Do the projects that you feel you have the necessary time, personnel and resources available. Do them in the order listed below. Purchase the supplies you need to accomplish your tasks early enough so you’re not waiting on anything when you are ready to begin.

► Mound and Plate Areas

• Rotate or replace worn pitching rubbers or home plates.
• Renovate clay areas by cutting down high areas and filling low areas with new clay.
• Fix mound slope using a slope gauge for accurate slope.
• Use a self-articulating, low-vibration tamp to compact clay areas and then fully soak for proper hydration.
• Correct grade on remainder of mound and the home plate circle (non-clay areas) using infield soil.

► Turfgrass Areas

• Aerification, overseeding and topdressing all grass areas to relieve compaction and wear, and to strengthen and thicken your turfgrass coverage.
• Sod any extremely worn areas, or where edges of the infield skin need to be moved in due to widening from edging or major lip repair.
• Smooth the playing surface by rolling turfgrass areas after aerification and sodding.

► The Infield Skin

• Inspect all base anchors. Check for level and plumb. Visually inspect for damage or severe rust. Replace as needed.
• Remove all lips in the grass edges that adjoin all skinned areas.
• Remove and stockpile infield topdressing to prepare for releveling infield skin areas.
• Relevel all infield skin and baseline areas in order to promote positive surface drainage and eliminate low areas where water collects.

► Warning Track

• Edge turf edge of the warning track.
• Fix any grade issues on track where rain has washed out or worn materials down.

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The Shopping List

Here are the materials and items needed to complete these projects.

• Pitching rubbers
• Home plates
• Base anchors
• Mound/plate clay
• Infield soil
• Warning track material
• Grass seed
• Fertilizer
• Turfgrass topdressing material
• Sod
• Growth tarps

The post 4 Renovation Project Ideas for Your Ballfield appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

That means there is very little time for field prep before those first pitches, so how does a groundskeeper get the ballfield grass areas perked up and growing and ready for foot traffic?  Turf blanket growth covers. That’s the secret weapon.

These covers can help enhance and extend the fall growth period, but they can also big a big help for accelerating spring green-up as well. Turf growth covers encourage the turf grass to begin vertical growth sooner than turf that is not covered.

► What is a turf blanket or growth cover, and how does it work?

These covers are usually made of lightweight, loosely woven plastic materials that create a greenhouse effect on the turf canopy when deployed onto the field surface. The translucent material allows the sunlight’s radiation to penetrate through and warm the turf grass and soil beneath the cover.

Depending on the time of year, the temperature under the cover can be 20° to 30° warmer than the temperature outside the cover. This warms the ground much more quickly. It wakes the turf and begins the photosynthetic process to provide green-up and vertical growth as the soil temperature increases.

The loosely woven fabric allows rainfall in, permits the exchange of gases (CO₂ and O₂), and acts as a relief valve from too much heat building up under the cover.

► Start your growth in late winter, don’t wait until spring.

For spring green-up purposes, place the turf blanket onto your field as soon as the snow has cleared the field.

If the high school teams are looking to practice on the field early in the spring, they should stay off of them until the frost has left the soil profile.  If they do plan to use the field, the teams should remove the growth cover, and then after practice place them back on the turf.

The recommended use of growth covers is on the infield grass and foul territories. These are the areas with the highest wear potential, so you want to get that turf growing as quickly as possible.

PRO TIP:  We recommend purchasing a soil thermometer to monitor your soil temperature at a two-inch depth on your field. You’ll want to measure twice — once under the growth cover and once where turf is uncovered. For more accurate comparisons of data, be sure to record the temperatures at the same time each day. Record measurements in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. With these measurements you’ll be able to more accurately monitor the effectiveness and progress of the turf growth covers.

The post Jump-Start Your Spring Turf with Growth Covers appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

Our first taste of late autumn chill may have already paid a visit as renovation to ballfields hits a fevered pitch. The pressure is mounting to get field projects done before the colder winter weather settles in across much of the United States.

