Campus continues to lose its green turfs with little rain in sight despite the break from 100-degree temperatures. With dryness creeping back into the forecast, ground crews are preparing to put more seed down than usual.
The areas in which more seed will be needed is not yet clear, said Michael Planton, associate director for Landscape and Environmental Management.
"We'll have to see once we start getting timely rains what comes back and what doesn't comeback," he said. "We will do a process which is known as 'slit seeding' where we just put the new grass seed right into the old grass and get it to grow through that way."
Planton said it's hard to tell where they will slip seed until it has rained, but the Arts Terrace, University Green and LaFollette Field are three areas that will most likely get attention first but the areas will still be available to students for now.
"I'm going to have to start blocked areas off so the grass has a chance to germinate and root because if it's real small and people walk on it, it will die," he said.
Carlos Garcia, Landscape Services Supervisor, said the lack of rain and demand for more watering efforts hasn't lead to overtime or the hiring of new crew members.
"Fortunately when it gets hot like that, the other stuff that we normally do we can't do because if you trim shrubs when it's that hot then you take a chance of scorching them and of course grass isn't growing so we don't have to mow, so it's kind of worked out that we can use the resources to water," he said.
Although the grounds crews are keeping up with watering sections of campus, Garcia said he is still worried about some of the older plants on campus.
"My biggest concern at this point would be losing some of the more established trees and landscapes that normally aren't a concern," he said. "I've never seen this type of drought so I hope we get some help from Mother Nature because we can water and water but nothing helps like a good soaking rain."
When it comes time to slit seed in August, the areas on campus will get traditional seed that is actually custom made for campus called the "Ball State mix," Planton said.
"It's 92 percent Kentucky bluegrass and 8 percent Perennial ryegrass and that's it," he said. "Of course, we'll put down more because of the drought."
Now that the drought has officially done permanent damage to many areas on campus, Planton said his crew has to just pick what to water knowing some plants will suffer.
"You just have to water what you can, but I'm limited in the amount of tanks that I have that I can water with," he said.
Garcia said he is ready for the summer months to be over and hopes that fall and winter will bring much-needed moisture, unlike this summer.
"I've been here for 15 years and I've never experienced anything like this summer," he said.
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