Considering The Environment

August 19'

Considering The Environment

In the turf industry, especially winter sports pitches, many of us are guilty of not putting the environment first when managing our turf. The pressures of producing an aesthetically pleasing pitch on a sand dominant rootzone leads to excess inputs.

It has been a consideration of mine for some time about how we manage our pitches, the amount of fungicides used, over watering, over feeding and the amount of leaching which can occur. Are we doing the right thing? probably not. but are we doing what we need to? probably. 

The expectation for presentation nowadays is high and the improvements in technology over the last fifteen years or so has meant that it is possible to produce a pitch with both high percentages of grass coverage and pitch stability all year round. This comes at a cost. 

The cost is both financial and environmental. Pitch lights are both expensive to buy and run, using a lot of electricity, with many clubs limiting how long they are allowed to be on the pitch. But the lights allow year round growth (requiring more nutrient input), increased turf density during the winter and turf recovery after play, which is a massive benefit for us seeing the pitch through the difficult winter period.

Most professional football clubs now have some form of constructed/reinforced pitches made up of a sand dominate rootzone which has high infiltration and drainage rates. Moving moisture through the soil reduces the chances of water logging and fixtures being lost, costing a lot of money and inconvenience for the clubs involved.

From the environmental point of view, with increased drainage through the pitch, leading to more irrigation being applied and higher inputs of nutrients due to more nutrients being leached and not taken up by the plant, are we doing the right thing? what is going to happen in the future if nutrient and chemical leaching is monitored and restricted? This could force a rethink in pitch construction in the future so the management of the pitch can change to fit in to possible fertiliser input restrictions, whilst still getting the pitch performance required. As technology is moving forward, we are seeing UV machines controlling disease, there are interesting times ahead and I'm sure this will become a hot topic in the next few years.

There are a few things which we are putting in place at Ipswich Town. Firstly, we have moved over to using a cleaner diesel in the ride on mowers and the tractors. This lowers the emissions because it burns natural gas rather than diesel oil. It also reduces noise which improves the environment for those living around us.

Over the last couple of years, we have made a conscious effort to reduce fungicide application. As a rule, we do not apply fungicides as a preventative, and will only apply at first signs of disease if we feel we need to. 

Not all pitches which have an outbreak will be treated due to the costs involved and a move towards making a nutrient application instead has been our first consideration. I am a strong believer that in winter pitches, in most cases, playing on a pitch which holds too much water in the surface can do more damage than an outbreak of fusarium will cause. Although of course neither is desirable...

Sharpening a bottom blade

We keep the mower blades sharp to cut the leaf cleaner to help prevent disease outbreak and make the water and fertiliser work more efficiently by not having the use the plants energy to repair damaged leaves. Along with other cultural methods, it doesn't mean we won't suffer from disease but if we can limit the amount and deal with it as quickly as we can, which ever way we do it. 

Ready To Go

July 19'

Ready To Go

As we approach the beginning of the new season, the last of the  renovated pitches are being measured and marked in ready for play including the stadium pitch which is now 6 weeks old.

The Portman Rd pitch was renovated straight after the concert and seeded on the 16th June giving about 40 days to the open day and training on the pitch. The session went well, with very little damage in open play. Warm ups and Goal keepers tend to cause wear in a small a area. This has been top dressed and seeded which should cover up any worn ares by the time we hold the first game of the season on the 10th August.

Due to the large stands, particularly on the south and west sides of the stadium, we get a lot of shade even in the summer when the sun is high. In these areas, the sward tends to be a bit slower to fill out, so we have put the light rigs out which speeds up the grow in process.

Lighting rigs helping with the grown-in

We will be aerating the pitch for the first time now. This process is held off to allow the roots to establish adequately to prevent any plucking of the new turf. From now on there will be some form of aeration on the pitch every two weeks working around the fixtures.

ICL's Proturf has been applied and we are putting Primo Maxx growth retardant down at a low rate at fortnightly intervals. we are also still pushing the pitch with extra applications of WSF high N fertiliser and Vital Nova Blade (molasses/trace nutrients) to have the pitch where we want it to be.

At the training ground, we have continued to replace ball stop netting on the first team pitches and developing a new goal keeper training area.

