimp" which lie dormant in dry soil and activate in "vernal ponds" when we get some rain. I pay another $100 per year to fly at a remote canyon site which is often closed to model flying due to fire danger or shared usage with other organizations.