Many people assume that once the last game is played, goal posts come down and pitch renovations such as re seeding begin in earnest. However, corporate events including the successful marquee on the pitch week take place before the groundstaff can begin their efforts.  Attention during this time moves to the training ground so that the pitches are ready for the players' return in early July.

We take a look at the work in progress at Beckenham training ground.

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In order to get off to a bit of a 'flyer', the U18's pitch was taken out of action at Easter in an attempt to gain better seed establishment, to do this it was necessary to seek the permission of the football management as it meant they were denied use of a pitch for the rest of the season and the remaining pitches had to accommodate extra use.

U18's pitch

Initially, the pitch was cut as short as possible, (down to 15mm), the pitch was then scarified in multiple directions and at ever increasing depth beginning at 5mm and finishing at 50mm. This process removes dead and decaying fibre at the surface within the profile and creates a nice seed bed ready for sowing into.

The surface then was cleaned up with a sweeper collector and seed applied.

The best quality seed is used as experience has shown that using other varieties can prove to be a false economy. The seed used is a combination of top perennial rye-grass varieties that have been specially treated with biostimulants to aid fast germination and establishment.

After seeding, 60 tons of sports sand was applied and brushed into tiny holes.

First Team Squad Pitches

As soon as possible after the end of the season work began on the first team training areas. The football management requested that the pitches be ready for use on July 3rd, so it was necessary to have a specific time table in place.

The first job after mowing the area as short as possible was to relieve compaction in the worst areas such as goalmouths, this was done by blasting compressed air into the profile to a depth of 1 metre.

The next step was to remove as much weedy vegetative matter from the surface as possible, this is done by a process known as fraise mowing. The piece of equipment used is called a 'koro' and can remove a whole pitch if required, but for our purposes we need the rubbish taking out such as Poa annua, (weed grass), whilst leaving behind the desirable species, in our case perennial rye grass .

Conditions were exceptionally windy and this resulted in spillage of material, meaning half of the material went everywhere other than into the trailer. This necessitated a few passes with the sweeper collector to remove the offending detritus.

However, the end result was fine and we were ready for seeding.

Because of the short time span before the players' return, the pitches were over-seeded using a high quality mixture, specially treated with biostimulants, but at twice the usual rate.

Generally, a period of 10 weeks is required for a rye grass plant to reach maturity from seed, unfortunately we do not have that time span to play with so to compensate we generally sow seed at a heavier rate to ensure a thick carpet of grass in a shorter than ideal renovation window.

Seeds are in place.

 

The grass continues to grow in readiness for pre-season.

The pitch is watered as the countdown continues at Beckenham.