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/34725
“We can laser grade quickly and easily each spring and save mu- nicipal clients the expense of adding materials year after year. Trust me: laser grading is a lot cheaper than buying a load of ball mix and laying it on there every spring, especially when annually adding mix ultimately leads to other problems that can easily be avoided.” Rychlik noted that Gewalt-Hamilton are engineers, not agrono- mists nor soil scientists. Accordingly, they recommended to Pechette the services of Dave Marquardt at Dirt-n-Turf Consulting, Hinckley, IL which has developed its own ongoing relationship with Lakes Community HS. “Dave takes soil samples and provides answers,” Rychlik says. “At Lakes Community, he found the water they use to irrigate had un- suitably high salt content. That means Leo’s annual plan should call for the laying down of gypsum to counteract the salinity. “During the construction process, we use consultants like Dirt & Turf to determine what sort of fertilization program to use going forward, but there is no reason you cannot make those soil findings and judgments regarding an existing facility… I like to include $2500 for Dave to come out to a facility twice a year to report on soil strata, both chemistry and physical analysis. Again, no need for a bid and those reports tie in directly to the turf enhancement rec- ommendations. I would say that if you have a good comprehensive maintenance plan that includes fertilization and overseeding, then the cost additions beyond Dave’s time to test and report are mar- ginal, i.e. $1,000 a year. You’re just dialing in the specific rates that you can have confidence are right.” Pechette has a newly renovated football field, but he’s also com- mitted to the aeration regimen he’s undertaken with LSF. “We’ve al- ready seen a reduction in the amount of turf we’ve had to put down [in repairs]. But the biggest thing is, the field today is a safe field, for the athletes. It used to be a quagmire with 3-4 inch ruts from the cleats. Now it gets wet, but never muddy.” LSF calls its specific ongoing maintenance program “10 under 10”, because it details 10 vital projects that cities, park districts and school systems can undertake to add value and performance to their sports field inventory. Most important, each project can be exe- cuted for “under” $10,000. “Don’t get me wrong: We have no problem doing rebuilds like the one we did at Lakes Community High School, but we’re hon- estly more interested in helping schools and park districts avoid that sort of major expense,” Lohmann said. “There are several things going on here. There are some park and school districts that simply don’t have the equipment or expertise to aerate or laser grade or in- stall quick coupler valves on an irrigation system. “But there’s another group of districts that might have the ex- pertise but don’t have the budgets, or the political climate, that allow this sort of work to get approved. The 10 Under 10 program was designed to get this important work done economically.” ■ www.stma.org SportsTurf 35