An early Winter, for Suffolk at least...

December brought snow and the first frosts, approximately 4 weeks earlier than last year and the first pitch cover inflation for a match this season at Portman Rd

The seasons are definitely changing, for the last few years we have had growth until the Christmas period. As the temperatures have dropped during December, we are talking about the winter period setting in early.
The mowers have stayed away from the pitch until tidy up time pre match or a need for a light roll after a training session. This is the time we put the mowers on the grinders for another touch up to keep them as sharp as possible to try and keep presentation good and disease at bay.
We have had a couple of outbreaks of fusarium, which is not unusual as we don't spray a preventative fungicide, but have had to spray a curative treatment on the first team pitches, including Portman Rd. Our usual treatment is Banner Maxx (propiconazole) during the growing season and Medallion (fludioxonil) during the colder weather. If the attack has been particularly bad, or we have not observed an outbreak as it may have been over a weekend, then I find Razor (Iprodione) to be most effective. As this is coming off the approved chemical list, we have already had the opportunity to use up our last stock before the June deadline.

With the arrival of snow, a hard day is always expected! Fortunately we had covered a pitch before the weekend with snow falling on the Sunday morning. Clearing the snow on Monday morning was full on as we a little light on staff. Although hard work, also very satisfying. By the end of the day we walked in feeling we had achieved something ready for Tuesday’s training session. Snow fell again on the Monday night undoing all out good work!

Thanks to help from the U18 squad, we had cleared a whole pitch and removed the covers for an 1130 training session.

I have taken a photo of the east goal mouth on pitch 2 at the training ground in December for the last 4 years. This is so I have a record of progress, or not. I know there are many variables in the success of a pitch and the outcome isn't always in our control. A lot of it is to do with the weather and if there have been a few training sessions when it has been raining can make a big difference.

 

As you can see by the photo's there definitely has been an improvement in grass coverage. Certainly the feeding programme has improved and pitch 2 has had the new Koro over it for both years 2016 and 2017. 2016 was a contractors machine as our old one had broken down, which was a contributing factor in ours being upgraded For the 2017 renovations.

Looking forward into January, we have a run of 7 home games in 4 weeks at Portman Rd. This includes U18, U23 and 1st team cup games. Like all groundstaff up and down the country, we are hoping for the weather to be kind over the next couple of month.
When we have games at the stadium close together, we have to move some Groundsmen from the training ground to the stadium to help repair the pitch and prepare for the next game. Moral has to be high during this time as the work can be tedious and monotonous. In my mind, I see that March is the light at the end of the tunnel! Once we are past Christmas, the days are getting Longer and the count down begins.

First signs of Winter- November update

November

Now that the day light hours have shortened and temperatures have dropped, growth has slowed considerably. At this theme of year, turning pitches around between training sessions and games takes a bit more work.

In the height of summer, the turf almost recovered itself. Somethimes it's a simple as putting a mower over to tidy up and a quick walk over to knock back any small indentations and scars created during the training session. With soil based pitches, we do get indentations from heel marks and boot footprints if it's a bit soft or a decent amount of rain has fallen during the session. If these depressions are not lifted out, like you would do to a pitch mark on a golf green, then they will thin in the centre and go yellowaround the edges. The weakened area is also more susceptible to disease.

Fortunately, most of the training ground is open with plenty of access to light. Air flow is good as there are mainly surrounded by open fields.
At the stadium it is a different story. This month we have really noticed the lack of sunlight on the stadium pitch with the grow lights reminding us of the reason we have them cluttering up the car park during the summer. Turf growth has slowed considerably across the pitch, except under the light. As we are cutting across the pitch and hit an area where the lights have been, the clippings start to fly into the box. The sward is stood up, dense and has a healthy vigour about it.