New stop netting and camera tower

New GK area

We have also renewed some rabbit fencing as we have a problem with rabbits eating the grass on the pitches as seen on the image. Although rabbit fencing is relatively cheap to purchase, the installation can be expensive or time consuming doing the work yourselves. This is the first stage in replacements and the most important area as this is the direction they tend to gain entrance to the 1st team training area.

Rabbit damage

Our grounds team has been strengthened with the addition of a mechanic to maintain and service all of our machinery. This will be a great benefit to the rest of the groundstaff to ensure the equipment is ready to go in the mornings and someone is on hand to see to any breakdowns quickly.
We regard mowing with a sharp cylinder as essential, so for the mowers to have time spend on them in the workshop without losing a groundstaff member off the pitches to do this is valuable. It is also a benefit to have the same person setting the blades on cut every day to ensure they are just where we want them to be. 

Concert and Renovations

June 2019

Concert and Renovations

June was a busy month both at the training ground and at the stadium. After the concert at the stadium, the renovations followed immediately. A 40 day grow-in is the challenge.

The concert ran smoothly with very little disturbance to the pitch levels. They are measured by a surveyor before and after the event to see if there has been any problems. The biggest difference was 20mm in a few places but this is corrected during the renovation with dressing and aeration. 

Once the concert is over and the stage has been dismantled, the pitch is walked and all the metal work such as screws, pins and clips are picked up so they don't go through the machines and cause a break down during the renovation, or get pushed into the pitch to reappear during the season. 

The stage was dismantled three days after the concert, so we were straight in there on Tuesday 11th June. 

With a concert being held in the summer, this shortens our grow in time before the stadium pitch's first use, which will be on the 25th July for the open day, weather depending..

In an ideal world I would choose to have 8 weeks to grow the pitch in. As the club is a business and other events take place during the off season, this is something we have to work around. It does make you think about the best products to put down and make sure an application isn't missed. It focus's your mind!

As it turns out, our first fixture is away from home so, excluding the training session on open day, there is almost 8 weeks to grow the pitch in. 

Fortunately, during June we can get quick germination. I seeded on Sunday 16th of June and the first signs of green was on Friday 21st June with it's first cut 5 days later. it has had 4 short waters per day and granular fertiliser applied straight after seeding and an application of Qualibra wetting agent to hold the moisture in and move it even through the profile. 

Seeding drill lines, one of three directions

Germination after 4 days

The first bio stimulant spray with molasses and seaweed and some more nitrogen was made on the 28th June, less than two weeks after it was seeded. I'm really pleased with the progress and I think it is, so far, the quickest establishment we have had in recent years.

First biostimulant spray 12 days after seeding

The pitch will be continued to be pushed through July to be as dense as possible going into the training session towards the end of July. As soon as it is strong enough, the pitch will be aerated to encourage root development.

At the training ground, some pitches have grown in and others are still at different stages. The academy are starting to come back along with the professional squads having been in for a week or so now. 

first team training pitch before their return

The other areas are coming along nicely. We have had some turf at the front entrance of the training ground laid and the new lawn which was renovated a couple of months ago is thickening up and has improved the appearence around the building and front of the 3G pitch no end. We are gradually reducing the height and will move on to cutting with a cylinder mower at around the height of 13mm in the next week or two. It will then have a light top dressing of sand to help iron out and levels and will be re dressed every few weeks until we are happy. 

Before we know it, the season will be here and all of the hard work of the summer renovations will be worth it seeing the pitches used. 

Close Season Improvements

May 2019

Close Season Improvements

The close season is one of the busiest time for the Groundstaff as we are deep into our renovations season. By the end of May, we have just two pitches left to renovate.

The Stadium Pitch will be renovated around the 13th of June, taking about 5 days, once the stage has been dismantled and moved out of the stadium after the Rod Stewart concert on 7th June.

With now only two pitches left in the renovation programme, we are getting the first pitches we renovated in April, back in play. The early pitches we renovate take a good 8 weeks to be ready because of the lower temperatures in April, but the pitches we renovate in late May/early June, can be ready with in 5 weeks. The Stadium pitch takes a little longer to strengthen so we have to be very careful what it is used for before it is fully ready.

