Hi all,
Am manager of kids football team and our home pitch has had standing water from eighteen yard box to the goal line for the past two months.
We have been told that the ditch at the back of the goal needs digging out but is there anything we can do in the short term to get games played. We have very limited funds and a group of enthuisiastic parents but knowledge is limited. thanks Rob.
21 Feb 2010 by Gateshead Cleveland Hall
Hi Rob 76.
I,m a little bit sad that the pro,s have not offered you some help so here goes from an enthusiastic volunteer.
If water is lying in the goalmouths it may be a couple of things or a combination of them both.
1, you have dips in the area therefore water will find the lower level and
2, you have sever compaction.
The first one is easy to solve by restoring the levels making sure that thyere is contact between the old soil and new dressing. No 2 is a little more difficult as a result of having no budget. I,m sure you have forked the area but you may wish to introduce a good quality sport sand into the fissures created by the fork to hopefully create some form of passage to a drainage system (if you have one) This is a slow method however it has been helpful to us on smallish areas.
Hope this gets you started.
From an 'alledged' pro... apologies... but we can only do so much of this free 'sport/grass/soil/love' stuff in our spare time when the good lady wants other things done at the weekend or there are games to ref/call off...........
Rob.. it is likely your drainage problem is being caused by the basic drainage problem...You have a basic drainage problem!.... Your ditch sounds like the outfall for any piped or positive drainage... clean it out and then you might get water travelling away from the area... Then you
can start looking at sorting out any other inherent issues of sites with no or little or misdirected maintenance like dips, compaction, sanding etc etc etc..
If you dont sort out the basics, starting at the outfall, it doesnt matter what you do or what is spent or how much sanding or vertidraining is done it isnt really going to get any better especially when it rains as hard as it has today...
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
Thanks for the replys guys.
the eighteen yard box where the standing water is has a dip so any water runs there and stays because of the poor drainage.
We have been told that there is a drainage pipe running through this area to the ditch at the back of the goal and we have tried to find this pipe to see if we need to clear the pipe but unsuccesfull so far.
From your posts there seems to be no quick fix for the problem to get the games played but thanks for the advice.
ps
I enjoy looking after our pitch but most of the time not sure if what i am doing is correct, is there any books, magazines or courses i could look at that would help me.
thanks again, Rob
Pitchcare often run winter sports maintenance courses for Groundsman Rob. I believe that they take one day of your time. Basic everyday things, not a load of technical jargon.
Give the office a ring in the morning and ask when the next one is due to be held.
21 Feb 2010 by Mal
Hi Rob, Where most would generally advise to wait until the ground becomes better drier for ditch clearance, I personally would prefer to do the work during the early part of winter. My reason is that as you clear you can physically see which way the water runs so that you can dig a better free running ditch with a good reasonable fall without having to keep jumping out the cab to take levels all the time. Also, when you uncover a pipe outlet you often get a very clear indication of where it is when you suddenly get a sudden gush of water assuming that the pipe isn't blocked to far up the run. Of course this is assuming that you have experiance of working with a 360 digger. A couple of things that you need to be aware of though when doing the work at this time of year is:
a) never work alone or in the botom of a ditch that is free and fast flowing.
b) When pulling the spoil out you are going to have to leave it on the side of the ditch as hauling trailers will severly mess your ground up. This is ok so long as you leave it neatly in a bund (row) but with frequent gaps so that water is not held up behind it. The bund can then be taken away in the summer when the ground is drier and able to take the traffic.
I used to do this work on a regular basis at a school I once worked at that was on a clay based soil that had piped drainage and with all the fields in the schools ownership pretty much bounded by ditches. So importantly we had a regular programme of ditch clearance.
Geography is everywhere
As a short term solution it maybe worth hiring a posthole borer
and drill some holes in the affected area and fill with gravel and cap with course sand. This may take the water down to a more porous sub strata.
To find your drain take two lengths of wire coat hangers about 18" in length bent a handle at right angles hold them in front of you walk slowly about 6foot from the ditch edge when the wire turns in toward your body that will be the above the drain line , do this a few times further out and you should find the straight line of the drain pipes Does not work for every body so get a few members to try.
Mike
Mike I know you're a top groundsman but water divining too?
Next thing we know and you'll be bending spoons, is there no end to your talents!
The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train
Rob,
If you have a group of enthusiastic parents, get a bunch of them in the ditch with spades - assuming the ditch is on your ground.
The ciderman rolls
Like buses and Policemen... you don't see any for ages when you need them then a whole bundle come along...
Plastic.... it's The End I tell you... THE END!!!!
what area are you in rob ,perhaps someone local will pop in and take a look for you ,
we are in the Nottingham area, the best short term solution seems to be the post hole borer and then dig the ditches when we can get a group of parents together.
Thanks for all your replies
Back to Top - Go to Next Unread Message
This Message is closed, you may not post a reply at this time
