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/56877
FieldScience | Setting a realistic standard for infield mixes: opinions from the experts Editor's note: Last year we heard from an exasperated, high-profile groundskeeper who was fit to be tied about an article we ran that discussed silt to clay ratios for infield skins, among other topics. In response, we asked a number of industry professionals to answer these questions: What should the standard for infield mix be? What adjustments from your standard can be made for skins being managed on low budgets? What questions should readers ask of their material suppliers to help get the best results? Here are their responses: BILL DEACON, director of landscaping and field operations, New York Mets/Citi Field What should the standard for infield mix be? I believe that the sand, silt and clay percentage should be determined by the level of maintenance that you are capable of doing. As a gen- eral guideline you would have lower level maintenance fields in the 70-75% sand and 25-30% silt and clay with the clay being slightly higher than the silt; in- termediate fields in the 65-69% sand and 31-35% silt and clay with clay slightly higher than silt; and the professional level 60% sand or slightly below with the corresponding silt to clay amounts, but again with the clay 8 SportsTurf | March 2012 being just slightly higher than the silt. I think when looking at in- field skins the silt-to-clay ratio is very important and should be in the 0.5-1 range. I also believe that the medium sand content is important; the medium sand would be the first three sand val- ues on a particle size analysis test, the 1mm, 0.5mm and 0.25mm numbers added to- gether, and you would like to have that number at 40% or above. I also believe the gravel should be below 3%. When managing a low budget infield skin the most im- portant thing is to have a well- balanced soil and identify how much time you will have to maintain it and if you will be able to water it. Water the skin as much as possible, but if you can't water at all then I would person- ally like to be in the 70-75% sand range, even if I can only water it a little and don't have much time for maintenance I would want to be in the 70-75% sand range. I would spend the small amount on a test and remember you can al- ways amend an existing infield skin to get it into the range of maintenance that is best for your situation. I would budget to have it laser graded once a year if possible to help with low spots and any pud- dles. It is also important to have your infield graded, installed or amended correctly, this will allevi- ate future headaches. In a rainy climate you want to have some >> REGIONS PARK, Hoover, AL, cour- tesy of Southern Athletic Fields, Inc. kind of slope on your infield to move water off of it, in the 0.5%- 1% range. Try to be creative with your maintenance, ask the teams or parents to rakes dirt chunks off the edges and drag it if there are no staff members there that day. You also must manage expec- tations, no infield skin is mainte- nance free but maintenance is easier if it is a good quality mate- rial. The last thing is ask ques- tions of different people, I ask people constantly about their maintenance practices, and be positive, no one ever had a good infield skin with the attitude that they can't do any better than it is. What questions should readers ask of their material suppliers to help get the best results? Do you test your infield mix and if so is it an independent lab and can I see the results? Does your infield mix contain stones and vegetative matter? What do you screen your mix to? If I am not satisfied with the mix can I send it back? Can you send me the same mix every time I order it? Do you have a client list that I can contact? www.sportsturfonline.com Opinions from the exper ts