“If you don’t know the type of loam you’re working with, try to make a point of finding out what it is, and quickly, as it will have a major bearing on many of your square management decisions”
the square is built. Without mentioning producers, manufacturers or merchants of loams at this stage, here are six major ‘types’ of loam (in no particular order), governed largely by location, that are used on UK, Irish and EU cricket grounds:
• Kettering • Surrey • Banbury • Essex • Mendip • Indigenous
The first five locations represent the bulk of cricket loam used in squares, certainly in terms of new build and topdressing. If the land on which a ground is constructed is found to naturally contain a viable clay loam, then there is no reason why this cannot constitute the fabric of a square, thus describing the sixth option in the list. What groundsmen in this situation need to ensure, however, is that they can identify a suitable source of compatible topdressing material for future years, as indigenous soil is difficult to obtain in the right form for end of season work on most occasions.
Of the main five ‘types’ of loam, some
are more compatible than others when combined. An example of this can be that, one of the heavier clay GOSTD Surrey Loams could be more easily blended with a Kaloam than could a Mendip, as the Somerset clay loam (i.e. Mendip) is considerably lower in clay content than either the GOSTD or Kaloam soils.
That is not to say that the Mendip cannot be mixed under any circumstances with the higher clay content loams, but the wide disparity between the soils makes the blending process all the more difficult and prone
to possible pitfalls. It all comes down to the thoroughness of the method of incorporation chosen by the groundsman and club involved as to the likelihood of success, or otherwise.
How can we make this change of loam in practice?
Let’s look at the starting point:
1.We know the loam with which we are working currently
2.We know which loam to which we would like to change
3.We have the equipment, or have identified a contractor with whom we can work, who has the necessary machinery and expertise
4.We have a specification to which we can work for a successful conclusion
There are two options - either to completely rebuild the square and start from scratch, or to incorporate the new loam with the soil that is currently in the square.
Let’s consider the possibility of incorporation initially. If the decision has been made to change from one loam to another, we have to ensure that the new loam is fully incorporated within the existing profile. Effectively, if we incorporate, we are creating a brand new type of loam - a hybrid between the two types involved. Along with making the correct choice in loams, we have to have a good knowledge of the current square in order to be able to make accurate calculations for the scheme in hand.
Why can’t we just topdress the current square with a new material?
Shrink and swell characteristics are invariably different between different types of loam. This means that, when moisture is absorbed in to the loam, the
absorbtion rate is greater or lower according to characteristics in each type of loam, such as available pore space. If grass is grown through one layer into another, differences in shrinkage can result in grass roots becoming sheared (they are effectively cropped off by the different forces at work moving in different directions and/or at different speeds), and sometimes roots are persuaded to grow in a horizontal fashion between layers. This has a clear knock on effect, as we require a cricket square, at times, to be ‘soil held together by roots’. We, therefore, need the roots to grow as vertically as possible and to act as mini anchor points upon which the soil is bound together.
How do we incorporate the new loam?
In order to achieve this efficiently, we need to break up the profile of the existing square to a state where the new medium can be mixed in and to create a new homogenous whole. Here we require our in depth knowledge of the existing square. If the square is ten pitches wide (100’ or 30.48m) and is built 80’ long (24.38m), and has a depth of 4” (100mm) of loam, we have a volume of 74.31m3
of existing loam. In order to get a meaningful incorporation of new loam, we would need to include 50% new material and mix with the current square loam. We would, therefore, need to be buying 37.155m3
of the new loam, or
around 56 tonnes, depending on the type of loam that has been chosen. By using a Koro Field TopMaker or GKB Combinator, we can remove the top of the square (grass growth) by means of fraise mowing. Once the green has been removed, the machine can continue to work down in stages and produce, in all likelihood, a loam that can be reincorporated with the new loam. If
Fraise mowing a square
Levelling the loam 63
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