Turfgrass management and weed control without pesticides on football pitches in Denmark

Management of turfgrass on football pitches without pesticides involves a considerable challenge for weed control. By improving conditions for grass growth by cultural practices, weeds may be repressed by stronger competition from the grass. A 3-year field trial on 37 football pitches investigated the effects of various cultural management practices on percentage grass, weed and bare ground, respectively. The trial included twelve different treatments, comprising different combinations of fertiliser level and cultural methods, including two types of spring-tine harrow, vertical cutting, over-seeding, and top-dressing. Some treatments resulted in significant differences in percentage grass and weed cover, but not in percentage bare ground. However, other factors, such as locality of the football pitch, zone on the pitch, month, year, playing frequency, cutting frequency and, particularly, ground cover at the beginning of the trial, also contributed considerably to the variation in ground cover, indicating that established weeds are difficult to eradicate.