SPORT PITCHES
Successful
pitch care
Rigby Taylor and Maidstone Rugby pitch in
To improve playing surfaces
t. 0800 424 919
www.rigbytaylor.com
[email protected]
week is a long time in
A
politics, according to the
idiom. But for Bob Hayton,
grounds chairman at
Maidstone Rugby, deciding
whether to aerate or apply fertiliser, for
example – or to delay either for a few days
– can, he says, make all the difference to
successful pitch care.
“The weather can change so quickly,” he
says, “so it is crucial to time any application
of granular feed for when rain is forecast
within a day or two. Likewise, there’s
wisdom in holding back on aerating when
it is very wet, whatever the size of the
tractor.”
Groundscare ‘rules’ such as these were
imparted to Bob two years ago when, with
no sports field groundscare experience but
lots of enthusiasm for improved pitches
spurred by his spell as a player for the rugby
union club’s veterans squad, he took the
reins as volunteer grounds chairman of the
Kent-based club whose 1st XV competes in
the London 2 South League.
34 GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Summer 2020