MCPS contractor proves sod farmers wrong

Landscaper develops method to store sod for months

Local sod farmers say that it can't be done, but an MCPS contractor stored the sod from the Walter Johnson High School football field for most of last winter. Unfortunately, they ran into some problems that were apparently compounded by the unusually severe winter weather. In a more typical winter, though, MCPS contractors JB Kline Landscaping and Walker Willis Corporation can, apparently, store sod for several months in a warehouse, then replant it in the spring.

August 31, 2010 Letter to Shpur

Grass Growers' Plea for Turf Transparency!

...I am here tonight to ask you to reconsider your actions to convert all Montgomery County high schools into artificial turf fields. I will concede that many of the fields are in poor shape.

There are a lot of factors that this can be attributed to, one of which is poor design. It was poor design to hold down cost... You are comparing the lowest end grass fields to the highest end fields in the country when you go to the artificial turf fields. I would like to ask you to study the possibility of a sand based field with drainage, as a comparison to the artificial turf fields that you are putting in...You will find it is still cheaper than the artificial fields that you are putting in...

I am also concerned about the process here. I have not seen any open bids for these fields that you are putting in. I would like to see an open playing field for that.

Excerpts of testimony of Doug Lechlider, President Maryland Turfgrass Association to Montgomery County Board of Education on May 26, 2009. You can view the complete statement of Mr. Lechlider in the video below.