February Football Diary 2012

The weather for the most part has settled down with a reasonable mixture of rain, sunshine, cold and warmth. Last week, I was sure that there was some movement in the grass, which was good to see. The recent mild weather has no doubt helped prevent the loss of fixtures, which in one way can lead to more work required to repair damage surfaces.

Predicting the weather can be difficult, but it helps to look at as many resources as possible, and we certainly have those available to help us. The Pitchcare weather section is a good place to start. This is a free service though of course you could look to getting a subscription to a site that tailors the prediction to your location, with access to a meteorologist should you need it.

Pay attention to post match regimes, ensure you replace divots , undertake some drag matting/ brushing / harrowing to restore playing surfaces, the use of pedestrian / ride on rotary mowers are now becoming a popular way to clean up playing surfaces.

February is the month when everyone's thoughts are full of ways and means to ease their pitches through the rest of the season. Particularly in the north of the country, where the temperatures struggle a bit more than in the south, where grass growth responds better to slightly warmer average temperatures.

Dragmatting and brushing: Continue the work of brushing to keep the air circulating around the base of the plant, particularly important for removing early morning dew and controlling disease. Pay particular attention also to the goalmouth areas and centre circles post match, to lift the grass back up out of muddy areas. This is also important in keeping surface levels.

Useful Information for Dragmatting / Brushing

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Divoting: This is important work and should be completed after each match. Arm yourself with a border fork and a bucket of topdressing with a little seed mixed in. Not everyone can afford the necessary time to go divoting on the scale of some of the Premiership grounds, but even if you could afford just a couple of hours post match divoting sorting out some of the worst, I can guarantee that you will notice the difference over time. If you cannot afford a full divoting programme, then you could equally tackle the worst and clean the rest off with a mower or pick up sweeper.

Useful Information for Divotting

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	Viewpoint - Communication Breakdown		Football Pitch / Rugby Pitch Grass Seed

Cutting: If required. You may find along with a lot of grounds that there has been little movement in grass growth compared to previous years. If you find the need to cut, keep your height of cut as near as possible to the high end of a winter cutting height. This will ensure the grass has the optimum leaf area for photosynthesis.

Winter cutting heights will range from 25-40mm depending on the level of play and condition of the pitch, most stadium pitches are regularly cut at 27mm while council pitches are more likely to be cutting around 30mm plus.

Spiking: Continue spiking when the conditions are right. Keep your spiking regime flexible, alternating between surface spiking, deep spiking and slitting. Hand fork goalmouth and centre circle areas if difficult to get onto with machinery.

Useful Information for Mowing and Spiking

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Surface cleaning: However you achieve it, you will need to clean out the surface and get rid of the dead organic matter that will have built up, particularly on the wings of the pitch, and the remnants of old divots etc.

A tractor drawn rake followed by a box mower is probably the most traditional method, and most likely within the means of most clubs and schools.

You may also have use of a pick up flail mower, in which case you may find that scarifying tines can be fitted and the job will be completed in on operation. This method can be advantageous as the scarifying tines may leave a grooved surface, ideal for ensuring oversown grass seed is buried just beneath the soil surface and in contact with the soil.

An operation that is becoming popular to those that can afford it (mostly Premiership clubs fall into this bracket), fraise mowing is extremely efficient at removing the top organic layer of the pitch, however, you will effectively be starting again with a newly sown surface, so your seeding rates will need be higher.

To relieve compaction and get air back into the soil is important. If you have a spiker that will allow some heave, such as a vertidrain or Weidenmann etc. you may find this beneficial, otherwise you may do well to hire one in or employ the services of a local sports ground contractor.

Over sowing: Get a good quality grass seed for your renovation, and also fresh seed is important as old seed will not germinate as greatly or as well as new. Look at the STRI list for the recommended cultivars.

Topdressing: Get it ordered and ready. Choose wisely for compatibility with your current rootzone. If you employ the services of an agronomist, then he will advise you of the best topdressing for your situation. If you cannot afford to topdress, you may consider hollow coring, recycling them by breaking them up and dragmatting them back into the surface.

Raising/restoring surface levels and getting rid of those compacted areas in front of the goal is obvious to everyone, but don't forget the linesman's run-up. Sometimes forgotten, but easily incorporated into your programme and, whilst you're about it, the area beside the pitch that everyone stands to watch the game will need attention.

Fertilising: A good pre-seeding fertiliser, low in nitrogen and high in phosphate and potash (P:K), to provide the young seedling with the essential nutrients that will be deficient in a soil washed through by winter rains.

Some turf treatments work well for some situations, and there are a number of them to choose from, such as organic based micronutrients, seaweed treatments, clay flocculants, amino acids and plant growth regulators such as Primo Maxx.

It can sometimes be difficult to assess the benefits of such treatments, but most managers will notice if it has been effective or not. If you are unsure, then ask you supplier for a trial amount and test it for yourself. I'm sure they would be pleased to accommodate you.

Useful Information for Some thoughts on planning your Renovation Programme

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	A turn of fraise		Turf Management