Technical
What have you been doing?
Richard Campey offers some advice for getting your pitch through to the end of the season and beyond, and then gets all dewy eyed about the type of equipment he was using ‘back in his day’!
WHAT have you been doing in order to keep your winter playing surface in tiptop condition, to see you through to the end of the season?
We have had a dry and mild autumn, allowing many of you to carry out aeration using the many types of machinery available, from aerators with adjustable heave, rotary decompactors, linear aerators, to the tried and tested tractor mounted spikers.
Groundsmen, greenkeepers and turf professionals have a vast arsenal of equipment at their disposal. When conditions are suitable you cannot overdo the amount of aeration, and you
should be aiming to wear out at least one set of tines a year in your machine.
Regular brushing is another basic operation that is often overlooked on all playing surfaces, whether it is with a hand pulled 6ft dragbrush or tractor mounted brushes from 6 to 20ft wide.
This stands the grass plant up, allows the plant to breathe, helps to keep a dry surface free from disease and hence reduces the reliance on chemicals for disease control.
Gone are the days when this had to be done with a wheelbarrow and shovel. Now, we have spinner topdressers that can spread material evenly up to 30ft wide with minimal surface footprint.
In fact, over the last thirty years, the industry has welcomed a vast amount of new and innovative machinery that should enable everyone to maintain their playing areas in tiptop condition.
It is also important, at this time of year, to plan ahead for your end of season winter pitch renovations.
If, for some reason, you have suffered from damage to your playing surface, as I witnessed recently at a well-known football club’s training pitch when one of the reserve team managers decided to carry out intensive training in four or five areas, decimating the surface, then pick a dry day, resort to the old hand fork, and try and repair as much as you can.
It may be necessary to topdress the pitch with around twenty tonnes of appropriate sports turf sand.
Liaise with your machinery suppliers if you are intending to purchase new machines, it is no use leaving it to the last minute in placing an order and expecting machines to be delivered the next week.
Order your materials in good time, as well as book your contractor for the dates and time you will require him, to ensure a trouble free season of sport.
To remind us of how fortunate we all are, I will leave you with a few photos of how it used to be done!
Top row l-r - forks and rakes; pricking and spiking equipment; Fergie and heavy duty piercer.
Bottom row l-r - hand push hollow tine machine; knapsack sprayer; spiking units, roller and dragbrush; weedkiller applicators
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 PC 115
TURF TIP
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