“If you want to maintain a sports surface to the best possible standard it costs money. It is our job as Groundsmen to help committees
surface (get a soil analysis done and find out what you’ve got). I have three types of fertiliser that I’ll generally use on my squares. I’ll apply something like 8:12:8 at around 20g/m2
during
renovations, and something like 4:6:8+Fe (again at 20g/m2
) in October and
February. Around Christmas time I’ll put some liquid Fe on. During the actual playing season I don’t apply granular fertiliser at all but I will use a nitrogen fertiliser when taking tracks out of play - just to green them up and keep them looking nice. So I’ll use around two bags of 5:5:12 and a further four bags of 4:6:8. For liquid Fe I use a cheleted iron, this comes in a 10 litre container and I apply it at 17l/ha. I use about three litres per complete application - so 10 litres is going to last me two years. Nitrogen - I’ll be making myself this year - so there’s no cost directly involved in that.
Machinery maintenance:
All machinery needs maintenance in order to keep it working at its best. Machinery should be adjusted prior to use and always cleaned after use. You need to check grease points, cables, and oil chains on a regular basis. Obviously, you’ll need to put petrol/diesel in them regularly as well. At the end of each season (at least) you need to get your cylinder reels reground and carry out
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Cost breakdown: Item
Loam Seed
Fertiliser
Grease, oil, plugs, belts Cylinder regrinds Petrol Diesel Water
Carbendazim
understand this” Jon Lawrence, Head Groundsman, Weston Super Mare CC
more comprehensive annual maintenance of all your machinery (replacing worn parts and things like spark plugs, belts etc.). For ‘normal’ maintenance there is no reason why you can’t do it yourself. Grease guns aren’t expensive and a can of suitable oil won’t break the bank. I allow £250 per year for machinery sundries - cables, grease, oil, plugs, etc. etc. With cylinder grinds I assume that there are two wicket cutters and an outfield triple at an average of £150 per cylinder Diesel/petrol: for this
example budget I reckon I use around 250 litres of each per year. That’s less than 5 litres a week - which is about right.
Water:
Water costs are something that many groundsmen don’t consider when looking at
Selective weedkiller Chelated Fe Crossfire
Quantity
270 x 20Kg 12 x 20Kg 6 x 20Kg
Machinery maintenance Various 1 per cyl
Price each Total
4.00 1080.00 80.00 960.00 25.00 150.00 250.00 250.00
1 2
50 2
150.00 750.00 250.00 250.00 600.00 84.50
84.50
75.00 150.00 1.00 50.00 68.40
34.20 TOTAL 4,642.90
their budgets. A quick calculation shows that I would expect to use about £600 worth of water in any given season.
Chemicals:
Compared to some I don’t use many chemicals. I’ll spray the squares with carbendazim twice a year using around 0.75 litres per application. So 5 litres will last me some three years. I actually allow for 5 litres per year at present.
I’ll spray the outfields with a general selective, once per season and, at the moment, I have a few areas that need spraying for leatherjackets.
In addition to all the above the club will need to factor in the cost of all insurance. That completes what I budget for to maintain two grounds, and I think it is the minimum that I can spend without starting to lower the
standard of facilities. Is it possible to spend
more? Certainly. I’ve hardly included any work on the outfield in the above budget. If you start looking into scarifying, topdressing, overseeding, verti-draining outfields then you can easily double the above budget. Overseeding my outfields alone would need some 840kg of seed which I’d expect to come in at around £2500, to topdress with say 3mm of product would need some 72m3
of topdressing
which again would be at least £2500. In addition to those costs you’d need to factor in hiring scarifying equipment and disposal of the arisings. If you want to maintain a sports surface to the best possible standard then it costs money. I believe it is our job as Groundsmen to help committees understand this.
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