SportsTurf 31

RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIESWinding along the beach are smooth,

wide paths perfect for biking, rollerblading,running or romantic strolls. Visitors candive right into a variety of water sports suchas kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, sport fish-ing, scuba diving and jet skiing. Everythingfrom rollerblades to wetsuits, jet skis towindsurfing equipment, can be rented atvarious places along the beach. Day andnight harbor cruises are also available, of-fering beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean.

Each year, from late December to mid-April, visitors can witness the awe-inspiringmigration of more than 15,000 Pacific greywhales passing through Long Beach ontheir way to their breeding and berthinggrounds in Mexico. Whale watching excur-sions are available through several compa-nies.

From award-winning drama and cutting-edge opera to historic museums, visitorswill enjoy an exciting range of artistic ex-pressions that comprise the city’s rich her-itage. Long Beach is home to a number ofimpressive museums, including the Mu-seum of Latin American Art (MoLAA), theonly museum in the country to focus exclu-sively on the contemporary art of Mexico,Central and South America and the Span-ish-speaking Caribbean. Visitors can alsoexplore the city’s unique galleries in thethriving East Village arts community, listento a renowned symphony orchestra orwatch a play from a variety of first-class per-forming arts companies.

When it’s time to dine, Long Beach of-fers visitors hundreds of options from inti-mate cafes to spectacular oceanfrontrestaurants. Visitors can nosh on friedgreen tomatoes in a restored 1920s Cali-fornia Bungalow, dive into a table full ofseafood along Alamitos Bay or feast in ahistoric bank building complete with tellercages. Sample a world of cuisines right inthis International City from Italian to Cam-bodian.

No other community in Southern Califor-nia is as visitor friendly as Long Beach—and getting here is easy. Fly directly into theLong Beach Airport (LGB) on Alaska Air, Al-legiant, American Airlines, Delta,JetBlue Airways and US Airways. Directflights are available to many major cities, in-cluding New York, Washington DC, Austin,San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Chicagoand more. If you prefer to fly into Los Ange-les (LAX) or Orange County (SNA), LongBeach is just a short 25-minute drive fromeither airport. While in town, the Passportlocal shuttle service offers complimentary

transportation to all of downtown LongBeach’s most popular attractions includingthe Aquarium, Queen Mary, Shoreline Vil-lage and Pine Avenue. For just $1.25, thePassport can transport visitors down to Bel-mont Shores/Naples and Cal State LongBeach.

In addition, water taxi service is offeredby the Aquabus, and can transport guestsacross the water to Shoreline Village, the

Aquarium, or the Queen Mary. The Aqualinkis a high-speed catamaran water taxi fromdowntown to Alamitos Bay. For your con-venience, friendly downtown guides dressedin blue “Long Beach” shirts, blue caps andkhaki pants are stationed in a 40-blockarea and help visitors find restaurants,shops and attractions.

To plan your Long Beach experience, logonto www.visitlongbeach.com. ■

www.stma.org

32 SportsTurf | November 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

FieldScience | By Scott Stevens

>> Top left: EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY,Richmond, KY>> Bottom left: CANISIUS COLLEGE, Buffalo, NY

A T ELON UNIVERSITY the base-ball field consists of a synthetic(FieldTurf) infield and a natural,419 bermudagrass outfield. Our

maintenance plan of the synthetic baseball in-field is developed around field use and weather.More maintenance is required for higher fielduse or inclement weather.

The basic daily maintenance includes work-ing on the high-wear areas, including battersboxes, around the pitching mound, around allthe bases, and around dugouts and entrances tothe fields. For the most part, the work requiresjust a push broom or backpack blower to movethe crumb rubber back into place. The rubber ispushed back to its original location and thenwater is used to help settle the rubber back intoplace.

