A Long Winter

February 2018

A Long Winter

Just when I thought things were loking up and we were possibly heading into an early spring , the “Beast from the east” struck bringing snow and -7 temperatures to East Anglia.

When snow is forecast, it fills most Groundsmen with dread because of the uncertainty of being able to fulfill training sessions and even match fixtures if the snow falls at the wrong time. 
A bit of planning helps, putting out covers ahead of time so at least there is a chance of getting a pitch cleared for the mornings training session. If snow falls on the grass, it is difficult to clear satisfactorily as it will clog up around the footballers studs and make traction difficult. How we envy the Greenkeeper who goes home early on a snow day - course closed! Football pitches don’t close you just need to find a way around the problem.

Under soil heating is a great benefit, but it isn't available to everyone, including us at ITFC. For the training ground, black frost sheets are used and are ok to about -4. If there are a run of consecutive nights of below freezing temperatures, they will start to struggle.
Towards the end of Feburary, with minus temperatures for about 8 days, they froze through on the 7th day. although this did include a minus 6 a couple of days before. With snow on and off all week, it does help to insulate the ground by leaving the snow on the covers until you have to take them off.

For the stadium, we are lucky to have the very effective Macleod cover system. With hot air blowing underneath, it is excellent at keeping heat in the pitch when it is blown up and even germinating seed if it is left over the pitch long enough.
The club have used this type of cover for about 18 years now and it is used not only for protecting against the cold, we cover the pitch when we have heavy or prolonged rain forecast. As we still have a soil pitch, a big part of pitch management is not letting too much rain fall in the build up to a game.
15mm of rain can be managed in the summer/early autumn but 5mm over the winter is a worry.

Removing the cover before the game can be done in 1h-1.5h if the cover is dry. When it has had to be laid flat and there is water on it, it takes longer to remover as the water has to be pushed off as much as possible, then wound in on the reels whilst removing the water that gathers as this happens. If the cover is too heavy then the reels/trailer starts to tip under the weight.

Despite our home fixture being called off on 3rd March, The pitch remained playable and was used on what would have been match day. Conditions outside the ground were difficult and travelling was an issue. Safety must come first.

The first 2 week gap with no football at the stadium since the beginning of December will be in the last two weeks of March. Therefore, a full reseed of the pitch will take place and fleeced over the top to raise the soil temperature to allow germination.

At the training ground, the pitches are doing remarkably well considering the poor weather we have had since November.
Our U18/23 match pitch was Koro'd off for the first time last Summer and I know it wouldn't have survived as well as it has if the work hadn't been done. Due to the upgrade in irrigation, this allowed us to grow back in adequately. Before hand, I wouldn't have risked it with only travelling sprinklers to irrigate.
The few wet games we have had recently caused some damage but it has bounced back quickly. I am Impressed with the Barenbrug RPR Stadium which are trying out and I'm planning to try it out on at least one training pitch next season to see the wear/recovery performs.

Even though snow is still hanging around, orders are starting to be placed for the start of the renovations. We start renovations around the second week of April. we have to do this to get around all the pitches in time, allowing about 5-6 weeks to grow in, so we are calculating and working backwards from the date they need to use them. I allow one week per pitch for renovations and with approximately 10 pitches to do, I hope to be done by the end of June with the last pitches coming into play in Late July/early august.

It has once again been a hard month and everyone in the grounds team has worked very hard and I'm proud of all their efforts, but I'm sure in the next 4 weeks things will pick up and we might even be cutting grass!

A challenging month

January 2018

A Challenging Month

When the fixtures are announced in June, the first things I look at is the Christmas fixtures, January/February fixtures and Saturday/Tuesday back to back games. this year has turned out more difficult than initially thought..

Christmas is always a busy time in football, and this year was no change. I think an extra fixture was squeezed in over the holidays too. Usually there is either a boxing day fixture or a new years day fixture scheduled to be played at home. This year we were drawn a home on the 26th and on the 30th. The fixture on the 2nd Jan was away, although training pitches still have to be turned around for all games, home or away. 

Having been reasonably fortunate with the weather at the end of 2017, the beginning of the year has proved to us once again the importance of the MacLeod pitch cover system. We have used it more times this month to keep the rain off before a fixture than for frost protection. 

We have had eight fixtures in 5 weeks since Christmas, which may not seem an awful lot to some, but for us it is twice as many as we would normally deal with in a month. In January 2017 we had just three home games.

It has worked out this way from the initial fixtures released at the beginning of the season because of a home FA Cup draw, U18 FA Youth Cup (2 rounds) and an U23 Premier Cup tie. sometimes that's is just the way it goes. other years it will work out in our favour.

The Stadium pitch held up well going into mid January, but the back to back games were starting to take its toll on it in the second half of the month. It only takes one wet game to really hit the grass coverage hard - ours arrived on the 27th.

We didn't receive a large volume of rain but it was the unfortunate timing of it. Just as the players came out to warm up, it started to come down and continued all game, ironically finishing has the final whistle blew.. Even with a small amount of rain on a soil based pitch with reduced grass coverage can create a loss of stability on the surface.

Now that January is out of the way, The sun is rising just high enough over the South Stand to give the north end of the pitch sunlight during the day reaching the half way line, for a few hours at least.

In eager anticipation of an early spring and perhaps some growth to cover the scars of the Winter, I have looked at the fixtures for March and a possible window for an over seed to see us to the end of the season in as good condition as we can.

During the Winter we have been seeding with Barenbrug SOS seed with pleasing germination results. Unfortunately, in many cases it has not been able to establish itself well enough before the next game and has suffered its inevitable fate.

 Although the knocking back/divotting can be tedious, it can bring everyone together as we are all in the same boat. The routine this month has been pitch repair - pitch cover - pitch prep - game. seeing the pitch through to the next game and doing all we can.

Aeration is key for us and picking the right moments for work on the pitch is vital. getting the pitch turned around in time before the next weather episode, rain or frost, so that we can cover in time. it is great if we can work under the cover when it is raining, a pleasure to hear the rain falling on top of the cover!

During a poor spell of weather, getting nutrition on to the pitch is all about planning and being available to apply it at the right time. There have been a lot of high winds this month and with no covered booms you need a bit of luck. We are using a base 6 month slow release feed plus a conventional granular application every three weeks, so the bio stimulant spray is a bonus in these circumstances.
Also, the weight of our sprayer has to be taken into account. 757 litres tank capacity and a dry weight of 900kg is a heavy weight to be putting on the pitch at this time of year. It is fantastic at the training ground and at the right time of year for the stadium but we are looking in to an alternative for this time of year.

As for the training ground, things are holding up well for the end of January. not all of the pitches are being used when the conditions aren't great. since we have had our 3G pitch built in 2016, it has taken a lot of pressure off the natural grass surfaces. avoiding play when the conditions aren't suitable is essential if you want to maintain the surface in excellent condition through to the spring.

Pitch 8 (U16 match pitch) end of Jan 18'

Maybe an early spring is on the cards? A natural recovery for the end of the season? which ever we are dealt, it wont be long before the shorts are on and we'll be into renovations and starting over once again.

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.