On the first team training area, along with the removal of ball stop netting, we have also taken out some old dug outs and are in the process of removing the concrete pads. These areas will be filled with soil and seeded to improve the appearance of the area. The site is an old company sports ground for Fison's fertilisers and one of the concrete pads is an old cricket net which had been built with reinforced concrete to last a long time!

The grow in on the early renovated first team pitches is going well. We have another few weeks until they return and will have two pitches for them to train on until after they return from pre-season tour in July, when they will have all of the training pitches renovated and back in play. 

Even though we have a semi automatic irrigation system, there are some training areas which the water doesn't reach. For theses areas we use portable sprinkers on a 20mm hose and move them around manually. These sprinklers are just as effective but labour intensive. This is the first year that we have renovated on the outsides of the pitches giving a better appearance across the whole site. 

The Training Ground match pitch has had its renovation and is growing back in nicely. We have another 5 weeks until it will be used from the last photo below. After applying about 80 tonnes of sand, we have aerated it with the Groundbreaker, below, and worked the sand in to the slits helping with drainage throughout the season. The Verti-Drain also punches holes through and the sand in worked into the holes too, until we have lost all of the sand.  

The "Sweep and Fill " brush is brilliant at pushing the sand into the holes and lines the aeration machines have created. 

Pitch 6 (match pitch) is growing in , as seen in the picture above. by the next blog in a month's time, it will be almost ready to play. There will be an intensive feeding programme on it between now and then, with weekly applications of water soluble nitrogen, sugars and carbohydrates, trace nutrients and seaweed.  The growth retardant, Primo Maxx, will be applied when the plant is established after about 4-5 weeks. This product will help reduce the top growth and put the plants energy into sward density and root development. 

The new lawn area, which was koro'd at the end of march has grown in but with a lot of weeds through as well. The weed seeds which were in the soil waiting to germinate when space allowed are showing themselves . They have now been sprayed off with Greenor selective weed killer and we will let them die off for a couple of weeks before we ove-rsow with some more seed to fill the gaps. Once the sward is thick enough, it will be able to out-compete the weeds better and we may be able to manage the population by removing by hand when they emerge.

In another 5 weeks or so, all of the Training Ground pitches will have been renovated and grown back in. The first team and the academy will have returned and we will be in full swing in to the new season

Early Renovations

April 19'

Early Renovation

Renovations have started early this year, taking our first pitch out of play on the 1st of April, we are now a month in and in full swing.

Our usual process is renovating one pitch per week, lasting for about ten weeks. This year, we have a concert in June, so the Stadium Pitch will be delayed until mid June. This will leave us about 6-7 weeks until football is played on Portman Rd after the renovation. A little tight, but one that we have achieved before. Typically, I would choose to have 8-10 weeks for a "grow in", but in reality, the pitch is still developing into the early autumn. 

The weather has been on our side this season with very little rainfall around the games. This makes a big difference to how the Stadium Pitch performs during the games and what damage it takes. Due to the amount of fine sands within the profile of the pitch, which directly relates to the drainage rate, it will determine damage and grass coverage, especially during and coming out of the winter. 

We are the only pitch in the top two leagues without a pitch reconstruction and have no artificial fibers giving stability to the rootzone. Next season, I won't be able to say this any more, although there are more grounds with a reconstruction than not in League 1.

The renovation to the lawn at the training ground has been successful. I have wanted to do this for some time, but this year has been the year. It was no more than a rough area which was maintained by mowing once a week but that was about it. We have now removed the surface and the weeds and sown a dwarf rye grass which has germinated nicely and we have now started to cut it. We will see it thicken over the next few weeks and we will move on from cutting it with a rotary mower to a cylinder mower.

After renovation

Before renovation

   Training ground renovations are coming along nicely and we are on our 3rd and 4th pitch this week. We were delayed by six days due to a breakdown, but well within time to be on target for the players return at the end of June. we have now moved over to the academy side to do a full size pitch and a goalkeeping area whilst the 1st team finish off the season on their side and will continue their renovations next week.  

Pitch 2 and 3 have been completed and pitch 1 will start next week. for the first time, we will be renovating the external areas of the pitch, not just inside the touchlines. There will also be a new goalkeeping training area on the main 1st team plateau.  

During the renovation process, the sand is worked down the holes, as seen in the photo above. This will help with the drainage and a route down for the grass roots once it has been sown. 