Around the mound area, we push any clayback on the mound. This will also push crumbrubber on the mound. We believe that the

crumb rubber is easier to remove from themound surface than the clay is to remove fromthe synthetic surface. During certain times ofthe year we use backpack blowers daily to blowdebris off the surface. Fortunately our syntheticinfield surface is only about 40,000 square feetso the time for this process is minimal.

Monthly, we drag the field using the Field-Turf drag. The FieldTurf drag has three differenttools: a broom, an aerator, and tines. We use thebroom and the tine part of the drag the mostoften. These two parts help to move the infill(rubber and sand) around, as well as stand theplastic fibers back up on the infield.

After we get done brooming the field, we usethree 3-foot magnets to roll across the field topick up any metal debris. Since the crumb rub-ber is from old tires there are small fragments ofmetal, about the size of staples, which we havebeen collecting off the field. We also sanitize thefield monthly. To do this, we use a Gator withfour nozzle boom that sprays FieldTurf deter-gent on the field. We then use four Hunter I-90heads to water the cleaner into the field.

There are two edges of the field that we mustmaintain: the edge where the synthetic meetsthe grass and the synthetic around the dirtmound. For the grass edge, we have found thatthe best method to remove the runners from the

edge is hand pull them every 2 weeksthroughout the bermudagrass growing sea-son. We will also use a weed eater to edge.This gives a clean look without cutting thesynthetic fibers. For the mound we use pushbrooms and backpack blowers to remove theclay from the synthetic fibers. If the claybuilds up too much then we use a hose andshop-vac to remove the clay. This is typicallydone twice a year, once at the end of the falland again at the end of the spring.

The biggest thing that we have learned intaking care of the field is to stay on top of themaintenance. If we let the clay to build up,then it becomes harder to remove. If we allowthe grass to grow too far into the syntheticthen the grass becomes well rooted and isharder to pull out. If we allow debris to col-lect on the surface then it is tougher to re-move them. With the help of the coaches andplayers we are able to stay on top of themaintenance.

Scott Stevens is sports turf manager forElon University, Elon, NC.

Sports Turf Manager

CARDINAL NEWMAN HS,SANTA ROSA, CA

Mike Truesdell, president of CardinalNewman High School, says, “It seems to me,a neophyte, that the separation between thedirt of the mound and the turf of the (Tiger-Turf) field works well. If dirt is kicked intothe field it can be swept back. The rubberbeads can be replaced if the reverse happens.

“Matt Brown (installer) just completed amajor sweeping and disinfecting of the entiresurface. I believe that is an annual event. Ona quarterly basis our maintenance team pullsa brush device to redistribute the infill. Andwhere it is significantly displaced around thebags and home plate more infill is added,”Truesdell says.

“During our planning stages we wentback and forth as to whether the areaaround home plate should be dirt like themound. Given our required repairs to thebatters’ boxes, and the apparent ease ofkeeping the mound dirt and field turf infillseparated, it might be worth rethinking thatdecision,” he says.

Matt Brown of Precision Surfacing, Inc.,says, “We installed the baseball field at

Maintaining asynthetic baseball infield

>> CARDINAL NEWMAN HS, Santa Rosa, CA

The biggest thing that wehave learned in taking care ofthe field is to stay on top ofthe maintenance.

— Scott Stevens

SportsTurf 33www.stma.org

Marin Catholic High School with the threebases, home plate and the pitcher’s moundall dirt and the rest of the field syntheticturf. Three years later, they had us tear outthe dirt except at the mound and install abrown colored synthetic turf at home platearea and all the bases. The dirt infiltratinginto the turf was a maintenance headachearound the bases.”

EASTERN KENTUCKYUNIVERSITY, RICHMOND

“Our infield is all synthetic (Tiger Turf),parts of it are just clay colored,” head baseballcoach Jason Stein says. “Our outfield is natu-ral sod.” During the season Stein grooms thesynthetic turf with the machine he was givenby the field builder. “I just run it behind theJohn Deere for 15 minutes a week during theseason,” he says. This is the field’s third yearand Stein reports no problems, no rips insliding areas. “I am a proponent of the syn-thetic infield,” he says. “Even though I have aturf degree!” Stein earned a bachelor’s degreein ornamental horticulture from EKU as wellas a master’s degree in sports administration.

