The effect of fertiliser is often seen where rabbit urine creates a flush of growth
A weak sward with areas of ‘fertilisation’ from rabbits CHES
Sometimes newly turfed pitches can be very thatchy and so there is a need to undertake scarification. Too much thatch can result in the surface being slow and liable to divot badly.
Drainage potential
Newly moved and replaced soils typically have little structure and this takes time to return. A combination of root exploration, worm activity and physical processes gradually create fissures and pore space. The net result is that drainage gradually improves as long as there is no significant compaction present. However, playing too soon and in wet conditions will often liquify the top 50mm of the soil profile and this can result in high wear and loss of grass cover. Ultimately, a pitch rich in annual meadow-grass often results.
The solution to the above is to firstly allow sufficient time for a pitch to establish. This should be at least a year, but some light play can sometimes be allowed, particularly during the summer months when the soils are dry.
The next most important activity is aeration. I often recommend some form of aeration on a monthly basis. On heavily compacted sites, vertidraining could occur two to three times in the first year, with solid tining in the remaining months. Sometimes the use of a linear aerator can be of benefit, with or without sand injection. Care must be taken with this form of aeration - undertaking the operation at the right soil moisture content to prevent cracking. Use in some wet, heavy soils should be avoided. Slit tining could also be carried out Sand dressing, either locally or over a whole pitch, is particularly important on heavier soils. The sand (in combination with aeration) helps promote surface drainage if sufficient is applied. The sand type is critical - it must be a medium-fine sand with little or no fines and, ideally, sub-angular in shape.
Drains
Many drainage installations will settle as part of the maturing of the construction. It should be expected and could occur annually for several years dependent on soil type, the weather conditions, irrigation availablity, not to say anything about the standard of drainage installation. With clay soils prone to shrinkage, the process involved with settlement results from the drain line acting as a plane of weakness along which the clays crack. This allows some aggregate to fall into the widened crack and, hence, there is settlement at the surface. The remedy is to top up the
drains as settlement occurs with the same material as the backfill or the same sand as above. An item to topdress sunken drain lines in the first year should be included in the construction specification When sand banding or sand slitting is installed there is an absolute requirement for sand dressing to be applied to help prevent the slit capping over in usage. I have seen systems capped over within a couple of years and become ineffective. The sand dressing helps to dilute any native soil and assists in retaining the integrity of the slit.
Stone
Unfortunately, it is common to find a newly developed pitch with a significant stone content visible in the surface. This could come from the parent soil or careless use of drainage aggregate. Such stone is unacceptable in today's health and safety society (not to say anything about litigious aspects). It is a misheld belief that stone moves up in a profile. The normal occurrence is that fines wash off stone in the surface or the surface is eroded through play. In either event, the possibility of injury is high.
In heavier soils, stone can settle into
the profile over time, particularly if the soils become waterlogged. The process is possibly similar to the effect of puddling concrete to bring liquid to the surface. However, this can take a few years. The most common remedy is to cover the stone with either sand or topdressing. Ideally, a layer of around 40mm should be built up over time but this is costly
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