Courtesy of Dennis Randolph – NSPMA Executive Director
This year be thankful if you have a sand based or well drained sports field. The record setting wet March has certainly slowed down the grass plant root system development both from the super–saturated and cold soil temperature standpoints. Knowing this it would be wise to make a special effort to core aerate as soon as the conditions will allow. Introducing air into the root system will help warm the soil and thus jump start the grass plant. In fact this spring you may wish to consider an even deeper aeration to loosen the compacted layer between 4-7”. This would promote not only deeper root development but more water holding capacity of the soil – thus giving you a longer playing season into the fall.
Often times when a field finally dries out after these wet conditions the playing surface will become very hard. The aeration also will assist in the safety of the field countering the hard playing surface condition
The grounds of your educational organization should be included in your standard maintenance plans. Your grounds are often the first perception that a parent, child or the general public have of your organization, so properly maintained grounds are critical to making a good impression and demonstrating your commitment to a well maintained campus that fosters student learning.
Our peers on the Listserv recently requested standard operating procedures Grounds Maintenance, and we have gathered a few resources to share here.
Some free, online resources include:
Additional resources (some free, some not) are available from NCEF: www.ncef.org/rl/grounds_maintenance.cfm
Another resource available is for purchase from APPA – Operational Guidelines for Educational Facilities: Grounds – www.appa.org//bookstore/product_browse.cfm?itemnumber=693
One colleague writes - Can anyone provide guidance as to whether there is a way to fertilize and eliminate weeds on athletics fields without having to navigate a maze of regulations, restrictions, etc?
One colleague responded – The only thing that I can think of would be to go 100% organic on fertilizer applications and look into other natural herbicide and pesticide control substances such as liquid corn gluten for crab grass control and cedar oil for insect control. The biggest issue would be that those products do not control all weeds and insects.
Running a good IPM program and trying to apply pesticides and herbicides during periods when students are not present reduces the amount of paper work (notifications) but usually there is some staff that still needs notice.
Anoter colleague responded – Unless I am mistaken, even if the applications are contracted out (a necessity if you don’t have a pesticide license) you still have to maintain IPM records of all applications and make sure that notifications are sent out prior to any applicaltion. Notifications do not have to be sent out if there is no one there for 5 days after the application. However, notifications do have to be sent out to anyone (parents of students, staff, faculty, renters) that will be there during that period. New regulatio
Another colleague responded – We over seed our sports fields to help eliminate any weed growth. This has been working well for us
Another colleague responded - I work on a military installation and our approach to our athletic fields is as follows:
We apply a pre-emergent in the fall and again during the early spring once the earth warms up, then we practice as the rest of you do good turf management with a good watering and mowing schedule. But instead of doing any large treatments we resort to spot treatments if we use any chemical. It took a while but I finally for the base personnel sold on proper turf management to keep the weeds under control. I am now trying to get them to use more organic fertilizers to promote healthier turf growth and management. I don’t care so much for using chemical because of the cost and sometimes depending on what you use, the amount that you apply is lot. That is why I went to spot treatments, it takes longer but we have gotten some really good control and a pretty good cost savings on the pre-emergents and the other chemicals we use. If there is an organic way of maintaining your turf that is not as costly and can really help the soil please share. I know quite a few folks who would love to implement that type program for their installations.
Short answer $200 hr 3hr minimum. Our policy states that additional staff is required for press box operation and we staff at least two grounds crew to manage the stadium. This is an additional $25 hr for each grounds crew person and $35 for technology person for press box operation. We keep concession in house and only open general restrooms. Our stadium is new this year so policy is being adjusted as we go.