CANISIUS COLLEGE, BUFFALO“We are a multi-use (A-Turf) field and

have turf everywhere except our mounds andhome plates (bb/sb) to work,” says Jon Lyons,assistant facility director for CanisiusCollege. Daily maintenance, we hit the re-moved dirt with a garden rake and steel brushto loosen it and then hit it with a push broomback into the circles. We let it go our firstyear and had a lot of work to do to get thecircle back into shape. We used a powerwasher and that worked great to blast thehardened clay out and we then filled the rub-ber back in. We now do the power wash oncea year.

“Game days are similar to our daily/weeklywork. We run into trouble with time becausewe have soccer and lacrosse going on as we tryto do work on it, it can get a little dangerouswith lacrosse out there,” he says.

“The migration of dirt/clay into the turfsurrounding the mounds and home plates is aconstant battle, but it is nothing compared tothe work involved [when] we had a grassfield.

“Looking back and talking with ourcoaching staff, being in the Northeast weshould have ‘turfed’ home plate. It wouldallow us to use it in a great deal more in allseasons,” Lyons says. ■

34 SportsTurf | November 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

FieldScience

Packers, Red Bull use grow lighting system

ALLEN JOHNSON, CSFM, FIELD MANAGER FOR THE GREEN BAY PACKERS AND STMA BOARD MEMBER, reports he has been testing and using the SGLConcept lighting system to help grow grass this fall.

SportsTurf: What prompted you to investigate using the SGL system?Johnson: Nico [the system’s inventor, Nico van Vuuren] and a representative from his com-

pany were doing a tour of the states to find suitable places to introduce their technology. I wasaware that this technology was being used elsewhere but hadn’t really been investigating it. I got acall from Henry Wilkinson from the University of Illinois one day asking if I would be interestedin letting the group visit and talk about their technology. It went from there.

ST: How did your testing process work and what were the results?Johnson: We were given three of the large MU360 units which allowed us to test approxi-

mately 40% of our field. We treated the southern end with the lighting units and complementedit with our underground heat system set at 50 degrees. The northern half of the field was treatedtraditionally by me without any supplemental lighting and the heat system set low at 38 degrees.We started October 7 and ran the trial through the first week of December. We had to stop whenthe ambient air temperature consistently started to drop below freezing.

“By the end of October we were collecting three times the amount of clippings than the ‘con-trol’ end of the field. By late November the clipping yield on the treated half doubled from thelate October amounts and the ‘control’ half of the field had started to go dormant and did not

yield any clippings. It was interesting, becauseof the layout utilized we actually had four dif-ferent plots so to observe A) turf with no sup-plemental light and minimal heating B) turfwith supplemental light and minimal heatingC) turf with enhanced heat set at 50 degreesbut no supplemental lighting and D) turf withboth supplemental lighting and enhanced heatset at 50 degrees. The areas of the field thathad both the enhanced heat and supplementallighting produced the greatest growth anddensity easily.”

ST: How do you plan on implementingthe system [as of Sept 27]?

Johnson: Based on our observations fromthe trial and discussions amongst the front of-fice executives the organization decided topurchase 9 MU360 units, which is enough totreat our entire playing surface consistently.Those units have been delivered this pastmonth and will be put into use following ourgame on October 2.

ST: How much work has been involved insetting up and using the system?

Johnson: The units came pretty much as-sembled. We had to update our infrastructurein regards to getting the proper electricitydown to the field’s edge to power the units.

Johnson also replied: “Our organizationhas also decided to add on to Lambeau Field.We will be filling in the south end zone withstadium seats, adding approximately 6,600.The new wall of bleachers and updated score-board will create significant areas of shade thatwe had not previously had before. The southend was fairly open and allowed a lot of natu-ral sunlight into the bowl and down on thefield. Our purpose in purchasing the lightswas to assist the growing season a bit in Octo-ber and November, but also to replace anysunlight lost to the new expansion of the sta-dium. That expansion is set to be completedin 2 years.

