TURF MANAGEMENT
Everyone takes grass for granted!
ne of the ongoing nightmares
for grounds staff is that the
public and players don’t regard
grass as a crop which needs nurturing
like any other. They expect it to be green
all year round and the right consistency
regardless of the weather. If it’s a public
space such as Bath Recreation Ground,
there’s no respect – it’s fair game for
camping, concerts, barbecues, school
use and dog walkers – a lovely amenity
but difficult to maintain.
O
Regardless of their use or ownership,
sports pitches need lots of TLC from a
dedicated groundscare team if they are
truly to fulfil their intended purpose.
As well as routine maintenance, mowing,
line marking, irrigating, vertidraining and
scarification, they will need feeding in
spring, autumn and maybe midsummer.
Often, if the site involves winter sports
pitches, bowls or cricket, they can
require a complete renovation in spring
or autumn.
Routine maintenance will be taken
care of by the permanent groundstaff,
but what happens if despite all this
care, sports grounds don’t drain
properly because of their soil profile,
overuse, compaction, thatch or poor
construction?
It could be time to call in a specialist
groundscare contractor.
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Wiltshire- based Ecosol Turfcare can
perform a variety of operations on
contract. These range from drainage and
aeration, fertilising and reseeding to end
of season renovation and complete pitch
construction. For pitches that are slow
to drain and grow, compacted or have
thatch and black grass It operates the
unique Drill n Fill aerator.
Its ability to gently fold back the turf, drill
down to 30 cm with a grid of drills, take
out the spoil and backfill it with either
pure kiln-dried sand or a mix of sand and
soil amendment, has numerous benefits
for golf and bowls greens, cricket
squares, centre circles and goal mouth
areas. The ducts created last for over a
year, allowing surface water to percolate
off the surface, through obstructions
caused by thatch or compaction and into
the rootzone and drainage layer.
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019