advice on the above subject please
our square is a reasonable one with balls of a consistent height around 3/4 stump height .a few keep a bit low but not many.our ecb advisor suggested leaving more grass on for extra bounce and we have had ecosol deep drilling done twice in last 5 years.Both have helped improve things but i would like some extra ideas please.We topdress with 12 bags/pitch of kaloam at same time as overseeding with 50 kg of all rye seedat season end.This is all done with the blec seeder/topdresser.My idea is in 1 week when we start using the pitches for there second and final time would it be a good idea to graden each pitch after use as they wont be used again this year, then topdress/seed into graden slits.
This way each of the ten tracks will be cleaned out ,grass growing and kaloam nicely in by sept.What do u all reckon and if i do this should i graden whole square again before dressing/seeding in autumn or would it dig out previously growing seed i have already done.Also ,how many times and which directions and how deep do you graden at season end?
britboy
3 Jul 2008 by Andy Matthews Last edited 3 Jul 2008
ebony, I have read your post and don't want to criticise but when you say balls bounce 3/4 stump high it doesn't tell us that much, if that ball bounced halfway down the track of a medium pace or quick bowler, then 3/4 stump high would be low, don't quite get the leaving grass on either, usually this would be done to protect the surface if it was wet or might break up, but would not alter the bounce that much unless is was left very long. You are putting plenty of loam on but are you ensuring that is amoliates into the surface undernaeth or is it sitting in layers?. Also you say you use 50kg of seed, is that per pitch or the whole square, if it's for the square, then thats only 2 and a half bags, I use three quarts to a full bag per pitch when renovating depending on the state of the pitch and at 35grammes per square metre thats barely enough. If you are consulting your ECB advisor have you had any cores taken, time and time again people on here will advise you to find out whats underneath before you do anything. As for the scarifying Mario posted some pictures on another thread of how to do this, use the search at the top of the page to find it, there will also be info in the cricket diaries, usually you would go in line then I dont go more than a 12 degrees angle across from each corner make sure you never go at 90 degrees to a former pass.
I think if you put more detail into your questions then some of the more experinced people on here will be able to help.
I don't think your idea of renovating as you go and still play on the rest of the square is practically possible. If it rains on top of a nice thick layer of Kaloam, I think you would probably have to close the square for a while, and that would stop your other games I assume.
I assume that your graden work is scarification which is fine but there is no mention of any sort of annual aeration, which I find unusual, particularly as you are seeking to improve the pace of the square.
12 bags of loam per strip seem a little on the heavy side to me.
Presentation is the name of the game.
Ebony,
I would say that you are using enough grass seed, but in my opinion far to much top dressing in one go. I now only use approx six bags per pitch, only more if there are bad wicket ends to repair.
I would definately spend the last month of the playing season thinning the sward, but i would leave all renovations untill the season has finished, then hammer it with the Graden making sure that you do a thorough clean up afterwards.
As Andy says, poor pace and bounce is usually an indication of something wrong underneath, have cores been taken and examined ?
Andy, if you are applying 3/4 to 1 bag per pitch, can i please have your seed order, i promise a good rate.
I should have said that I use between 6 and 8 bags of loam per pitch as bath says depending on damage. I use RT's R9 by the way and I can't remember whether I paid £58 or £68 per bag but that was for only for 6 bags.
4 Jul 2008 by IGS
Ebony,
Have you looked to the uniformity of the tracks in terms of:-
- Depth of loam, the depth and type of soil below the loam
- The chemistry within the loam.
- Grass species, as established
- root depth
It is alright adding more and more loam and grass seed but may be, as it seems that as some deep core exchange has been undertaken, the main reason may be the foundation in which the grass plant is growing.
As you are in the middle of the season you do have time to quantify and compile a plan of action in preparation for the out is season renovations.
Is the Graden too excessive in mid season? I suppose it can always be used shallow and gentle.
Several cricket tracks are renovated during the season and brought back into play with good effect, but the any scarification absolutely linear to the direction of play –
I suppose the question here is what degree of 'wear' requires to be renovated.
4 Jul 2008 by vid
I believe ebony is interested in bounce and eveness of pace. I dont think this is likely to be a renovation problem if a graden is already being used at the end of the season. I also would say that its a bit too much seed and dressing, but this again is unlikely to be the cause. Assuming that nothing drastic like changing the loam has happened I would tentatively suggest this is more to do with watering and rolling pre season and pre match. without knowing the soil profile/rootbreaks etc and the current maintenance/preparation schedule, neither of which have been mentioned, any advice (mine included) is pure conjecture
35g per sq metre on a cricket pitch 20.12m x 3.1m = 2.183 kg of grass seed
Whole bag of grass seed = 20 kg
Andy - I think you might have got your decimal point in the wrong place
"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
digger247 yep your right, good job someone can use a calculator properly. I would say though that your 2kg of seed isn't going to go far on a pitch that has had to do 4 senior games, as most of mine have done, between the 5 foot lines the wear isn't so bad, but from the back foot mark to the 5 foot line it will be badly worn and therefor needs a heavy covering of seed, it's vital to get a thick covering on the ends to get the root growth to hold them together the next season, I also like to have a thick sward on the rest of the pitch to ensure that it holds together as well, it also helps stop weeds and weed grasses getting in, in my opinion if you can afford it it's money well spent, you can always thin it out when you come to play on it, but it's a major worry if the coverage is thin before the first game. I have a pitch that was done in this way just over 3 weeks ago I will get some pictures tomorrow and you can see what you think.
I always suggest 5Kg of grass seed per wicket during renovations. As Andy says, you can always thin it out if you have it in the first place. The root from the plant is so vital. If you dont plant the seed, you will not have the root.
6 Jul 2008 by widdywoo Last edited 6 Jul 2008
I agree, Andy & bath. I tend to double up to 70g per sq m at season end renovation esp on wicket ends.
I don't think I'd be using 12 bags of loam per strip as ebony was suggesting, even if the budget allowed - usually go with 6-8 bags per strip plus whatever is needed to mend the damage to the ends. This has seemed to work OK in the past.
Mind you I might need more if we have any more games in the wet conditions that we had yesterday - the pitch was absolutely trashed! We won though! Woo hoo!
"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
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That does look a good result in three weeks - I'm impressed.
Just out of interest, how long do you wait before you would play on a renovated track again?
"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
This particular track won't be used again, this square is big enough to not have to do this, I have got the main league cup final on my other ground and it's a small square, I used the 2 central pitches for the first games of the season and that gave me a 10 week window. I started rolling it last week with 4 weeks to go, at a push I coould probably have used it 8 weeks after reseeding it.
Very good Andy.
Mine never look quite that good, but very acceptable.
My wickets usually have a nine to ten week turn around. Occaisionally less, now and again like this week, two weeks running.
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