Pictures from an athletic field contractor

[Complete Turf Care]

When does baseball season start? How long after you spread that sand can they play on the field?

High school baseball season starts in late January. In about 2 weeks you won't be able to see much of the sand at all.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

It’s time to start overseeding baseball fields with ryegrass. This field was done with my broadcast spreader. Most of the fields I plant are with a small drill seeder. I’ll post pics of it when I do a field with it.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Finished this softball field today. It was a fairly big job just South of New Orleans. We rebuilt home plate and the pitchers mound, aerated and topdressed the grass area, removed the lips around the skinned area, added infield clay and laser graded the skinned area.
It took 3 days to complete this job which meant driving 3 hours one way each day. It’s never easy driving through Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

 

[BackRoad]

Do you have to bid on each of your individual jobs or are they under extended contracts with you.

Just wondering about how much administrative overhead with bids and bid management is necessary to keep the field work going.

It could be a lot of extra effort to fix what a bad field guy installed before you.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I usually have to provide an estimate for each job. Then, whoever is paying for it will issue a purchase order. Sometimes, these jobs will require 3 estimates.

On bigger jobs (over $50,000) different bid laws require public bids. These require advertising for bids.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Another lip removal job today. You can see how dry we are right now. Thank God for cabbed tractors.

 

[BackRoad]

You've got some unique equipment!

 

[EddieWalker]

That's a lot of material in your trailer!!!! Is the lip caused by the grass growing and thickening over time?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

That's a lot of material in your trailer!!!! Is the lip caused by the grass growing and thickening over time?

The lip is most likely caused from when they drag the infield in a circular motion, they tend to throw a little of the infield mix out into the grass. And, since there is no grass on the skinned area to hold the soil in place, wind and rain can push it out into the grass area too. And, the grass will tend to build up a thatch layer too.

So, really there are lots of reasons, but it happens on almost all baseball/softball fields.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

This is a 'before' pic of an infield.

This is after removing the lips. We actually made another pass after this one because one pass wasn't enough.

This was when I got home. You can see I averaged 6.7mpg on a 261-mile drive. This is about as far as I want to go for a job. 4.5 hours travelling one way is a long day. I did drive up there yesterday, because I was part way there on yesterday's job. Coming home was battling a 20+ mph head wind. Hauling the tractor with the wagon on the 28' trailer is like dragging a parachute.