Dan Shemesh, director of grounds, NewYork Red Bulls, also has used the SGL system.“I started looking into grow lights my first dayon the job back in November of 2009. RedBull Arena has a similar design to many Euro-pean soccer stadiums that have partial roofsand covered seats. When I took a look at theshade study I thought it might not be that badsince part of the roof is a certain percentage“translucent.” I found out very quickly thatthe roof was not translucent at all and the daysand sun hours were much worse when you ex-perience them in person as opposed to a shadeanalysis on paper.”

January 3, 2011 with no lighting treatment. January 3, 2011 with lighting treatment.

SportsTurf 35www.stma.org

ST: What were your growing issuesbefore using the system?

Shemesh: Before we started usingthe system we had multiple shade re-lated problems, we still do now but theyhave decreased significantly. On the firstday of spring and fall the best part ofour field sees between 3.5 and 4 hoursof natural light on a sunny day. The en-tire south end 18 yd box including thetop arc is in complete shadow all day.On the first day of summer the best partof the field receives about 5.5 to 6 hoursof natural light. There is still an area inthe south 6 yd goalie box in completeshadow.

On the first day of winter more thanhalf of the field is in complete darkness.So as you can imagine we experiencelimited rooting, slow growth, cooler soiltemperatures, excessive wetness and in-creased disease potential. In 2009 we dida full midseason resod at the end of Julyand another resod of the south 18 yardbox before playoffs because of the poorturf quality.

ST: How much work is involved in

setting up and using the system?Shemesh: There is some work in-

volved with setting up the grow lightsystem. We own 3 large rigs which takestwo people about one hour to get inplace and turn on. The greater the dis-tance becomes between the lights andpower source means more cabling andsetup time. The lights require closemonitoring along with the area of treat-ment. The lights generate some heatwhich can cause ET rates to go up. Wealso keep track of the amount of naturalPAR light our field gets and turn off thelights during the day if the treatmentarea receives adequate sunlight.

ST: How has system performed?Shemesh: The system had per-

formed very well and we are still learn-ing how to utilize the lights for themaximum benefit of the field. We havenot exchanged any sod so far this yearand do not plan on doing so. The southend of our field which has received themost hours of artificial lighting has thehighest turf density compared to otherparts. ■

About the manufacturer of SGLTHE SGL CONCEPT is for growing grass under any condi-tion in any stadium, even during winter, by controlling allgrowth factors such as light, temperature, CO2, water, airand nourishment. The use of assimilation lighting is an im-portant factor in SGL Concept.

The idea for the SGL Concept came from Nico van Vu-uren. As a successful grower of roses van Vuuren has lotsof experience with growing plants. Following a theoreticalinvestigation to see what were the possibilities to opti-mize grass growth van Vuuren wondered why companiesdidn’t put time into assimilation lighting tests. During themonths with lower natural light intensities turf will evenshow negative growth. On the one hand this is caused bythe fading light intensity and on the other caused by thepartly or fully closed construction of today’s stadium,which results in a very large temperature difference be-tween inner and outer temperature.

At first it was thought that the problem with naturalgrass could be solved by just applying assimilation light-ing. But it soon appeared that for a real success, a combi-nation of all the growth factors is needed. It’s the goal ofSGL to provide a high quality pitch throughout the wholeyear. Achieving this goal needs more than just turning onthe lamps. You have to combine a lot of different expertisesuch as knowledge about the soil, grass seeds, grassgrowth, growth techniques, lighting and stadium con-struction, the company says.