 Once the holes have been filled in, it leaves a clean finish ready for the seed to be drilled.

Germination on pitch 3 after ten days  after drilling. It is usually another week before in is cut by hand.

Pitch 3 received its first cut on the 30th April. 

We have been working on improvements around the first team training area with the removal of the old stop netting. The holes are being filled in and it will be leveled off and seeded. 

 

Although there is still a league game to play, it won't be long before the training pitches are back in play for pre-season.

Raising Standards

March 2019

Raising Standards

After the kindest Winter for many years, the pitches at the training ground and the Stadium pitch are in as good of condition as they have ever been at this time of year. Before pitch renovation begins, other areas of the Training Ground are going through their own improvements.

One of the areas I have wanted to improve for many years is the lawns. We are making a start with the grassed area around the academy building which has only ever had basic maintenance of mowing and very occasionally a little fertiliser, which is at the bottom of the spreader left over at the end of the day from feeding the pitches.

The area consisted of patchy grass and weeds on an uneven surface which looked OK from a distance but didn't meet my expectation for presentation in such a prominent area. 

The path and Old stop netting has been removed, sockets dug out, edges leveled and the whole of the surface has been koro'ed 3 times in an attempt to remove 50mm of thatch in some areas. Around the edges, a turf cutter has been used to get in where the tractors can't. The process has taken out all of the high areas and minimised the depth of the depressions, which will leave the area in a good position to hand mow.

I have chosen to seed the lawn with a fine leaved dwarf rye grass for an "ornamental" lawn look without the extra maintenance which fescue or bent grasses would have required.   

Before the work begun

Mid way through cleaning off the surface

After the surface removed with just the tidying up around the outsides to do

The Professionals training pitches have come through the winter in very good condition and it seems a shame to weed kill them off for the renovation starting in April. As we start taking them out of play, the team will train on the main pitch only for the last few weeks. At this time of year the turf can cope with the increased hours of play. 

A major benefit of have a drainage system installed is being able to move the water through the pitch reasonably quickly. although the pitches are of  indigenous soils, they drain well on the Bent Lane site, which helps retain grass coverage.

Torrential rain in a short amount of time can leave some pitches waterlogged on the academy side. Fortunately, scenes like the photo below are rare and it does drain within a few hours.

With renovations beginning in April, The first pitches to be renovated have been weedkilled. We do this to clean out any unwanted grass species so there is no chance of them surviving through the renovation. The only problem we may have is if there is seed in the soil already waiting to germinate. We may encourage dormant seed to germinate by disrupting the surface during the pitch renovation, but there is no way round that if we are going to do the work.
Renovations usually take around 10 weeks, allowing one week per pitch.We have placed material orders and are raring to go!

The stadium pitch is in excellent condition for the end of March. This is down to the amount for fixtures played on the stadium pitch and being fortunate with the weather around matchdays. 
Unfortunately,  we occasionally have issues with away goalkeepers marking the middle of the goal. This is a yellow card offence for intentially damaging the pitch. The referee has to see it, but they never do. This mark was made during warm up.

Intentional damage to the pitch marking the middle of the goal

Looking forward to the last stretch of the season, we have at least one more U23 game on the stadium pitch and possibly an U18 game along with the remaining three first team fixtures.

What a Difference a Year Makes

February 19'

What a Difference a Year Makes

This winter's weather has been the one all groundsmen wish for, which is the polar opposite to last year. but does that bring its own problems?

We have had just one very hard week this winter when snow arrived and getting that shifted off the covers ready for training. Fortunately, that was only for a week, unlike last year when it felt like we were doing it all winter. 

We are watering the pitches in February, which is the first time since 2012, despite having a wet winter that year, the weather in February was warm. Watering now isn't ideal as we are putting cold water on surfaces we are wanting to warm up for some growth and germination of seed which has been sown, but this is necessary as pitches were drying out too much and getting hard under foot for play.

We are generally pleased with  stadium pitch this winter because of a combination of the good weather and we have had less fixture congestion in the post Christmas period. 8 fixtures were held in poor weather in the new year of 2018 and this year we have had 5 fixtures in good weather. The only problem area I could see when the fixtures can out was the 13th and 16th of February, a Wednesday - Saturday quick turn around, which is OK if you don't get snow or a frosty spell over this period.

