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/460594
Field Science maintenance clay and must be covered with a mat or tarp when not in use. If left uncovered this clay will crack and chip out very easily. So this clay can only be used at facilities with a mound tarp and access to moisture. There are other clays more suitable for extended use periods or facilities without tarps and access to water. A schedule of our mound mainte- nance is as follows: Each morning the tarp is removed and the moisture is checked. If the clay has good moisture, a hitting mat will be placed over the gumbo clay and the sides will be left exposed to allow them to "firm" up. Around noon we will tarp the entire mound and this mound stays in place until 30 minutes before each game. After each game the conditioner is removed and a light coat of moisture is added and the mound is packed with fresh clay. We then cover up the gumbo clay with a light layer of infield mix and new conditioner. A light coat of water is added to the entire mound and then tarped…repeat 72+ times. Chad Laurie, Buffalo Bison During baseball season, the pitching mound requires daily maintenance and regular renovations. After every game, the damage that pitchers do is repaired using black gumbo packing clay. This clay has a very high clay content and is only installed on the table top and front slope. The rest of the mound is constructed of our infield mix because there is considerably less traffic on it. As soon as the game is over, the dam- age is swept clean of any loose material and conditioner, then watered and repacked with clay. The entire table top and front slope are watered at this time with a light fan nozzle so that the moisture in this high clay area can be controlled better. After the repacking is complete, the remaining parts of the mound are cleaned of clay chunks and fresh conditioner is added to the mound. The mound is then covered with a tarp to maintain moisture and stays covered until after lunch the following day. Once the tarp is removed, an Astroturf mat is placed on the front slope to keep the moisture in the clay. This Astroturf cover will stay in place until we are ready to prepare for the game. Keeping the packing clay covered once it has proper moisture is essential to a well-perform- ing mound. Along with daily maintenance, the pitching mound goes through a number of minor renovations through the season. About three to four times year, all the con- ditioner is stripped from our mounds and packing clay is added anywhere the front slope and table top are low. Then the rest of the mound is scratched up with a small gar- den cultivator and infield mix is added to maintain the shape of the mound. This also gives us the opportunity to add fresh condi- tioner to the entire mound surface. ■ ST 12 SportsTurf | March 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com Field Science