N.J. provides best place to grow sod

New Jersey turf is in demand at sports fields because it drains well.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers have the home field advantage in this Sunday’s NFC championship game, but the famous frozen tundra of Lambeau Field was grown in the New York Giants’ backyard in New Jersey.

Tuckahoe Turf Farms, a sod grower between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, supplies grass for some of the country’s most well-known sports venues, including Lambeau Field and Fenway Park.

James Betts, the grandson of the company’s founder, said he’ll be watching Sunday’s game to keep an eye on “his” grass, which was snow covered for last week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.

“At first, it was a really big deal, but after a while you kind of just get used to it,” he said.

Tuckahoe ships its Kentucky bluegrass in refrigerated trucks to football stadiums in Green Bay and Cleveland, and to sports teams closer to home, including the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals. It is growing grass now for the New York Mets’ new stadium, which opens in 2009.

Business is good for the more than 2,100 farms nationwide that grow sod for homes, parks and sports fields. There’s a steady demand for green landscaping, whether it’s for backyard gardens, youth ballfields or giant stadiums, according to Kirk Hunter, executive director of Turfgrass Producers International.

Nursery, greenhouse and sod products are now New Jersey’s largest agricultural export, with about $390 million in sales in 2006, surpassing fruits and vegetables.

New Jersey’s sandy soil is popular for professional sports venues because it drains well, said Stephen Hart, a specialist in turf management and weed science at Rutgers University.

“It is one of the most critical issues for an athletic field.”

Hart said clay-based soil from the Midwest doesn’t work as well, and grass grown in Southern climates isn’t as hardy enough to withstand winter in the North.

Professional baseball and football teams started coveting the sand-based technology about 10 to 15 years ago, said Mike Boekholder, head groundskeeper for the Philadelphia Phillies, which uses Tuckahoe sod.

That’s when Tuckahoe’s business started to grow. The farm now has about 700 acres on land once cultivated for tomatoes, sweet potatoes and corn. Sales have nearly doubled, to between $4 million and $5 million annually.

Tuckahoe’s sports business started when Princeton University wanted a sand-based field in the mid-1990s, Betts said. Word of mouth spread, and soon the company was supplying grass to the Cleveland Browns.

Green Bay has been using Tuckahoe grass for more than six years. The iconic “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field consists of a quarter-inch layer of sod, above a foot of sand to allow for drainage.

“Sand doesn’t get as slippery when it’s wet. That’s why sand is so important. It doesn’t make mud when it’s wet,” said Allen Johnson, Green Bay’s field manager.