Dead Patches

Browned or bare areas of grass which might have been caused by one or more of a range of contributory factors. See Dead Grass.

  Desso Grassmaster

See Grassmaster.

  Disc Harrow

An item of equipment which is pulled by a tractor. It consists of a horizontal bar onto which are fixed a number of disc blades which cut into a soil to cultivate it.

  Divot

A piece of turf that has become partially or fully detached from the surface and underlying root system. A divot usually results from the action of players, or horses where on a racecourse.

  Divot Fork

A small hand fork, typically with three prongs, attached to a long wooden handle. The benefit of a long handle is to reduce the need to bend to carry out divoting of sports surfaces, especially football and rugby. The small fork head allows for accurate repair work to small divots, something which cannot adequately be achieved using a larger garden or border fork. The tool is also sometimes referred to as a Divot Repair Fork.

  Divot Mix [1]

Typically, a sandy soil used for levelling devoted areas, especially those which have been heavily scared. Often a divot mix will also contain grass seed which has been pre-mixed into it.

  Divoting

The action of replacing or repairing divots. Benefits of divoting include returning the surface to a good condition in as short a period as possible. This will include maintaining surface evenness, aiding rooting of a replaced divot where it has been replaced fairly soon after becoming detached, retaining ground cover and contributing to maintaining good playing quality. A divot mix, which may at times also include grass seed, may also be applied as part of the divoting process, especially on golf tees and heavily divoted winter pitches.

  Dormant Seeding

Another name for Cold Seeding.

  Double Cut

This mainly applies to the preparation of a cricket pitch for play. The first cut is typically made in the centre of the pitch, between the stumps line, with the mower then used to cut back over in reverse of the first direction. Mowing then gradually works out in the same way to 5' one side of the middle line and then the same for 5' the other side to get the full width pitch being double cut. Also called Reverse Cut or Reverse Mowing.

  Double Digging

This method of cultivation turns the soil over to a depth of 2 spits (about 250 to 500mm). The soil is dug and removed from a narrow trench and working backwards, the soil from the dug trench is turned into the first trench. This sequence is continued until the entire area has been dug over. Fork over the base of the trench to aid root development and drainage. The incorporation of soil amendment material can be more easily undertaken whilst turning over the soil from one trench to another, between the first and second excavated spit. Double digging can be a time consuming and tiring tas

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