[1] As water and other aqueous solutions (fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides) are added, a layer of thatch may accumulate on the surface of the turf.
Sand-based athletic fields are utilized by many professional sporting facilities as they provide efficient drainage, thus allowing games and matches to be played during rainfall.
Highly maintained areas of grass, such as those on an athletic field or on golf greens and tees, can be grown in native soil or sand-based systems.
Peat has the ability to increase water and nutrient holding capacity and decrease bulk density.
[8] One main type being rounded sands, that provide efficient filtration for water and other aqueous solutions, enabling the turf to take more rainfall.
Another type is angular sands, that are able to provide this firm seed bed, thus establishing durable turf.
However, because of this firmness, angular sands do have the potential to cut into roots, thus inhibiting water and nutrient uptake and leaving the turf susceptible to plant pathogens.
In the United States, common specifications for constructing a sand-based system are laid out by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and by ASTM International (American Society of Testing and Materials, ASTM F2396 Standard Guide for Construction of High Performance Sand-Based Rootzones for Athletic Fields).
[1] This creates a perched water table above the gravel that helps keep the root zone moist during dry conditions.
Thatch layers are the accumulation of decomposed vegetative parts of grass plants like stolons and rhizomes at the surface level.
A thick thatch layer on a sand-based athletic field may prevent nutrients and water from reaching the soil.
Without sand mixed with the thatch layer, divots would readily kick out and the field would not be safe for any type of sport.
Nutrient management is essential in maintaining a healthy stand of turfgrass, and is much more difficult to achieve effectively in a sand-based system.
[12] Unlike with native soil fields, leaching of nutrients is a major concern when managing a sand-based turf system.
Nutrient leaching occurs more readily in a sand-based system because sand has a relatively low cation-exchange capacity (CEC).
Low CEC is a major concern when an athletic field is constructed with 100% sand because substantial amounts of nutrients will be unavailable to the turf.
The best way to avoid this problem is to incorporate some type of organic matter into the root zone mix during construction.
Mixing peat moss into the root zone mixture greatly increases nutrient holding capacity.
This will greatly increase the chances of establishing a healthy stand of turfgrass because the soil will be able to retain both nutrients and water.
[14] It is more important to obtain soil tests during the establishment of a new field because organic matter will be low and amounts of nutrients will fluctuate even more.
The good drainage that sand-based systems exhibit also offer the turf manager better control over soil water content.