When the "Beast From The East" we were experiencing temperatures down to -7, the same week a year on, we have temperatures in the teens. This is great news for us, but we do have to adjust our management practices to accommodate. Our feeding programme has to change because the winter fertiliser we would normally plan and budget for is insufficient for the requirement. Typically an order would be placed 2-3 weeks before it is required so a look at the long range forecast, which is not much more than an educated guess by the meteorologists, and a decision is made so it has been last minute changes this year.

2019 forecast for the end of Feb on the left and on the right 2018

There is a massive improvement to the area in front of the dug outs, which we have always struggled with. we were able to purchase a new grow light for the pitch in December which sits around this area now, not just giving light to help the plant to photosynthesise but also heat from the lamps to keep the surface dry. Most of our grass coverage is lost when play happens on a surface which is has too much moisture in the top. The images tell their own story.

In front of the dug outs 13 Feb 2019

In front of dug outs 13 Feb 2018

We have overseeded through the middle of the pitch to fill in the gaps to have as much grass coverage as possible going into the last quarter of the season. We will have the pitch in play until the end of May to accommodate county cup finals and corporate use. 

The training ground pitches have come through the winter in decent condition, so a strong finish to the season regarding pitch quality is expected. Pitch 1 has performed particularly well this year. It has the benefit of the drainage system installed and that really helps pull the water away from the surface so there isn't damage taken when it is used after rain.

Pitch 1

Pitch 2

Goal keeper training area

Renovation planning has been done with the first training ground pitches to be taken up from the 15th April if the weather is on our side. Renovations will continue until the end of June completing one pitch per week.

It's a good feeling that challenging weather is (hopefully) behind us and we have survived the winter  with the pitches in good condition. roll on the summer.

Winter's Arrived

January 19'

Winter's Arrived

The winter so far has been very kind to us with no rainfall of note in December and just 21mm in January. To match the good fortune of the weather, fixtures have fallen nicely too and the stadium pitch going into February in as good as condition as we could hope. 

Although time mowing and line marking is reduced during this time of year as the grass isn't growing much, we spend most of our time repairing pitches after play, knocking back, pulling frost covers on and off. 

A typical day in January when we are having a cold spell is removing covers in the morning, if necessary mark the pitch, put goals in place ready for training. After the training session, we might use a Dennis G860 brush to clean up, if time and a quick repair of any divot markes etc before re-covering for the following day. If all goes smoothly, re-covering should take no more than two hours and taking the covers off in the mornings just 45 minutes.

Clearing snow off covers at the training ground

When snow has fallen on the covers, as it did last week, it can take many hours to remove the snow, depending on how much has fallen. Fortunately, we had less than an inch this time and a full pitch was cleared by 1030 training. If there is a decent amount to fall, it is unlikely a whole pitch will be d in this time without many people helping.

Managing the stadium MaCleod covering system is different. Snow is easily pushed to the side as it slides nicely across the material, once deflated. The down side is that there isn't anywhere for it to go to around the edges of the stadium pitch. If we have time, we will wheelbarrow it out of the stadium. If we don't have time to do that because of an impending match, then it is is put over the edges of the pitch area in to the stands and the lower area is closed off for fans. If the snow isn't moved from the edge of the cover, we can't get the cover off as it buries the straps which are anchored around the outside of the pitch. 

MaCleod system

This month, all the mowers have been sharpened to ensure we are cutting the leaf as cleanly as possible. It is important this is done to maintain plant health and the grass isn't torn when cutting as it will make it vulnerable to disease. Water and nutrients are also used more efficiently by the plant.
As soon as we notice it isn't cutting the paper cleanly when checking the mower over before we start, it is brought in to the workshop for grinding. We are fortunate enough to have our own grinders and experience within the grounds team to sharpen them ourselves. This is one of our strategies of maintaining our turf as healthily as we can with out regular chemical applications.

Planning for renovations is well under way and will begin in mid April. A timetable of which pitches are taken out is worked out mainly on a date to which they will be required back in play. Because of the concert this summer, the stadium pitch will be renovated in June and will be our last pitch to be renovated during the spring/summer as it will be required to be back in play at the latest date.