cost of planting grass

[clamenza]

I run a pickup game and our field's atrocious. There's no grass left partly because we play every week, year-round. I looked around online and it seems laying a field costs more than half a million dollars. It's a miracle municipal government still maintains the field and adjacent playground, so there's no hope of getting that kind of funding. So I wonder, is the cost mainly due to doing it to specs (the numbers are all for laying a field for sports)? Would it be a lot cheaper if we don't care what kind of grass is grown? Any way to make it affordable?

[erictheking]

http://www.lawnuk.co.uk

[NHRef]

Much of the cost is probably a sprinkler system. Without one you have a lower chance of the grass growing. Also with seed, you are looking at several weeks before you can play on it at all, more likely 2 months so you don't destroy it. Sod would take quicker, but cost more upfront.

[ranova]

I would look for advice tailored to your area. Your looking for grass for a specific purpose. Something that doesn't need watering and is durable. It also should be compatable with the city's maintenance program, which means the same type of grass that the city planted.

Where I am located, we had to get permission before sowing seed on an existing field. It cost us about $300-400 for seed. We borrowed the spreaders. Applied it in November and it grew fairly well over the winter. But that was consistent with advice for our area. The next Spring the county would not give us a permit for the field we sowed, so our efforts only benefited someone else. Needless to say, that is why we never seeded again.

I don't think playing one game for less than two hours a week is going to have any significant impact on the grass. If the ground is too soft, playing will make it uneven and you end up with a lumpy field. Heavy usuage does kill the grass. In my area each year within two weeks of the kids starting play in the Spring and Fall, the grass dissapears on the fields we use year round. It comes back after the kid's season ends.

[mvgary]

I was amazed when I first heard costs of developing a grass field for soccer (and that figure did not include land). I found this document which may help explain details involved. http://www.oregonyouthsoccer.org/test/field_dev/Field_Development_Guide.doc

I believe you will find that it takes one year for grass to develope a good root system but overplay will quickly kill any grass. My town developed two midsized fields and they were showing signs of wear after one season even tough we thought we limited play/practices there.