Grass on a Ball Field

[Renob]

I am on the Maintenance committee for our small town Little Leauge. Our infield is in need of repair - regrade (smooth out bumps/dips) and reseed new grass.

Our crew is big on good intentions and low on actual field maintenance knowledge.

Any guidance/information on this project would be greatly appreciated.

 

[5053]

Renob
Check out power rakes. Harley makes one Woods also has one, I think it might be Harley's. They are expensive but you might be able to rent one.
Bill

 

[rdln]

A professionally installed ball diamond or football fields are actually crowned for drainage, this is done by ridding current area of existing sod by chemical+time or physical removal via lightly tilling and rake, rake, rake and haul out. Laser guided road graders or land planes towed by tractors and experienced operators can set you up. If the budget does not allow it, see if local sod farms or grading contractors can donate??? attempt it on your own with lots of time and labor. Once the sod is gone till and drag. Balance the high and low spots as best you can by eyeballing then identify the minute divots at night with headlights and fix in the day time.

Seed with mixtures formulated for athletic abuse like this Seed Solutions

If you have low lying areas deep enough to collect drainage, by all means put in subsurface drainage.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I am on the Maintenance committee for our small town Little Leauge. Our infield is in need of repair - regrade (smooth out bumps/dips) and reseed new grass.

Our crew is big on good intentions and low on actual field maintenance knowledge.

Any guidance/information on this project would be greatly appreciated.

I work for a general contractor that has on a few occasions, built entire scholl campus's. That includes baseball/football/soccer/ect facilities. In addition, I've helped with a little league field back when my son was involved. We found several sources of good info. I'm going to TRY to link you to a couple books that cover the subject in depth. They aren't cheap, but they'll save you from making any critical errors. That will save their purchase price back in spades.

http://www.wiley.com/wileyCDA/wileytitle/productCd-0471447935.html

With next to no experience in ballfield building, we built a little league diamond that was smooth as a pool table.

Good luck!

edit; Well, for some reason the link didn't take you straight to the books. On Wiley site, search "Baseball turf construction". Should get you there.

 

[hazmat]

Call the cornell turf guy GO BIG RED he should be able to point you in the right direction for local expertise.

My local LESCO manager just helped out with a nearby little league field. The grounds superintendant from Gillette stadium (home of the Pats) did the grading - lasers and all.

 

[BTDT]

How about going to local (insert tractor dealer near you here) and tell them you are thinking about buying tractor and rake/box blade/etc. and you want to test drive one, could they deliver it to (address where ball field will be). You get some seat time and kids get ballfield. win/win

Seriously, maybe they could help if you asked. Also try some landscape co. You could tell them they could put up sign saying "field maintained/installed by" whatever their co. name is on the fence/dugout.

 

[Renob]

Thanks for all the replies and great info. Spent last Sunday with 2 other Little league dads and our assorted equipment. We box-bladed, tilled, graded, raked, dragged, seeded and rolled our new infield. Not necessarily in that order. It came out much better than it was before we started, hope to see some grass soon.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[rdln]

hey, sorry to revive this thread but just ran across this in case someone down
the road searches on the same topic.

If you are confronted with possible community project do not be afraid to ask around for help

reproduced without permission from Tri-City Times volume 132 Issue no. 40 page 6A