Stadium pitch in late afternoon gloom

We have applied a slow release fertiliser this month (sierrablen 15-0-18) that we are expecting to last 8-12 weeks and a conventional release (7-0-14) which we apply approximately every 4 weeks at this time of year, depending on weather conditions. We are also applying our biostimulant mix as a liquid sprayed half rate every fortnight. I have played with the mixtures of this over the last couple of years and have settled with something that is really working for us.
The academy pitches don't have the same spec feed due to costs and I've always struggled to find something for the late autumn/ early winter to apply. When we are into the winter proper, we will apply a 4-0-8, which is a relatively inexpensive product in comparison (to the 7-0-14) but never seems to be quite enough nitrogen at this time of year and the pitches look a bit hungry. It seems the last few years that we need to keep the pitches going with the feed up to around the new year until we really do turn into winter.
So, this year I am going to try the "proturf" 12-0-15 on the academy pitches which should release over a period of a couple of months. With the cost being double of the 4-0-8, but lasting twice as long, I figured that it will fit in the budget, providing it does last the 8 weeks... we shall see.

The worm deterant sprays continue with average results. I keep telling myself they could be worse if we didnt spray at all..
Our U23/18 match pitch (pitch 6) at the training centre is still looking good with very close to 100% grass coverage - minus worm casts. This year we were able to have infield irrigation installed, which was a big upgrade from travelling sprinklers to irrigate. This has enabled us to have the surface removed (koro'd) during the renovations, removing the thatch layer which has slowly built up over the years, and for us to be able to work 80 tonnes of sand into the surface to aid the movement of water through the root zone. This is the trial pitch for the Barenbrug RPR stadium seed mixture. Early signs are very promising, but I will reserve full judgment for later in the season.

With 4 1st games on the stadium pitch during December, we hope the weather is on our side and the lights still do their thing to see us through to the new year.

Worms, Not my friend...

Worms, not my friend...

What is the answer to the worm cast problem? do we all need to have sand constructed pitches to deter worms? It's not an option for everyone.

We all knew it was coming one day but hoped it would last another year or two. I heard of the brave groundsmen and greenkeepers who decided to go carbendazim free as soon as it was announced the licence was being revoked at the end of August. Not me, I brought as much as I needed for one last spray on the 31st August and hoped it would see me though as long as possible! 

It didn't last long... I never thought Carbendazim was great any way, but it was better than nothing. It's better than what we have now, although we have trials ongoing with two products, Clear Cast supplied to us by Rigby Taylor and StimZyne from Sheriff Amenity. by creating a barrier on the surface the worms don't want to pass, should in theory work, until rain/irrigation dilutes it or washes it though, but It's a little early to tell whether this is going to be a solution, or even a compromise. I'm all for protecting the environment, but I'm also striving to produce the best turf I can. 
  
The recent game versus Norwich City on Sky showed up areas of casts which have been squashed by the mowers rollers and left it looking like a teenager with acne.. for a time in the morning, we knocked the areas back, trying to lift buried grass from the cast. Fortunately, this couldn't be seen really from the edge of the pitch or from the cameras. But I knew it was there.
Clear Cast had been sprayed 5 days before the game.
I gather only 3 species of UK worms come to the surface, therefore cast. I'm pretty sure most of the national population are in the Ipswich area!

 

 

This autumn the pitches are the best I've seen them. They have a dense sword, are a good colour and all are showing good health. There also seems to be considerably less annual meadow grass about this year for us. I'm putting that partly down to the purchase of a new koro field top maker. The old "green and yellow" was struggling to get through a renovation season with constant breakdowns and spilled half of the arising out of the back. We weren't getting as clean a pitch after stripping the surface off as we would have liked. Technology moves on and keeping on top of the latest equipment isn't a cheap conquest. We are hoping to buy 3 pieces of renovation equipment over the next three years. 2017 was the Koro and I'm hoping to add a vredo twin disc seeder to our kit in the spring of 2018. It was trialed last year with great success, all of the pitch germinated without any missed lines where the seed hadn't drilled in evenly.

Despite good progress this year, there is always something we can do better and we strive to achieve the next goal. Let's hope it starts with reducing the casts this autumn.