SportsTurf

September 2016

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.

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34 SportsTurf | September 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com John Mascaro is President of Turf-Tec International BACKGROUND ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ISTOCKPHOTO.COM John Mascaro is President of Turf-Tec International These strange marks leading away from the warning track are footprints, but what's interesting is how they got here. Before 2016 Spring Training, a third-party was hired to pressure wash the entire seating bowl of the stadium with a solution containing chlorine and other cleaning agents. The cleaning was done from a specially outfi tted truck containing a 500-gallon tank that maneuvered around the stadium on the warning track. As the crew was working, the Sports Turf Manager noticed that the tank and pump fi ttings were leaking profusely and large puddles were forming under the truck. He halted their work until he was given assurance that the product would not harm the turf. After the cleaning was fi nished, there was no apparent damage to the turf and all through Spring Training the areas looked fi ne. Coincidentally, the very last home game of Spring Training was rained out before the fi rst pitch and the crew was on and off the fi eld several times during the rain. Within a few days, the Sports Turf Manager began noticing areas of declining perennial ryegrass, conspicuously shaped and patterned to resemble foot traffi c. Apparently 6 weeks after the cleaning, the rain reactivated the chemicals in the puddles on the warning track, causing the burning of the ryegrass in the shapes of the footprints. Unfortunately, the ryegrass was damaged beyond repair and the semi-dormant bermuda underneath struggled to green up, which further enhanced the footprints. Photo submitted by David Nowakowski, CSFM, sales rep for Harrell's Fertilizer. Paul Lopez, CSFM, is Head Groundskeeper, Florida Operations for the Washington Nationals Baseball Club in Melbourne, FL. If you would like to submit a photograph for John Mascaro's Photo Quiz please send it to John Mascaro, 1471 Capital Circle NW, Ste # 13, Tallahassee, FL 32303 call (850) 580-4026 or email to john@turf-tec.com. If your photograph is selected, you will receive full credit. All photos submitted will become property of SportsTurf magazine and the Sports Turf Managers Association. These strange marks leading away from the warning track are footprints, but what's interesting is how they got here. Before 2016 Spring Training, a third-party was hired to pressure wash the entire seating bowl of the stadium with a solution containing chlorine and other cleaning agents. The cleaning was done from a specially outfi tted truck containing a 500-gallon tank that maneuvered around the stadium on the warning track. As the crew was working, the Sports Turf Manager noticed that the tank and pump fi ttings were leaking profusely and large puddles were forming under the truck. He halted their work until he was given assurance that the product would not harm the turf. After the cleaning was fi nished, there was no apparent damage to the turf and all through Spring Training the areas looked fi ne. Coincidentally, the very last home game of Spring Training was rained out before the fi rst pitch and the crew was on and off the fi eld several times during the rain. Within a few days, the Sports Turf Manager began noticing areas of declining perennial ryegrass, conspicuously shaped and patterned If you would like to submit a photograph for John Mascaro's Photo Quiz please send it to John Mascaro, 1471 Capital Circle NW, Ste # 13, Tallahassee, FL 32303 call (850) 580-4026 or email to john@turf-tec.com. If your photograph is selected, you will receive full credit. All photos submitted John Mascaro's Photo Quiz Answers from page 15

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