26 Feb 2010 by richard whitney
Hi,
I help out at our local sports and social club and we have three full size football pitches that have had no work done on them for 4 or 5 years.
The club want the pitches spiked, seeded and top dressed. I will be the only one doing this with a pedestrian spreader and spiker froma hire shop.
I have plenty of time to do this but my questions are 1). is this achieable on my own 2) how long would each treatment approx take (assuming total size of 2 hectares) 3) how much and at waht cost would the seed (sports seed I assume?) and top dressing cost?
Many, many thanks if anyone could give a volunteer groundsman a bit of advice!
richard
26 Feb 2010 by Mike
Hi Richard,
If you are renovating the whole pitches, it will be far too much work for one man to undertake with pedestrian machinery. For example, if were to top dress one pitch, you would be looking at something in the region of 60 - 100 tonnes of top dressing... that' a lot of work for one man to undertake.
Grass seed for a pitch - 12 - 15 bags should do. Have a look in the pc shop to get an idea of prices.
Mike
26 Feb 2010 by richard whitney
Thanks for the comments Mike.
I guess we're not looking to renovate the piches just get them looking a bit better than they are at the moment.
Could I just spike the pitches and seed them or would I have to top dress them aswell? What about fertilising them with a knapsack to green them up?
The club only has a certain amount they can spend and in the past the work has been done on a voluntary basis.
The pitches aren't in too bad a state but could do with sprucing up.
Would appreciate your thoughts.
Many thanks,
richard
26 Feb 2010 by Mike
Richard - if I were you, given the manpower, machinery and limited budget that you have available, I would focus my efforts on the goal mouths, centre circle and any other worn areas.
If you have access to a scarifier go ahead and scarify, aerate, seed and lightly top dress the bare areas. Fertilising a pitch with a knapsack will also take some major doing, and liquid ferts tend to be pretty expensive. If possible, try to get your hands on a pedestrian spreader and apply a granular fertiliser.
One other point if you are feeling particularly energetic - don't forget your linesman's run's - these areas wear very quickly, so an aerate and feed would help tremendously in this area.
Hope this helps.
26 Feb 2010 by richard whitney
Thanks Mike,
From what I've seen of the pitches there is not a lot of moss or thatch on them so would scarifying be beneficial?
Also as the pitches are still being played on is now a good time to undertake the work on the bare patches or should I wait until the end of the season for seeding and top dressing them?
Finally if I spike and seed the pitches now (assuming that it is worth seeding thema without applying a top dressing) how long should I wait until applying the granular fertiliser that you recommend.
Sorry to keep picking your brains but as I say I'm no professional on this and just want to help the club and get the pitches a bit better looking than they are now.
Many thanks
richard
Richard, have a word with a local School / Sports Club and see if you can beg & borrow some bits and pieces, if nothing else a local professional Groundsman may give you some advice.
26 Feb 2010 by Mike Last edited 26 Feb 2010
Scarifying bare areas will provide a seedbed Richard. Grass seed needs to be 'planted' to get the best results.
Personally, i'd wait until after the last game before carrying out any works. At the moment, the temp's are too low to allow for germination of a typical ryegrass seed. Re fertilising, this can be done before, during or after overseeding. My personal preference is to wait until germination before applying fertiliser, but success will be had with either method. Following the application of fertiliser, try to aerate again to get the best results possible.
Mike
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