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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/251524
February 2014 | SportsTurf 27 www.stma.org a normal garden rake and go at a 45 degree angle and forcefully rake out the edges. We go back and forth a couple of times, one side to the other. It's amazing how much thatch, conditioner, etc., that we remove by doing this. We then rake the "trash" up into a pile and re- move it from the field. Long term is tough for me to say at this point. I would guess we will just re-sod the lips if they ever become unsafe. DeMink: Lip prevention is done daily with push brooms, backpack blowers, and leaf rakes. Weekly I like to use a hose to blow it out with water. And, if needed, sod replacement. Harshman: Short term, after daily practices, or normal usage: I come in and leaf rake all lip/transition areas pulling back material onto the infield that has found its way into the turf. After finishing up with leaf raking I use a backpack blower and get the material that has tried to imbed itself deep into the profile. Long term: After heavy use: (camps, tournaments and weekend series) I will perform the same practices mentioned in the short term. In addition to that I will blow out all lip/transition areas with a water hose that is hooked up to a quick connect water source. This process in my general maintenance is a delicate procedure. I make sure that the water pressure isn't full blast causing more harm than good to the lip/transition areas. If your pressure is too high you have the potential of blowing out large chunks of your infield requir- ing you to come back in and make the necessary repairs to the clay infield playing surface. I regulate my water pressure making sure I gradually make small circular stokes along the grass edge blowing out all debris and material are free from working itself deep within the profile. By performing these practices I limit the amount of buildup over time that would eventually create an uneven transition between the clay infield and turf areas. Seybold: The lips are "washed" out on all off days of all loose clay and conditioner that is worked in to the edge of the grass and during practice days or game days a backpack blower is used to remove as much conditioner as possible without damaging the grass to dirt in- terface on the edges. During the summer a roll of sod from the ring around the back of the skin is removed and replaced with new "fresh" sod to insure a clean edge is ready to go for the season. Combs: We try and maintain our edges daily by sweeping or raking them after every use to minimize build-up. We edge the grass fre- quently to try and maintain a crisp edge. Our long-term solutions would be to flush the edges with a hose to try and flush out any infield material, if the edges are really bad we would just resod. n