SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/369217
18 SportsTurf | September 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com Field Science | By Bill Marbet and Glenn Lucas A s we all realize, maintaining athletic fields and facilities can be a year round job for the coaches, groundskeeper, booster clubs, maintenance staff, etc. So often we hear of coaches setting a work day in January for "all hands on deck" and a long 12-hour or more day is spent edging, painting, cleaning bathrooms, concession stand etc. Here we will hopefully give you some ideas that can be put in place throughout the year that will help you avoid this on a cold, cloudy, dreary January day. Typically, in most sports, there is some down time for the field. With travel ball, select tournaments and vari- ous leagues throughout the country, finding the down time is important and must be scheduled just like the weekend tournaments. Coaches and players might not like having access to the fields, but, if they realize that this is to keep them safe and playable, then it is easier for them to understand. For timing purposes, we will use the baseball/softball season for colleges/high schools/parks and recreation (typi- cally January 1 through June 30 in the South). As you are reading this, you might think "That doesn't happen at my location," but, with some planning, you can apply these field maintenance practices into your schedule. July The main focus during this time is your turf health. You want to aerify your fields as soon as possible to help reduce the compaction from the season and aerfiying will create space for the nutrients, water and oxygen to reach the roots to stimulate plant growth. Ideally, you will aerify in two directions immediately after the season to give your turf the most time to recover and become healthy. Along with aerfiying, you need to topdress with sand (USGA is recommended), but, if budget or availability is a problem, you can use washed, slightly coarser sand. Try to find sand that is free of debris and rocks. After aerify- ing in two directions, apply a heavy layer of sand up to ¼ inch, then mat drag the field to allow the sand to help fill the space created. Other things to consider could be: vertically mowing, replacing sod, turfplaning, sand surface leveling of your fields or major renovation projects. August August is a great month to add infield mix to your skinned areas. The weather is warm and drier and there- fore infield material will be much easier to work. We will save the discussion for what type of infield mix to use for another day, but, basically the areas you need to address will be: Low spots on your infield; the edges of your grass and skinned infield; baselines; mounds; home plate area holding water in the batters boxes; and bullpen mounds. With the infield and mound work, it is much easier to complete this time of year and will allow for the material to settle and be ready for the season in January. Try to How To avoid THe Field work day beFore nexT SeaSon Turfplaning the outfield at the University of South Alabama, Mobile. The turfgrass manager is Zach Willard.