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Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 6th, 2021, 6:39 pm
by Masbustelo
One of my sons coaches a Babe Ruth team. The person that was managing the turf quit, and it appears that I have inherited the project. The field is in rough shape. There is lots of dead brown grass which I think partly reflects a steril non existent microherd. I think it is 80 K. I don't believe that it has been fertilized all year nor watered for several months. It looks like no herbicides or pre-emergent has been applied. It has lots of clover, goosegrass?, and miscellaneous broadleaf weeds. If you have read this far, give me whatever suggestions you may have. My plan is: Tomorrow spot spray with Triclopyr and take a soil sample to send in to Logan labs. I gave a shopping list for Urea, triclopyr NIS surfactant, Prodiamine, marker dye, sports field seed mix containing only bluegrass and perennial rye. In the outfield left, center and right field the players all stand in the same place and move in on the balls, so they have worn a trough six inches deep, I'm thinking of beginning to fill the trenches in with a commercial garden soil mix that contains a fair amount of sand. Apparently there are two hydrants and two hoses and two sprinklers that reach both in and out field., but no water restriction. I plan on guaging how much they put down per hour. In all of this, what am I missing?

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 6th, 2021, 8:06 pm
by edslawn
It sounds like you are doing the right things to start. I'd also recommend that you get some clean top soil (and avoid the sand) to fill the trenches the outfielders left. It seems like the basics here are the best approach until you get a handle on it (triangle approach, pre-emergent, etc).

Are you also getting a soil test?

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 6th, 2021, 9:45 pm
by DevilDawg81
If you lived closer I’d love to help. Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead, but a good plan. What’s your long term goals here?

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 6th, 2021, 10:03 pm
by Masbustelo
edslawn I wish I could fill the trenches now and plug or seed them... but there is a five week fall season starting this coming weekend, so i think I'll just put down 1/4 of an inch and water it in. Soil test will get sent in this week. Can sod be put down and then played on the next day or two?

DevilDawg81 I never played baseball, so I don't know much about it. My grandson plays in the league. Maybe long term objectives would be an attractive field that is safe for the kids to play on. I was taught that goals need to be measurable and attainable (Drucker?). So I don't think I know.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 6:59 am
by DevilDawg81
My bad I should have been more precise….I meant rather long term goals/plans as in are you going to be the one responsible for maintaining it in the future, do you have the time for it, etc?

I played baseball but was horrible 😃 but I still would love to be able to manage something like that in the future. A labor of love

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 2:51 pm
by Masbustelo
DevilD I don't know what I've gotten myself unto. I guess I'll try it out this fall. It woul be nice to have a couple of people to help me. Wish you were closer too. For the record I sprayed clover and broadleaves with Triclopyr today. I checked out the blades on their rider and push mower. Blunt is the word to describe them. So...I plan on mowing the whole field with my 21 inch Toro tomorrow. Then get the blades sharpened. How does one take the blades off of a John Deere zero turn?

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 6:12 pm
by DevilDawg81
Good luck Masbustelo! You could probably do a search on changing the blades on a search engine, I’m sure there are videos out there for it

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 6:31 pm
by MorpheusPA
No idea how to take them off, but if you pop the spark plug(s), you can sharpen them with them still on (so the engine can't start). I did it on my gas engine mower all the time.

Remember, blades don't have to be sharper than mill bastard file sharp. Not even that sharp, really.

On the new one, I just have to remove the battery to change or sharpen the blades. It's a Class III robot, so technically I don't need to, but...I value my fingers more than I trust the Class III status.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 7:26 pm
by Masbustelo
Morpheus, Your's has razer blades, doesn't it? I have a friend that sharpens the blades for $5. I'm pretty happy with that.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 7th, 2021, 8:45 pm
by MorpheusPA
They sort of look like razor blades but they're thicker and heavier. I used to resharpen the old robot's blades. For $3 a change, these may not be worth doing, but if I can, I might. I dislike throwing out good steel and titanium.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 8th, 2021, 9:24 pm
by Masbustelo
I worked about eight hours on the field today.
We got a sports field mix from C.D. Ford of lesser known bluegrass, 20% perennial rye, and 20% creeping fescue (totally unnecessary). I'm planning on using the seed bank aproach and put it down weekly or after the field gets tore up. I put some down today in dead and thin areas.
Then I applied urea over anything that should be green. Since the mowers had unusable blades I mowed all 2 acres with my 21 inch toro. It looks great but not something you would want to do with much frequency. But, very good exercise.
As far as I can tell they have one hydrant to run sprinklers from, so that is woefully inadequate, but I'm trying to keep the infield area hydrated. I've attached a couple of before pictures.
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Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 13th, 2021, 7:14 pm
by Masbustelo
I put two yards of compost down today in the pitching area. Then I overseeded with rye/kbg mix and dragged it. Ninety degrees, it hasn't rained for two weeks and none is forecast. I'm hoping to put compost on the rest of the infield later this week. I'm waiting on the soil test as well. I went around the baselines with a leaf blower and blew the clay out of the grass. I guess that is protocol?

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 26th, 2021, 6:00 am
by Masbustelo
On the pitching area I have applied compost and 1lb of nitrogen. With cooler weather and a little watering it is turning green. I tried putting some stripes on it. This was my first attempt ever at striping. I should get the soil sample test back this week. The outfield has gotten 1lb of N so far. No rain forecast for two weeks. I have overseeded (seed banking) the infield half a dozen times but I don't see anything sprouting because it is so dry.
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Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 27th, 2021, 9:33 pm
by edslawn
Looking good!

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 28th, 2021, 8:42 pm
by DevilDawg81
I’m with Ed, that is looking good!

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: September 29th, 2021, 1:51 am
by Masbustelo
I got a few compliments last weekend. We are in a serious drought here and I'm noticing that lawns with just a little fertilizer are much greener than the unfertilized. Even this baseball field baking in the sun is slowly coming to life. Today I plan to put compost in the pitcher warm-up areas.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: October 2nd, 2021, 9:57 am
by ken-n-nancy
Keep up the great work, can't wait to see some more pics this fall, particularly if you start to get some rain!

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: October 5th, 2021, 12:30 pm
by edslawn
You can have some of our rain... PA is a soggy mess these days

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: October 5th, 2021, 7:53 pm
by Masbustelo
It's crazy. I see you guys out east are getting slammed with rain. Parts of Northern Illinois are extremely dry. Here, its been a month with no rain. Chance the next two days.

Re: Babe Ruth Baseball Field. 80K

Posted: October 17th, 2021, 7:30 pm
by Masbustelo
They had a night game last night. I took this picture about 6;30pm. The colors are pretty close to how the grass looks right now. We got four inches of rain in the last week, and that really perked things up.
The miracle of fall applied urea and Triclopyr generated lots of compliments. The umps said they had never seen the field so green before. The clover has disappeared and the bald spots are filling in. The seed that I sowed every week is sprouting as well.
As long as I have time I want to do it next year as well. I'm curious what it would look like a year from now. The soil sample never got sent in, I'm going to do it myself this week. Next weekend are the final games of the year.
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