Message Board - Cricket: Spiker
11 Jun 2009 by gmet233
I am looking to either design or pick up a small spiker that is suitable for overseading worn cricket strips.
There is not a great need to go very deep but I need the spikes to be close together for overseading in order to improve cover and germination.
I know sorrel rollers have been used in the past but they are difficult to get hold off.
Anything cheap and chearful.
11 Jun 2009 by Paul Stocks
Check out one of the rotary seed slotters in either pitchcare shop or company like jms? Half inch cuts for your seed to make good contact with soil.
11 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
In my experience worn cricket strip surfaces are often very hard. This season i have not even been able to make good holes using the sisis variseeder.
However my Groundsman 345 hd machine fitted with cluster heads has done an excellant job.
Cheap and chearful they are not, but quality they are.
I must now find the money to buy a set of cluster heads for my tractor mounted 8120.
12 Jun 2009 by Andy Matthews
gmet, if you join the yorkshire groundsman association for a fee of £5 you can use the groundsman spiker that is stored with Alan Kettleborough at Rotherham town for £30 a time, I have it at the moment to do some of my old pitches, give me a ring if you want anymore details.
12 Jun 2009 by EDS Last edited 12 Jun 2009
I too have used my pedestrain Groundsman fitted with cluster heads and agree with Bath that it does a great job providing numerous holes for the seed, loam, fertilizer and water to get into.
Still Learning
12 Jun 2009 by Mike
Guys, what depth do you set the cluster heads at for this type of work?
12 Jun 2009 by leon
hi mike i set it at 1/4" other wise you ma pull the turf .
Redbourn Cricket Club
12 Jun 2009 by Mike
Hi Leon, thanks for that. Do you use a Groundsman? I only ask because I don't think ours (8120) can be set at 1/4 inch?
12 Jun 2009 by leon
mike if i remember right the 8120 drops down in centermetres so you should be ok minnimum depth.
Redbourn Cricket Club
12 Jun 2009 by EDS
Mike
Agree with Leon. Dont go in too deep otherwise you'll lift the turf. Remember this is probably just renovation work to get the tracks back into use later in the season?
Still Learning
14 Jun 2009 by mario
I remember the days when we would water a rock hard pitch in the late afternoon, stick a flat plasic sheet on top, remove in the morning whereby it was just ripe for taking the Variseeder.
With the advent of the Groundsman, both pedestrian and tractor mount, am I still using old-fashioned practices?
I know no boundaries.
14 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
Yes Ken you are, but if it still works, so carry on. I now find with my new square, that the surface gets that hard that the vari seeder just bounces along. Watering, allowing time to soak in and then punching holes now works a lot better for me. Remember mate, we have hardly had any rain since the middle of March. Any we have had has dried within hours. Totally the opposite to the last two summers.
Anyway, how are you doing ? almost half way into the season already.
14 Jun 2009 by mario
Yes, Gordon, halfway through our league programme after next weekend already, and lying top of the Premier as of last night! Must be doing something right. LOL
Rain....Rain? I'll sell you some!
Fortunately investment in full square and run-up protection, courtesy of Jonathon, has kept our games on.
How do you find the 8120?
Reason I ask is that I had to bring in a Vertidrain and then infill with sand in a poor draining area of my outfield. It has worked a treat.
With that in mind, and going by what you have said re overseeding hard pitches, I have probably got sufficient information to make a case to our committee for investment for our own machine.
I know no boundaries.
15 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
The 8120 will not vertidrain Ken, but will aerate to 125mm with brand new tines. We purchased for outfield use but it will certrainly get used on the square.
The cluster heads are brilliant when overseeding, although i only have enough heads at the moment to fit the 345.
I will be strangling the budgets to obtain enough to fit the 8120.
15 Jun 2009 by Vic Demain
Thought they would give some for all the endorsements Bath!! Perhaps you should re negotiate.
15 Jun 2009 by Charles Johnson
Your approach of really soaking the track first is still valid Mario, even when using a Groundsman.
After two days collecting water and then sponging it off rain covers last week, I got fed up and flipped the cover and the water onto two adjacent old tracks and left the cover upside down for the rest of the day.
Next day and the Groundsman punched pencil tines through them with ease and without heaving, and yet it was still bouncing off hard ground around the boundary.
15 Jun 2009 by Mal
Punched holes through the covers or the tracks Charles?
Geography is everywhere
15 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
It just happens that i am visiting the factory in Ireland on Friday Ascott. Returning on Saturday, so you know what that means !! I think i might ask the question while i am there. Best be before dinner on Friday me thinks.
15 Jun 2009 by mario
Where's my invite then??!!
I know no boundaries.
15 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
Your quick Ken. I thought you might have been in bed by now.
It might be worth us getting together and make a joint visit during the coming winter. What says you ?
16 Jun 2009 by Vic Demain
Dereliction of duty on a Friday, must be a worthy evening?
16 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
Not dereliction Vic, delegation in my book. A very worthy evening, even if its to have some time off and try a beer.
Call it a rest before the onslaught. We seem to have cricket nearly every day for three weeks in a couple of weeks time.
16 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
Not dereliction Vic, delegation in my book. A very worthy evening, even if its to have some time off and try a beer.
Call it a rest before the onslaught. We seem to have cricket nearly every day for three weeks in a couple of weeks time.
17 Jun 2009 by Charles Johnson
Interesting idea to use the cluster tines for dimpling, a single pass even with a set of quadruple-tine holders doesn't make enough holes. And every extra pass means the tyres mess up what you have already done.
My Groundsman machine came with a set of 8-needle clusters, but when I used them for the first time, set to penetrate about 2", they simply removed the sod wherever it was patchy or shallow-rooted. Since when they have been at the bottom of the crate I collect scrap metal in.
Next time I take an old track out of use I will try them for dimpling, set to just press into the surface about 1/2" where it seems rye germinates best.
17 Jun 2009 by Grassman2011
Charles,
The cluster head is not designed for depth, but for dimpling as you suggest.
It acts like a grab and will certainly pull your turf out if you try for depth.
There was an occasion when i did a demo for a council in Wales. They bought a couple of machines and a variety of holders and tines. Two months later i was back because they were complaing that while spiking they were pulling the bowling green to bits. On arrival i found that the cluster heads were fitted and the depth control adjusted to maximum depth. You can imagine the mess they were making.
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy Last edited 19 Jun 2009
As a small village club our funds do not yet stretch to a Groundsman aerator and cluster tines. However about ten years ago, I did build a seeding fork out of some old industrial racking ends, some redundant rotary lawnmower arms and some needle tines borrowed from those horrible looking green lawn sandles you see available in Argos, Homebase and Ebay etc.
The result is a rather nify 3' wide seeding fork that will create about 1600 seed holes in one square metre providing the ground is reasonably soft enough to take a spike.
On a kaloam based square, it performs admirably and i have attached some pictures for you DIY'ers out there with similar aspirations. The cost was £12 for two pairs of lawn sandals (purely for the tines) and the rest of the parts were lying around the garage.
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy
Close Up
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy
The underneath is re-inforced with a steel support for extra strength
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy Last edited 19 Jun 2009
This is one kaloam wicket end that was re-seeded Saturday 6th June and has had about 11 days under a black tildenet germination sheet.
The grass was topped with a rotary mower before the picture was taken and then one pass with the Allett Regal
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy
And the other end
19 Jun 2009 by Zippy Last edited 19 Jun 2009
and finally
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