Advice on pitch care and maintinance

[Jinxy]

What's the point of rabbits anyway?

[Syferus]

What's the point of rabbits anyway?

That's like asking what the point of the Leinster Championship is.

[manfromdelmonte]

I work as a groundsman in uk. Born  and bred donegal man.
Just offering advice or help to anyone who are looking help advice about pitchcare and maintinance.
Any queries just say.
Tom

What is the best way to improve grass growth/coverage on a pitch, without digging it up?
It is a natural clay based pitch that gets very hard in the summer

thanks

Do u know what type of grass seed it is was sowed on the pitch.

Going by u saying it gets very hard it sounds like the ground is very compact. If the ground  is very compact this will be why you haven't good growth/coverage. The grass roots need air to grow and to create a good root zone which in turn makes the grass tougher and will withstand wear and tear.
You need to get some aerating done and maybe over seed it. I wouldn't roll anytime in the immediate future.

What maintinace takes place on the pitch at the minute. Apart from grass cutting anything else.

It is natural grass as far as I know
Nothing has been done with the pitch in the last 5 years except some spiking and rolling (don't know why it was done)
We don't really do maintenance on it as it is a very well drained field
there is no bare patches or anything, we'd like to improve the grass surface etc

[stew]

Simple, take a gander at the best fields in the country and ape what they do, providing that their soil is similar to yours!

[manfromdelmonte]

Simple, take a gander at the best fields in the country and ape what they do, providing that their soil is similar to yours!

most fields are now sand based.
ours is natural compacted clay and has never been reseeded

[illdecide]

I don't like sand carpet pitches tbh, they are a harder surface and need a lot more maintenance. Their purpose obviously is they drain better and can take a bit more wear but its hard to beat a natural turf pitch. Our pitch is a mixture of both, it has sand ameliorated in with the top soil. It has lateral drains as well as a 10" layer of grit and a geo fabric netting over it, personally it is too well drained but I doubt if there will ever be a game called off due to flooding. It would dry out fairly quickly during a dry spell.

To keep a pitch in good condition it will need verti drained/ground breaking/spiked aerogation whatever you want to call it twice a year, 4 -5 applications of fertiliser, cut 2-3 times per week (obviously depending on time of year and if just been fed) over or direct seeded if and when needed to parts of the pitch that's needs it, the cylinders on your mower must be sharp and someone after games to replace divots and repair the pitch.

The most important tip of the whole lot is don't fecking train  on your pitch keep it for matches only ( which our club cannot do) the training is the worst abuse of the lot on a pitch.

[manfromdelmonte]

I don't like sand carpet pitches tbh, they are a harder surface and need a lot more maintenance. Their purpose obviously is they drain better and can take a bit more wear but its hard to beat a natural turf pitch. Our pitch is a mixture of both, it has sand ameliorated in with the top soil. It has lateral drains as well as a 10" layer of grit and a geo fabric netting over it, personally it is too well drained but I doubt if there will ever be a game called off due to flooding. It would dry out fairly quickly during a dry spell.

To keep a pitch in good condition it will need verti drained/ground breaking/spiked aerogation whatever you want to call it twice a year, 4 -5 applications of fertiliser, cut 2-3 times per week (obviously depending on time of year and if just been fed) over or direct seeded if and when needed to parts of the pitch that's needs it, the cylinders on your mower must be sharp and someone after games to replace divots and repair the pitch.

The most important tip of the whole lot is don't fecking train  on your pitch keep it for matches only ( which our club cannot do) the training is the worst abuse of the lot on a pitch.

so developing a training area with a good surface is worth it? as in, not just for the slogging in the dirt
we're a mainly hurling club btw
but the pitch gets a lot of use by hurling, camogie, football team, underage training and games

[Farmer dam]

I don't like sand carpet pitches tbh, they are a harder surface and need a lot more maintenance. Their purpose obviously is they drain better and can take a bit more wear but its hard to beat a natural turf pitch. Our pitch is a mixture of both, it has sand ameliorated in with the top soil. It has lateral drains as well as a 10" layer of grit and a geo fabric netting over it, personally it is too well drained but I doubt if there will ever be a game called off due to flooding. It would dry out fairly quickly during a dry spell.