Turf Enhancement

• Absorbs 12x its weight in water• 95% of water and water-soluble nutrients available to plant• SAVES UP TO 66% WATER• Longevity 5-7 years subsurface• 40 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. for Topdressing, Aeration, Overseeding, New Sod

“Ready Play’s technology is amazing. It has helped mespeed up the germination of my grass seed, resulting ina stronger, denser grass, while using a lot less water.”

-Chad Huss, Head Groundskeeper, Oakland A’sPapago Park Spring Training Facilities

Further advice on the rates of application or installation can be obtained by contacting AquaSmart™

1-855-384-9844 | www.ReadyPlaySports.comSold through Ewing Irrigation

Day 4Day 1 Day 7

TMA Division of:

36 SportsTurf | November 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

FieldScience | By Ken Mrock

OFTEN TIMES it seems that imme-diately after the fall season begins, webegin bracing for winter. This actu-

ally has some merit as far as a turf manager isconcerned. While you are quite likely still de-voted to managing fields week after week forfootball or soccer practice, it’s not too early tostart thinking ahead to steps that you can taketo put your field to bed for the winter.

It is a bad assumption to think that turfmanagement ends the minute the final whis-tle of the season is blown. In fact, some ofthe most important work is done in Novem-ber and December, especially if you will havetraffic on the field in early March. The fol-lowing are some tips that you should con-sider before turning out the lights on whathas hopefully been an enjoyable season:

AERIFY THE TURF AFTER THE END OF THE SEASON

Chances are good that your turf has be-come compacted during the course of thefootball or soccer season, given the amountof heavy traffic a field can get, especially ifteams have games and practices on the sur-face. Help open up space for air and water tomove in the root zone with a postseason aeri-fication. No matter how late your season ex-tends you can aerify and topdress as long asthe field has not frozen solid.

If you haven’t yet incorporated condi-tioner into the field, now is a good time todo so. I use Field & Fairway at a rate of 750lbs./1000 ft2 across the entire area. Use achain link drag, broom, or mat drag to breakup soil cores and to move your conditionerinto the aerification holes. Selecting a cal-cined clay conditioner will help bring air andwater porosity to the rootzone for a longtime.

REPAIR WORN OR DAMAGEDAREAS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

By taking the time to patch the field atthe end of the fall season, you give your turfa significantly better chance of coming onstrong by the time spring practice comesaround. A field that has been badly beatenup will likely require some resodding. If turf

damage is light to moderate, you may be ableto get by with seeding to help reestablish astrong stand of turf.

Plan ahead, considering what kind of useyour field will have in the spring. A multi-usefield that needs to be ready for lacrosse andother spring events needs to go into the win-ter in much better shape than a field that isreserved for a single sport like football.

CONSIDER SEEDINGOPTIONS BASED ON CLIMATE

If you are in a climate where soil tempera-tures drop significantly by the end of the sea-son, dormant seeding is an option for you.Dormant seeding can have benefits becausethe freeze/thaw cycle of your soil will relievecompaction and provide space for seed towork its way into the soil crevices over thewinter. Seed will remain protected over thewinter months and germinate in a hospitableenvironment in the early spring.In milder climates, a good option is to pre-germinate seed by submerging your seed baginto a 55-gallon drum of water. Change thewater every 8 to 12 hours over several daysuntil the seed swells and pops, putting outthe beginning of the root. Drain the seed andmix with sand or conditioner to preventclumping and allow spreading. The exposedseed will take up root nicely in the wintermonths and provide good plant growth earlyin the spring.

Putting your turf to bed for winter

>> KEN MROCK, Chicago Bears

SportsTurf 37www.stma.org

THINK AHEAD TO SPRINGCRABGRASS TREATMENT

It is common to implement some kind ofcrabgrass treatment program in the spring sea-son. What is often overlooked is the impactthat this can have on seeding. If your plan is toapply herbicides in the spring, it is even moreimportant that you schedule postseason fallseeding accordingly.

