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/45791
FieldScience | Scott Stevens >> Top left: EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY, Richmond, KY >> Bottom left: CANISIUS COLLEGE, Buffalo, NY edge is hand pull them every 2 weeks throughout the bermudagrass growing sea- son. We will also use a weed eater to edge. This gives a clean look without cutting the synthetic fibers. For the mound we use push brooms and backpack blowers to remove the clay from the synthetic fibers. If the clay builds up too much then we use a hose and shop-vac to remove the clay. This is typically done twice a year, once at the end of the fall and again at the end of the spring. The biggest thing that we have learned in >> CARDINAL NEWMAN HS, Santa Rosa, CA Maintaining a synthetic baseball infield A T ELON UNIVERSITY the base- ball field consists of a synthetic (FieldTurf ) infield and a natural, 419 bermudagrass outfield. Our maintenance plan of the synthetic baseball in- field is developed around field use and weather. More maintenance is required for higher field use or inclement weather. The basic daily maintenance includes work- ing on the high-wear areas, including batters boxes, around the pitching mound, around all the bases, and around dugouts and entrances to the fields. For the most part, the work requires just a push broom or backpack blower to move the crumb rubber back into place. The rubber is pushed back to its original location and then water is used to help settle the rubber back into place. Around the mound area, we push any clay back on the mound. This will also push crumb rubber on the mound. We believe that the The biggest thing that we have learned in taking care of the field is to stay on top of the maintenance. — Scott Stevens 32 SportsTurf | November 2011 crumb rubber is easier to remove from the mound surface than the clay is to remove from the synthetic surface. During certain times of the year we use backpack blowers daily to blow debris off the surface. Fortunately our synthetic infield surface is only about 40,000 square feet so the time for this process is minimal. Monthly, we drag the field using the Field- Turf drag. The FieldTurf drag has three different tools: a broom, an aerator, and tines. We use the broom and the tine part of the drag the most often. These two parts help to move the infill (rubber and sand) around, as well as stand the plastic fibers back up on the infield. After we get done brooming the field, we use three 3-foot magnets to roll across the field to pick up any metal debris. Since the crumb rub- ber is from old tires there are small fragments of metal, about the size of staples, which we have been collecting off the field. We also sanitize the field monthly. To do this, we use a Gator with four nozzle boom that sprays FieldTurf deter- gent on the field. We then use four Hunter I-90 heads to water the cleaner into the field. There are two edges of the field that we must maintain: the edge where the synthetic meets the grass and the synthetic around the dirt mound. For the grass edge, we have found that the best method to remove the runners from the taking care of the field is to stay on top of the maintenance. If we let the clay to build up, then it becomes harder to remove. If we allow the grass to grow too far into the synthetic then the grass becomes well rooted and is harder to pull out. If we allow debris to col- lect on the surface then it is tougher to re- move them. With the help of the coaches and players we are able to stay on top of the maintenance. Scott Stevens is sports turf manager for Elon University, Elon, NC. Sports Turf Manager CARDINAL NEWMAN HS, SANTA ROSA, CA Mike Truesdell, president of Cardinal Newman High School, says, "It seems to me, a neophyte, that the separation between the dirt of the mound and the turf of the (Tiger- Turf) field works well. If dirt is kicked into the field it can be swept back. The rubber beads can be replaced if the reverse happens. "Matt Brown (installer) just completed a major sweeping and disinfecting of the entire surface. I believe that is an annual event. On a quarterly basis our maintenance team pulls a brush device to redistribute the infill. And where it is significantly displaced around the bags and home plate more infill is added," Truesdell says. "During our planning stages we went back and forth as to whether the area around home plate should be dirt like the mound. Given our required repairs to the batters' boxes, and the apparent ease of keeping the mound dirt and field turf infill separated, it might be worth rethinking that decision," he says. Matt Brown of Precision Surfacing, Inc., says, "We installed the baseball field at www.sportsturfonline.com By