To keep a pitch in good condition it will need verti drained/ground breaking/spiked aerogation whatever you want to call it twice a year, 4 -5 applications of fertiliser, cut 2-3 times per week (obviously depending on time of year and if just been fed) over or direct seeded if and when needed to parts of the pitch that's needs it, the cylinders on your mower must be sharp and someone after games to replace divots and repair the pitch.

The most important tip of the whole lot is don't fecking train  on your pitch keep it for matches only ( which our club cannot do) the training is the worst abuse of the lot on a pitch.

A good mixture of sand and soil 50-50 mixture is pretty good.
Vertical draining,ground breaking and spiking are 3 different procedures.

Spiking(done weekly if possible) basically is spikes about 3inches pearling the ground about 1.5 inchs deep to all air into the ground to help root zone.

Verti draining is where a machine comes along making about 100 holes per square metre between 8-10 inchs deep in the ground to help draining. Twice a year doing this would be sufficient.


Ground breaking you basically lift the whole pitch to break up all the soil layers.


Ass illdecide said if possible to use you pitch for matches only is a bonus but not every club can afford a training pitch as well as the maintinace of 2 pitches.

[Farmer dam]

I don't like sand carpet pitches tbh, they are a harder surface and need a lot more maintenance. Their purpose obviously is they drain better and can take a bit more wear but its hard to beat a natural turf pitch. Our pitch is a mixture of both, it has sand ameliorated in with the top soil. It has lateral drains as well as a 10" layer of grit and a geo fabric netting over it, personally it is too well drained but I doubt if there will ever be a game called off due to flooding. It would dry out fairly quickly during a dry spell.

To keep a pitch in good condition it will need verti drained/ground breaking/spiked aerogation whatever you want to call it twice a year, 4 -5 applications of fertiliser, cut 2-3 times per week (obviously depending on time of year and if just been fed) over or direct seeded if and when needed to parts of the pitch that's needs it, the cylinders on your mower must be sharp and someone after games to replace divots and repair the pitch.

The most important tip of the whole lot is don't fecking train  on your pitch keep it for matches only ( which our club cannot do) the training is the worst abuse of the lot on a pitch.

so developing a training area with a good surface is worth it? as in, not just for the slogging in the dirt
we're a mainly hurling club btw
but the pitch gets a lot of use by hurling, camogie, football team, underage training and games

Upload pics of your pitch if you want just is we can see better

[Farmer dam]

How do I post pics. Have some pics of work we done this week

[Denn Forever]

How do I post pics. Have some pics of work we done this week

On the menu  above, there is image button (button below the Bold Button) . 

Put the file name of the picture between

Also go to posts with a picture. and use insert quote and that will show how they posted the picture.  Hopefully this will help.

[Beantown]

Can anyone suggest a decent mower? Not Kubota!!
Gianni Ferrarri is a bit temperamental and very dear as is amazone.. Plus I have been told that you can't use a cylinder mower on a sand based pitch as it blocks up the pores over time, is this true?

[Farmer dam]

Can anyone suggest a decent mower? Not Kubota!!
Gianni Ferrarri is a bit temperamental and very dear as is amazone.. Plus I have been told that you can't use a cylinder mower on a sand based pitch as it blocks up the pores over time, is this true?

Depends on your budget really and whether you are going for a ride on or a towed mower for behind a tractor.
We use each here. We have a toro 5 gang ride on, hayter triple ride on,ransoms triple tow behind. Trimax rotary deck tow behind.

These are what we paid for these
The toro will cost you new around €40k
Hayter second hand €10k
Ransoms new €5k second hand €2.5k
Trimax new €6k second hand €3k
   A cylinder mower is best and will give you a far better finish.
Using a cylinder mower doesn't make a difference unless you pitch is covered in sand like a beach.

They are expensive and if you have a club nearby you would suggest trying to come to agreement that yous buy a mower between yous.

Will try get pictures tomorrow of the machines we have