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Stadium Renovation
I love this time of year as we put the Winter behind us and start afresh with newly renovated pitches, which will soon be looking their best for the beginning of the new football season.
Planning for renovations starts soon after the previous one has finished. Firstly, dates for the start need to be agreed. This will depend on hiring out the stadium for corporate events, county cup finals and concerts.
I start by working out the date for the expected first use of the pitch and work backwards. I aim for 8 weeks from the start of the renovation to the first football use, therefore giving 7 weeks to grow in, which should be adequate if all goes to plan.
Leading up to the proposed start date, I keep a close eye on the weather as this could cause delays to the stripping off of the pitch surface. The arisings are taken away from the stadium by a grab hire company, so they need to be notified if there is any change of plan. I also hire in a JCB digger so we can load the sand into the spreader more quickly, so the delivery needs to be taken into account.
The pitch is sprayed off with Glyphosate to kill all vegetation. I don't want any recovery from the old sward which could be our desirable rye grass or the undesirable annual meadow grass (poa annua). Although by fraze mowing (using the Koro at a shallow depth), the removal of the poa can be achieved, leaving the rye to regenerate. This is possible as the crown of the Poa is above the surface and the rye below.
I use four staff for the beginning of the renovation. One Koroing, two catching and the fourth to keep tidy any bits we spill on the pitch and helping tip/keep tidy out in the car park where we dump the surface of the pitch.
The first few runs of the koroing is to get the right settings on the depth of the machine. After that it should be plain sailing across the pitch. I try not to hurry though, as we want to do a clean job. We aren't under pressure to get done as soon as possible as we are not contactors needing to get onto the next job, but we do work as efficiently as we can.
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| Natural soil based surface built on an old rubbish tip. A bike wheel has been pulled up in the past. A brick exposed this year. |
On day 1, the first pass of the surface is removed. Day 2, a second pass is made at a slight angle to clean up anything that hasn't been picked up, but this is just a skim. we remove 15-20mm in total.
When we are half way across the second pass, we drop one tractor/trailer off from catching as there is less surface being removed.
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| 87 tonnes of sand being applied |
We then start to dress the sand on the pitch. The first third of the pitch is completed first so there is something for the Blec Groundbraker to start working on. at this point the koroing is complete, which will free up two tractors.
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| Groundbreaking and Veti-draing |
we use a small Iseki TXG237 with a greengroomer "zig zag" brush to drag sand down the crevices the groundbraker (linear aeration) has made, this helps to aid drainage. we then follow with 1" tines in the verti-drain and do the same with the brush to work the sand in the verti-drain holes. We usually have to do two passes with the verti-drain to lose all of the sand. We apply 80 tonnes to a full size pitch, but as we have 3x29 ton delivery's to the stadium we have an extra 7 tonnes to lose in the pitch compared to the training ground due to lack of long term storage at the stadium.
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| Sand is brushed into the slits which are about 7 inches deep |
Once, the sand has been brushed down the holes, there should only be a dusting left. if too much sand is left on the top, it will cause problems later in the season with the layering effect.
next, seeding is done in three directions. passes are done at 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock. this allows the seed to grow in between the 3.5cm the seeder discs are spaced at.
Approximately 20-22 bags are applied, at a rate of around 60g SqM. This year we have Johnson's Prem Pitch pro nitro. I'm still considering the benefits or not of coated seed, but that's for a discussion at another time..
Straight afterwards, an application of sierrablen slow release and conventional pre seeder 8-12-8 fertiliser is made.
Watering is then set on a timer for 4 short cycles per day to prevent seed wash. This is done until germination has taken place, then the irrigation time is increased and the frequency reduced.
At this time of year, I'd expect germination in 5 or 6 days with its first cut after 12-14 days.