TURN ON THE HEATTurf blankets can extend your window of

warm soil temperatures by several weeks,lengthening the amount of growing time be-fore winter, and promoting earlier green-up atthe end of winter. The blankets keep soil tem-peratures warm enough to promote seed ger-mination, and allow existing turf to growinstead of going dormant. This results inthicker and stronger turf when blankets comeoff later in the winter. Blankets are best putdown in November or December in cool cli-mates—too early and the soil will overheat—and should be removed two to three weeksbefore traffic returns to the field. After remov-ing the blankets, mow the turf several times toharden it prior to field usage.

In all winter conditions and especially ifyou are laying turf blankets consider a fungi-cide application to help avoid snow moldssince air movement will be restricted to theturf. This will help prevent unwanted anddamaging disease from forming over the win-ter.

ADJUST MOWING HEIGHTSMowing should be infrequent, if at all, fol-

lowing the end of play for the season. Be sureto avoid mowing when there is any frost on theturf, as this can cause damage. Adjust themowing height to 2 to 3 inches following theend of season, and be sure that blades have notbecome dull over the course of the season.

WINTERIZE IRRIGATIONSYSTEM AND EQUIPMENT

Water will have remained in the lines, evenwhen the system is turned off. Take an aircompressor to blow the water out of the linesto prevent freezing and expansion, which willrupture pipes.

Also, after going through the rigors of thefall season, there may be equipment issues thathave come to light. Winter months can pro-

vide the necessary time for proper repairs or re-builds in place of short-term fixes that got youthrough the season. Take the time to clean outmaintenance equipment, sharpen blades, wipedown machines, tighten fuel caps and coveranything that might be left exposed to the win-ter weather. All small engines should bedrained of fuel and winterize them also run-ning the gas tank empty.

ADJUST FERTILIZATION TO TIMINGOF THE SEASON, CLIMATE

In cool climates, a late-season fertilizer ap-plication will promote rooting and carbohy-drate storage. In warm climates, reduce orrestrict the amount of nitrogen so that turf canbe put to bed. In all cases, wait until the springflush before starting next year’s fertility pro-gram.

Remember, just because play concludes forthe season doesn’t mean your job is complete.Take advantage of every available hour when itcomes to turf management. ■

Ken Mrock is Head Groundskeeper of theChicago Bears.

38 SportsTurf | November 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

MY FAVORITE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS are only twowhich I have under lock andkey: my soil probe and my

macro scope. These two tools are essential formy watering and pest management pro-gram.-Kevin Mercer, LICM, superintendentof grounds, St Mary’s College of MD

A height gauge for reel mowers and stripsof paper to check the quality of cut. Usingthe DPA reels it is much faster and easier toadjust this setting each day before we mow.Also it is helpful to have anyone who grewup or currently lives on a farm because theyusually find a way to fix anything even if it isonly temporary to keep you working for theday.-Josh McPherson, CSFM, director ofsports turf management, University of Mis-souri

1. Ground thermometer 2. Hex plugger3. Soil profiler 4. Stress glasses 5. Moisturemeter-Stephen Crockett, CSFM, director ofturf management and athletic operations,City of Union City, TN

[The] two most important items in myshop are the equipment service manual andthe parts manual. Without those two items

servicing and repairing equipment is really ashot in the dark. The service manual allowsmy crew to perform for the correct and com-plete maintenance on the equipment (whichreduces equipment down time and increasesproductivity). Also, the service manual typi-cally has a troubleshooting section, which re-ally helps minimize the time and uncertaintyof what is causing a piece of machinery to bedown.

The parts manual with drawings and partnumbers enables me to have an intelligentconversation with the equipment supplier’spart department. Having this informationalso means I can usually order the part on-line, speeding up delivery, and most manu-facturers offer a discount for parts orderedonline, which helps my parts budget.-JoshBertrand, manager of turf operations, Infin-ity Park, Glendale, CO

Diagnostic tools: soil profiler, hand lens,pocket knife, measuring tape. Repair tools:spring rake, spreader, shovel, sprinkler headtool, grass seed.-David J. PinsonneaultCSFM, CPRP, DPW operations manager,Lexington, MA

Diagnostic: a soil probe, smell and feelare both important when checking the core.

