Message Board - Natural Turf: Chain harrowing
16 Mar 2004 by Eric.
Chain harrowing
Some one cuts the grass for us during the mowing season at our football club, Another chap does the winter maintnance IE He chain harrows every week regardless,I think he is ripping the grass out of the pitch and causing us more expense, as the summer guy suggests to us to seed the centre of the pitch heavily (4 Bags) to try to reinstate the grass and give the players some kind of surfaceand slow the chainharrowing frequency down, the winter guy insists on doing it, I take over as the club rep for grounds maintennance shortly, Who is giving me the best advice, the pitch is level ,well drained with good soil, when I was a player the flanks did used to be well grassed and are loking a bit thin now, But both sound right to me.
16 Mar 2004 by Eric part 2
Chain harrowing again
What is the real reason Chain harrowing is done any way,I have heard so many stories.
16 Mar 2004 by pete
yes
why are u rep for grounds maintenance if u dont know the answer why not employ a contractor who can do the pitch all year round
16 Mar 2004 by eric
Chain harrowing
Pete ,I am the club rep only, I am going to be responsible for the liason between club and contractor/contractors.
My aim Is to have the same contractor doing our pitches all year round, I dont want 2 firms doing the same work and each one commenting on the others work, after all only one man painted the Mona lisa,Makes sense surely one contractor one site I might have to pick one of these two, just want to choose the right one thats all.Apart from that,If you dont Know the answer to a question whats wrong with asking, It may be obvious to you, but not to me,
Do you Know much about Opthalmic Surgery by the way.
17 Mar 2004 by peter
surgery
i know nothing about opthalmic surgery but i am not the rep for opthalmic surgeons at the local hospital
what area are you in many contractors operate here i think you would be better getting someone new in.
17 Mar 2004 by PAZ
chain harrowing
chain harrowing is fine but does not need to be done every week. It depends on many factors as to when to do it or not. Usually weather.
too much as you have said eric, does pull out the grass. If this is so, cease doing it until you think the surface is becomes too bobbly. Get the contractor to do a less abrasive action such as using a drag brush!
Sounds to me if he doesnt do something to the pitch then no money coming in
17 Mar 2004 by eric
Chain harrowing
Chris , Thanks for your contribution, It confirms what my common sense told me, I just did not want to put my foot in it and upset the chaps who are doing a worthwhile job for us, as a club we value the experts time and Knowledge and expertise and listen to all who can help and steer the club in the right direction, but it is nice to get a third and neutral opinion,Many thanks. Peter.As it turns out you may be right,The club operates whereby there is a turn around of positions every two years so that several positions are held by different people, that way everybody understands the difficulties of all that is entailed. My turn will arrive in April as the grounds rep and I am trying to get a bit of an understanding of what sort of programme for the maintenance of our pitches is required. Thank you for your advice as well as Chris`s. Might ask some more silly questions later on .
18 Mar 2004 by Eric
Chain Harrowing
What is the purpose of a chain harrow
apart from ripping grass of a football pitch
18 Mar 2004 by Hipper
Chain Harrow
Its purpose is to level the surface of the pitch. It knocks the high bits and is supposed to drag the resulting material into the low bits.
The chain harrows I used to use had two sides: one side was smooth, the other side had teeth. The smooth side should be used in the playing season, and you could use the toothed side at the end of the season when you renovate as it rips up the soil. It should only be used in the right conditions, namely when the soil is friable (i.e. it crumbles as you rub it in your hands).
Somewhere in this message board there was recently talk about a tractor attachment called a Sisis Quadraplay. It would be worth you reading that and considering having such a machine used on your site instead of chain harrows. There is a brush on it which, as Chris suggested, would usually be better than harrows.
I would strongly recommend that you try an attend an IoG/FA level one Winter Games Pitch course. Not only groundsman attend these so don't be put off by any lack of knowledge you may have. These courses are running now and in April (IoG = Institute of Groundsmanship).
18 Mar 2004 by PAZ
Winter Games pitch courses
I am one of the IOG/FA/RFU appointed trainers. Eric if you want any info on courses or on anything else please feel free to ask me.
18 Mar 2004 by Phil
chain harrows
Chain harrows are not used much in sports stadiums, but outside on training grounds, school grounds and local authorities it is still a great tool, for knocking a surface back and getting the grass standing back up. When used they help invigorate the growth of the grass as well as presenting a surface over large areas.
The sisis quadraplay is a good tool too, and worth a look, try the lads at pitchcare for more advice and help-I did!
20 Mar 2004 by Eric
Chain harrow reply
Thanks everyone who replied to my chain harrow query,much obliged.will look into the dates for the courses as we get the iog mag,hopefully see you there.when would the next couple of winter courses be, I am not able to get to the club for a couple of weeks,so need some notice to get off work.
21 Mar 2004 by PAZ
iog winter games pitches courses
the courses depend on where you live / can get to.I have a list of courses if you want more info please say so and leave a contact number and i will get back to you
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