I'm already looking forward to the end of the rugby season with respect renovations on our senior pitch, which in the last winter took quite a beating. It resulted in several areas "dipping" in level to the rest of the pitch. Whilst I have reseeded these areas and got full coverage i'm not that optimistic it will last and once we get into the heavy wet part of the season these areas will not only cut up but also remain very boggy. So next year my question is should I buy in topdressing to restore these levels? Or alternatively I do have access to a Blec machine that will rotovate the whole pitch and bury any stones leaving a good tilth to reseed. The pitch as a whole is on a natural slope but unfortnalety these low patches are towards the bottom of the field where surface water will naturally run. The soil structure is predominantly 6 inches of topsoil over clay. With no real drainage under the pitch just ditches around the outside. It is slit in autumn with a sisis megaslit and when to wet for this I bring out my pattinson spiker which I can vary from 1-4 inches on working depth. Any suggestions as it will allow me to plan what I can and can't spend if I need to hold money back for topdressing materials or extra seed etc etc, thanks.
You will get a more even finish if you rotorvate it up & re-level it.
Sounds like your soil is very heavy though. Have you thought about adding 120 tonnes or more of sand & power harrowing it in?
I wouldn't have enough if the budget to buy anywhere near that amount of sand
The power harrow-type option is the cheaper of the two you are considering, and you will create a great seedbed as you mention. However, do bear in mind you will be starting from scratch regarding grass plant establishment and hence you will need a lot more seed than were you just over-seeding.
You will obviously need to time the operation for as soon as the season ends (stating the bl**dy obvious I know) but the point I am making is that once you have that date established, you will need the sequence of events to follow pretty rapidly if you are to get grass back on the surface quickly and in time for pre-season training (often starting mid to late June nowadays).
You will need to spray off the exististing sward with a total weedkiller first (Round-Up / Glyphosate) as this will help you get a clean surface and get rid of the meadow grass, plantains, clover etc. Once that has started to die off, rotovate/stone bury to your desired depth and then use something like a Harley Power-Rake to enable you to pull loose soil from high spots into the low areas. Firm the whole surface up then re-check your levels. If still too low, pull more material into the low spots and then re-firm. Once you are happy with the levels, apply your pre-seed fertiliser (6-9-6 or 10-15-10) and then re-seed using a quality grass seed through a proper seed drill designed for the purpose. Do not just broadcast your seed all over the surface because every pigeon in your County will decsend on the 8,000m.sq. area and eat as much as they can. Good seed-to-soil contact is vital if you want to maximise germination establishment percentages.
Finally, and most important of all, get some irrigation onto the area. This element of the operation is the most important and I suggest you arrange irrigation before you plan any other part of the job. If you don't have the ability to irrigate such an area, I would question the viability of the job - there is no point getting perfect levels, etc. only to then have no ability to re-establish your grass surface. Yes, you may be blessed with a pleasant showery May and June that means you never have to use the irrigator. However, if you have a dry May and June like we nearly all experienced this year, you are going to have to apply lots of water - and don't forget the cost of any water that comes out of a pipe because it isn't cheap. No water = no germination and no establishment.
If treating the whole pitch as above is excessive, you can use a similar set of techniques to just treat the isolated low areas and instead of raking material into the low areas, get some local topsoil delivered in and ameliorate that into the indigenous soil. As before, make sure you can water. Calculate the volume of the low areas and then have the soil delivered (~1.7t./cubic metre) and fill into the pre-rotovated areas. Remember to consolidate the added soil before settling on your levels, otherwise it will drop as the season progresses. Fert and seed as above.
Hope that helps.
just to add to Montesa,s suggestions, if and when you spray off to clean up the ground, (this also helps as there is no vegetation to try and deal with) you need to set your stone burier at the maximum you can go, ive got a 2mtr Rotadaron and i have it set at its deepest, stone buriers work better the deeper you go....also a lot of people dont bother, but set the barge board down so it pulls the soil along with you to level,
Ticky supports British farmers...!!
Back to Top - Go to Next Unread Message
This Message is closed, you may not post a reply at this time
