FIGURE 1
organic matter. The typical organic matter content of a well-established playing surface is in the region of 6% w/w (water to weight). The laboratory method used to determine the concentration is the “loss on ignition test”. This test involves an accurately weighed mass of dried and ground sample from the rootzone under investigation. This sample is placed in a furnace set at 800 degrees Celsius for two hours. All organic matter is vaporised. The sample is cooled and reweighed. The mass of the material that remains represents the soil’s inorganic content. Thus, from the original mass, the organic matter content can then be determined. Organic matter content of a soil acts as the cementing agent that enables finer particles to bind together or aggregate. Finer particles of silt and clay detach from aggregates and move a short distance into the soil, blocking pores, so
infiltration of both air and water through the soil surface is reduced. When dried, a dense layer can form a solid layer with resulting loss of percolation and infiltration. This effect may also occur in freshly constructed and seeded sports pitches and greens.
Using actual data obtained from a golf
club rootzone analysis a few years ago, it can be seen that when a sample is compared against the particle size distribution of the existing rootzone of the 12th green from this course (Fig 1), it is immediately apparent that the first material, if used as a dressing, would be completely unsuitable. If this material were to be applied as a dressing then capping is likely to occur. Looking at the second graph (Fig 2), the particle size distribution of the 12th green is compared to a dressing - BD1, that is accurately formulated to meet the USGA (United States Golf Association)
FIGURE 2
specification. The two respective particle size distributions are then superimposed on the same graph, it can be seen that there is a close correlation, therefore this material is fit for purpose. In the example a golf green was used, however the same principle applies to winter games pitches.
Having an analysis undertaken and a comparison made, is the most effective way for the Turfgrass professional to make the right choice of material. It can be seen that the product labelled
“Dressing x” contains a higher proportion of fine materials than the existing rootzone. It is this finer, smaller matter that has the potential to pack together more readily, therefore making the applied dressing prone to aggregating together to form this dense layer.
Alan Bailey, the Managing Director of Baileys of Norfolk, recalls one
Days OFF!
afternoon watching my father play, whilst my grandfather did the scoring and my mother made the teas. Our home ground wicket at Scholes (Rotherham) had no real care as no one had any knowledge, there was no money and the equipment was awfull. The jibes and sarcastic comments from players always went deep with the amount of involvement we had as a family, so I decided to see what I could about it, by reading books and attending a course at Headingley. Things started to improve and the purchase of an old Atco made a huge difference. It was during this ten year period that I realised I had missed my vocation in life! I had no equipment, no money and certainly didn’t get paid, yet I enjoyed the hours of hard
ANDY MATTHEWS, Groundsman at Aston Hall Cricket Club, Sheffield. I became interested in looking after cricket grounds some 20 years ago and, like many amateur club groundsman, it happened by accident. As a youngster I spent every summer Saturday
... or what Pitchcare readers get up to out of office hours
work on the square. Unfortunately, about thirteen years ago the club went a bit pear shaped and I took an offer to play in a better league - for two years I didn’t have a ground to look after. Then I moved to play at a club who needed a groundsman, I spent five years at Oughtibridge, where myself and Roger Fairhurst, also a Pitchcare member, improved things dramatically before I moved on to Aston. In my five years at Aston great improvements have been made with the pace and bounce of the wicket and also the level of equipment which, when I arrived, was awful. I must say some of the best pieces of equipment that’s become available in recent years has to be MP3 players and radios on mobile phones, they certainly reduce the boredom of a day’s rolling. I am lucky now in that I don’t have a day job anymore. I stopped working as an electronic security engineer just over a year ago, so that I could spend more time looking after my five children aged between 7 and 12, who I have sole custody of. Being a single bloke with a fulltime job, the ground and the kids really was hard work. My stepson, who is 18, also lives with me so there’s never a dull moment at our house. I still play for the second team at Aston and I coach the U11’s, so I am never away from the ground. I have also just passed my level 2 coaching which was good fun to do. In the winter I am a life long Wolves fan, again the love of football came through my dad who comes from Stafford. My stepson and myself have season tickets and the two younger boys have also been suitably brain washed - well, I don’t see why I should suffer on my own! What’s left of the time is often spent in the caravan all over Yorkshire and Cornwall for the summer holidays, with many of the days spent out on our bikes exploring the local roads and byways.
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