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
have your on-field work completed this month before you overseed your field so you won't be driving over your field. September Overseeding is the next step in your process getting ready for the season. A few things to remember and check before you begin your overseeding: Irrigation is key to establishing a great stand of your overseed variety. We recommend taking time about 2 weeks before overseeding to check your system. Monitor all irrigation heads mak- ing sure they are rotating properly and getting adequate coverage (head to head). If not, replace or repair at once. By making sure the irrigation is in proper order, it helps with your overseed establish- ment. Once your irrigation system is working, the next step will be to prepare your field for the seed. Remove most of the grass on your field by lowering your cutting height while trying to avoid scalping the grass. You will need to remove the excess clippings by sweeping your field to get it clean. Once clean, you can then overseed your fields. Ideally you want to use a drop spreader around the edges (infield, plate, baselines, warning track, etc.) so that you don't spread seed where you don't want it. The drop spreader can be used on the infield and lip areas; make sure you go in two directions with the seed. For the outfield, you can use a walk-behind rotary spreader or a machine-mounted spreader, also going in two directions. Once you overseed, keep the seed moist until it germinates and then start backing off the water to help the roots establish. If your budget allows, you can add a starter fertilizer approximately 7-10 days after overseeding. We recommend waiting until you see the grass start to push up out of the ground before fertilizing so that the plant can use the nutrients available. OctOber-NOvember If you didn't get all your clay work completed in August, now is the time to finish it and fine-tune your field. You want to minimize the traffic on your field so that the newly planted overseed won't be damaged and the field will be in great shape for the season. This is a great time to pull out your screens, nets, backstop padding, rail pad- ding, tarps (mound/plate/bullpen), infield protectors, windscreen, etc. You will want to check for holes, tears, rips, etc that might have happened during the off-season. Repair or replace these items now and have them ready for the season in November. As with most items, once the season gets closer, manufacturers get busy and the timeframe is longer to get that replacement. Avoid the rush and shop early for items needed in January! December Time will move quickly from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's. With the downtime and getting ready for holidays, it is a great time for you to pull soil samples and get them to the lab for analysis. You will want to do this about the same time every year that will help you with your planning for the following year. Soil reports give you the necessary information—the good and the bad. The report allows you to target the areas that are deficient in nutrients. By having this at the first of the year, it allows you to create a game plan on how to attack your fertilization needs going into the spring. This allows your turfgrass every opportunity to be healthy and grow. Yearly equipment maintenance and repair can also be on the list of things to do in December. Some things to make sure happen are: sharpen bed knives, grind reels, change oil and fuel filters, replace bat- teries, make sure tires are in good shape, and repair any hydraulic leaks, worn hoses, etc. Have your equipment ready for the season means one less headache to deal with in January. JaNuary Final step is to add your conditioner to the skinned areas. You want to put your conditioner out before you do anything on your field. If you have the December camp and you plan for infield/outfield, then adjust your timeframe and have the conditioner on the field before players are there. The last thing you want to do is to have your field looking great and a 1-day hitting/fielding camp ruin your hard work. As with most schedules, they can and probably will be adjusted. Take the time to plan ahead. January is a great time to create a yearlong calendar for the field and begin documenting what you do to your field. By doing this, it will allow you to plan for the next year and begin a yearly maintenance/checklist and will help you avoid the "all hands on deck" field day in January. Have a great fall and we'll see you in Denver at the STMA Conference. ■ Bill Marbet is president of Southern Athletic Fields, Inc.; Glenn Lucas is a sales representative for SAF in the South Alabama, South Mississippi and Louisiana, www.safdirt.com. www.stma.org September 2014 | SportsTurf 19 Hoover Met Field overseeded for Hoover High School football. Sam King is the turf- grass manager. Left: Leveling home plate with mound clay at Stone County High School, Wiggins, MS. Field maintained by head coach Hayden Cox. Right: Adding clay to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos Field, Pensacola, FL, where Ray Sayre is head groundskeeper.