This spell of hot weather has got me interested to know how many of the cricket groundsmen on here water their cricket squares.
I don't mean watering to prepare the pitch for play - I mean general irrigation of the rest of the pitches which are not actually in use.
How much do you put on?
Do you water overnight?
How do you balance the irrigation regime with all the games that we get asked to prepare pitches for? i.e. how close to a game can you water?
The reason I ask is that I feel I should be irrigating at the moment as my renovated pitches are not coming round as fast as I would like them to and I am worried about running out of good quality tracks at the end of the season, when, due to a quirk of our fixture list, I have 6 first team games on the bounce and a Twenty20 final.
Thanks for any input.
"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
i'm irrigating as and when i can at to moment. I'll normally stop about 3pm when i in to pick the kids up from school, which gives plenty of time for things to fix out before the evening games start.
I can't irrigate overnight as i've no way to move the sprinkless around.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
30 Jun 2009 by Patrick McArdle
Would it be a good idea to water then cover the ground to stop evaporation?
30 Jun 2009 by Mike
We aren't kitted out to water at the moment - although there is something in the pipeline so to speak.
Anyway, our squares are badly in need of water. As we are located right on the coast, our squares currently bear a striking resemblance to a links golf course - very brown and burnt off.
Given the chance to irrigate our squares, I certainly would be at the moment.
We will run a travelling sprinkler through ours on a Monday morning, we may do this , 2, 3 or 4 times depending on how dry / hot, forecast for the week is, we keep the next wicket to be played on covered for obvious reasons.
This normally allows enough time for the square to dry for play on a Tuesday lunchtime.
We dont irrigate the squares overnight in case there is a problem with the travelling sprinkler and it causes flooding on the square and knackers the the pitch to be played on.
I usually try to let the square not to get too dry and use the sprinkler at the begnning of the week if you have finished with the strip you are playing use it straight after the game .
Best time of the day is from 5 till 10 at night if you live locally and move around the square it probabley will need moving only twice on an 11 strip square.
You can purchase a cheap rotating sprinkler from green gem about £5 to £8 on wheels or stake but I tied my own to a basket to gain height.
Your pressure has to be reasonable
If the weather continues as it is much longer then squares will have an almost insurmountable water deficit very quickly, particularly in free-draining locations. The clay loams we use will shed much of any intermittent heavy rainfall particularly from pitches which have been 'sealed' by heavy rolling.
Grounds which are used daily for under 11, Under 13, Under 15, Under 17, Saturday and Sunday senior cricket and possibly also midweek touring matches are particularly difficult to cope with, especially if there is no-one on site to manage the watering. In this situation you are on a hiding to nothing unless full-time and then it isn't easy!
If you have a flat hose you can usually water 2 or 3 pitches at a time. This fine spray is the best for soaking into the ground as it does not cause washing away of loam and or seed in repaired pitches as some 'sprinklers' do. A couple hours on any area are needed to really keep growth going, though 30 minutes daily on any area will probably prevent too much stress on the grass.
Watering during darkness minimises evaporation of water before it can soak into the ground. If you are on a ground where water usage is metered, you may come up against resistance to prolific water usage, depending on who is paying the bill!
Our poorly drained low-lying club ground was saturated by heavy rain on Friday morning for about 4 hours, followed by intermittent bursts for another 4 hours. Saturday morning the square was mowable apart from the area watered for 3 hours on the Wednesday, by match time it was all dry to the touch, no damage at all caused by play, though we left germination covers on the 2 most recent repaired ends as they would have been mud wallows at least early on.
Other forms of covering on wet ground will delay evaporation but will spoil (cook?) the grass if left for too long under 30C temps and strong sun
Proud to serve grassroots cricket
30 Jun 2009 by Darrell Cooper Last edited 30 Jun 2009
I have used a 2 hour timer with a flat hose.
At least this way the area only gets 2 hours if you can't get back to move the hose.
Darrell
Thanks for all the input, guys - especially Philmort's which pretty well comprehensively answered everything that I wanted to know.
Thanks for taking the time to answer. Much appreciated.
"I'm cheap, and nought but fashion; fling me away."
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