Repair tools: Hula hoe, a flat square point shovel,a multi tool pocket knife and hand trowel, all keptsharp.-Ron Hostick, CSFM, lead groundsworker,San Diego State University

Here is our short list: Diagnostic tools—soilprobe, prism, pocket knife, eyes and good sun-glasses. Repair tools—leaf rake, backpack blower,hula hoe/edger/sod cutter, nitrogen.-Jeff Salmond,CSFM, director of athletic field management,University of Oklahoma

• Aerator• Sod cutter• Soil probe• Shovel• Seed• Turf disease book• Money!!!Money is the tough one!-Bret Baird, head turf

manager, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, CommerceCity, CO

I think a voltage meter. Being able to check tosee if there is power coming through a piece ofequipment or not helps to narrow down the list ofthings that might be causing a problem. But noth-ing replaces a handy maintenance guy that is notafraid to take something apart to figure it out andmake the repair.-Andy Gossel, athletic director,Covenant Christian HS, Indianapolis

Shovel, multifunction knife, camera, phone,computer, (don’t have a smart phone yet!) soilsample bags, soil thermometer, work ethic, plusThe Mathematics of Turfgrass Maintenance by NickChristians and Michael Agnew, AND Sports Fields

Repair/diagnostic tools that must be in everyturf manager’s shopEditor’s note: We asked a wide range of readers, What is on your short list of repairor diagnostic tools that must be in every turf manager’s shop?

Facility&Operations

SportsTurf 39www.stma.org

by Puhalla, Krans, and Goatley.-Martin Kauf-man, CSFM, head groundsman, EnsworthSchools, Nashville, TN

A cell phone, today you can take a picturesend it to your network of buddies and you canhave a second opinion is there in a few sec-onds! A history log, we have history recordsdating back to 1999, so we can see our diseasehistory. Access to an onsite sod farm, even if itis only a few strips, to repair any smallhiccups. Rely on your assistant’s knowledgeand your own educational background to pre-vent and repair any issues that may come up.-Joey Stevenson, head groundskeeper,Indianapolis Indians

• Soil probe• Digital camera• Voltmeter• Assorted shovels (trenching shovel a must)• Cell phone• Soil thermometer• Assorted tool set (wrenches, sockets, etc)David M. Presnell, CSFM, assistant parks

maintenance supervisor, Gainesville, GA

My short list would include: theInternet with the world of resources it puts atour fingertips; the digital camera which givesus the ability to share a view instead of just anexplanation; and the cell phone for enablingus to communicate with other people conve-niently. Since many of us carry mobiledevices that provide each of these functionsin one pocket-size package, I would list it asthe most important diagnostic tool in ourshop.-Kenny Nichols, Westerville (OH) CitySchools

• Irrigation quick coupler stem; handy tocheck irrigation head repairs, spray distanceand rotation

• Golf course cup cutter; quickly trims grassaround irrigation heads and tells soil profilestory

• Golf course divot filling jugs; quicklypour sand and seed into large divots

• Leatherman pocket tool• Digital cameraMark Frever, CSFM, Albion College (MI)

My short list:Digital multimeter. Invaluable for diagnos-

ing all those pesky electrical issues that seem toleave you stranded at the most inconvenienttimes.

Gear-type wrenches. One of the best addi-tions to my tool box in a long time. They allowyou to really work in tight conditions and alsospeed up basic mechanical work.

Calibration pitcher. Extremely useful formaking sure the sprayer is working properlyand the tips are in good condition. In the end,it helps save money by making sure the sprayeris set properly. My Athletic Director likes itwhen I save money.-Marc Moran, Atlee HS,Mechanicsville, VA

FROM LINKEDINJim Cornelius, CSFM: Latest soil sample

report, divot mix, soil profiler, thermometer,calcined clay.

