Groundskeeping Journal Issue 1 2019 | Page 47

TURF MANAGEMENT “ The result has been amazing, says Paul. “The grid system they created is brilliant. I feel that I know my pitch again now – how to treat it, when we can get on it – it drains quickly after heavy rain and the grass is green and healthy.” locality and level of use required and this leads to a range of between 3m and 6m spacings. Following the creation of trenches, pipes are laid within them and covered with specified gravel, before the upper section of the trench is topped with a suitable high infiltration rate sand-based rootzone. Seeding completes the operation. Soil amendments in the backfill get down to the plant’s roots - allowing improved uptake of nutrients; increased cation exchange capacity and better germination. Sports pitches which remain consistently waterlogged despite routine aeration and surface maintenance may well have reached the point where installation of primary or secondary drainage systems is the only means of alleviating the problem. A playing surface which already has a primary drainage system beneath it but is still unacceptably wet, could benefit from a secondary drainage system placed at 90 o to the primary trenches. This secondary system can be excavated sand slits (such as those installed by the KORO Topdrain) or they can be excavated gravel and sand slits (installed with a wheel-type trencher). The principle is to create an intensive, narrow-spaced system of slits over the top that gives a link between the playing surface and the gravel infill above the pipes in the primary system. Water then runs off the surface, along the slits to the primary drain trench and then away. Clients range from Premier league clubs to village sports fields. Harlequins Rugby, in Twickenham was a satisfied client. “We had reached crisis time with our pitch,” says Paul Sykes, head groundsman. “The playing surface in the south-east corner of the pitch had gone black with algae because it was constantly waterlogged. Initially, Ecosol Turfcare came in to Drill n Fill it but we then discovered that the drain had failed in that area.” Paul had a new main drain installed which ran the length of the pitch and was reconnected to the existing lateral pipes. However, the pitch was still slow-draining and kept cutting up. Ecosol Turfcare then boosted the primary drainage system by installing further lateral pipes in between the existing ones, backed up by a secondary system of excavated sand and gravel slits placed at 90° to the laterals to carry water off the surface promptly. Further information from Ecosol Turfcare, email:[email protected]; website: www.ecosolve.co.uk; Tel:01666 861250 Primary drainage comprises a matrix of underground pipework that allows water to enter the pipes and then be carried away to an outfall point – usually a ditch but sometimes a soakaway system. The matrix is made up of a main or carrier drain that has a system of lateral drains feeding into it, with the laterals usually being confined beneath the playing surface. The spacing between these laterals is determined by influencing factors, for example, soil type, annual rainfall data for the GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019 47