Timothy Legare, CSFM: soil probe, soilprofiler and moisture sensor.

Mike Tarantino: Clegg impact hammer, soilthermometer, soil probe. ■

Irrigation&Drainage

40 SportsTurf | November 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

SportsTurf: Say I’m a turfmanager responsible for improvingthe irrigation system for land-scaped areas at a campus, in a parkor around sports facilities. Howshould I evaluate what I have andfind out what I need?

Laiche: This is a broad basedquestion, but in most cases evalu-ating and possibly upgrading boththe delivery method (sprinklerheads and nozzles) and the controlsystem will provide the best results.Most people believe simply up-grading a control system will maketheir plant material look betterwhile using less water. It does, ifyou are already running a well-de-signed and maintained in-groundirrigation system.

Things to look for in the field:• Head to head coverage from

sprinkler heads (one sprinkler headthrowing water to the next)

• Adequate water pressure atthe sprinkler heads; too highmakes the sprinkler heads mistwhile too low creates dry areasaround sprinkler heads (dough-nuts)

• Properly adjusted sprinklerheads, coverage area is correct

• Areas with low head drainage• Zone audit. This measures the

DU (distribution uniformity) ofsprinkler heads in an area. It es-sentially is a measurement of thelightest watered areas to the heavi-est. Many irrigation professionalsprovide this as a service.

• Measurement of PR (precipi-tation rate). This indicates howfast sprinkler heads apply water toan area in Inches per hour. This

Sprinkler systems fornon-field applicationsEditor’s note: Jim Laiche, business development manager for Toro Irrigation,answered a few questions on upgrading or installing new sprinkler systems.

Using smart water technologiesEditor’s note: Troy Leezy, marketing manager for Hunter Industries,and a certified irrigation designer, water auditor and water conserva-tion manager, wrote this update

information is necessary if converting to an ET or weather-basedcontrol system.

Once you have the field sprinklers analyzed and perhaps modi-fied, then you look at the control system. Most irrigation managerscan only modify their irrigation controller programs a few times peryear. With a central control system they essentially change daily withchanging weather conditions. Most systems tie directly into an onsiteweather station or an internet-based ET (evapotranspiration). Thisvalue is used to adjust sprinkler runtimes up or down depending onlocal conditions. Hundreds of controllers are shutdown automaticallyfor rain and other site conditions.

Things to identify on your control system:• How often can you make changes to the programs?• How long does it take to shut down for a rain event, do all con-

trollers shut down?• Do runtimes meet both the local weather conditions for time of

year and the soil infiltration rates?• Is the system running at times it should not?• Can I manage a large water source that supplies irrigation

to multiple controllers?• Do I have hand-held control on every controller?• Do you need water use records from irrigation?• Do you often have breaks in the system that go undetected?

ST: How do you determine costs of putting in sprinkler systemvs. using a system that involves manpower and moving hoses around?

Laiche: With manual irrigation you have to consider the hourlycost of labor, transportation expense and wasted water. This can addup quickly and results in very inefficient irrigation practices. Com-pared to manual irrigation, you can save 30 to 40% of your watercost and 90% of your labor by automating the irrigation.

ST: What’s the newest in water-saving technology in this productcategory?

Laiche: High efficiency spray nozzles improve uniformity whilereducing water by up to 30%. Rotating spray nozzles distribute waterup to 26 feet from a spray head body. Weather-based stand-alonecontrollers adjust the runtime based on both local and historical tem-peratures and solar radiation.

Central control systems run large groups of controllers from a sin-gle location. You can adjust with local weather station, plus monitorand record flow. Soil moisture sensing reads soil moisture, tempera-ture and salinity and reports back to a computer. Adjustments can bemade to the irrigation system based on real-time soil conditions. ■

W ITH INCREASING FOCUS on water conservation andefficient irrigation practices come new opportunities.Whether it is a product upgrade or replacing an aging irri-

gation system, a wide variety of efficient product solutions exist in the