In the northern parts of the country, we have just a few more weeks before old man winter’s icy winds will begin to shut things down. But down south, there is still ample time to do important renovation work to your fields provided there is a break in the scheduled use of your facility.

In this post, we’ll pay close attention to the two areas on the ball field that see the bulk of the abusive wear all summer — the mound and home plate areas.

What started as a great pitching mound in the spring, with its well defined table and perfectly sculpted front slope, sometimes better resemble a pimple by the end.

To start the mound renovation process, you should begin with determining whether the pitching rubber needs to be replaced or turned (If it is a block pitching rubber). If the rubber needs replacing or turning, reference the directions under “Setting The Pitching Rubber” in Beacon’s Online Field Dimensions & Reference Guide (order a hard copy today from our webstore) to ensure proper placement and alignment of the new or turned pitching rubber. Read our special article on the importance of a properly aligned rubber in our story, Pitching Rubbers: It’s Hip to be Square.

Once the pitching rubber is secure, sweep all loose soil and topdressing material off the entire mound surface and dispose of it. All loose contaminants like this must be removed in order for new clay to properly bind to the existing mound clay. Score the area where the table is located at the top of the mound to cut down any high spots and provide a rough surface for new clay to bind to. Add clay as needed until the clay surface of the mound table is level and even with the surface of the rubber once fully compacted. Check the surface of the table with a level for accuracy.

Next, setup a mound slope gauge on the front of the mound to measure existing conditions. Cut and shave any high areas while marking to indicate low areas. Add clay where needed, roll and tamp firmly. Replace the gauge on the front slope of the mound and continue to make adjustments as needed until the slope across the face of the mound is perfect. Finish by rolling the front slope smooth. The sides and back of the mound should have a consistent slope that runs from the clay area edges on the mound to the grass edge at the base of the mound.

If you topdress your mound, I would suggest holding off until the start of next season so it looks fresh when that first game is played in the spring. Plus, if you are in a northern climate where frost is likely, you will probably see some heaving of the surface of the mound which should be rolled next spring before applying the topdressing. Your mound is now ready to overwinter. Remember to keep it covered, if possible, to prevent erosion from rainfall.

The home plate area also suffers its share of abuse over the course of a season. Low spots are likely in the batter’s and catcher’s boxes and where the runners accelerate up the foul line just outside of the left-handed batter’s box. High spots usually develop where the umpire stands behind the catcher and along the outer edge of the home plate circle from dragging.

Before winter sets in, strip all loose topdressing and soils from the home plate area. Aggressively nail drag the home plate area to scarify the high spots down. Use a level board or rake to pull the excess material in the high spots away and into the low areas. Continue to work the surface until the high spots appears level. Check your work by stretching a string line from the surface of the home plate to the grass edge of the home plate circle. Make sure the string is very tight to avoid improper readings. Where the surface pushes the string up, it is likely still high. Use a sharpened iron rake or X-drag to make further cuts to lower the high spots then pull the excess to low areas. Bring in additional material as needed to finish the leveling. When finished roll the soil tight.

If the home plate is in need of replacing or flipping (if you have a 2-sided plate), this can be done before or after re-leveling the home plate area. Be sure to accurately measure all distance points from the plate and that the plate sits level when finished.

Since the home plate area is mostly a flat level surface, I usually will leave this area uncovered during the winter to allow it to gobble up as much moisture as it can. Again, I suggest not to place fresh topdressing on this area until spring. That brings me to a point I forgot to mention in last month’s post. More and more recreational fields are using topdressings on them, which is a very good thing. But there is something you should consider in preparing your fields to overwinter. Some topdressing materials more than others can easily be blown around by winter winds. Winter is when we typically see our strongest winds, usually associated with the stronger winter storms.

If your field is in a northern climate where snow covers the ground during the majority of the winter, then there is nothing to worry about.

However, if you are in a part of the country where your field sits all winter unprotected from the wind, then you are susceptible to having some of your topdressing building up in the grass edges of your infield skin over winter.

Up at the higher levels of ballfield management, crews usually remove the topdressing layer once the ball season is over in order to prevent the material from building lips over the winter. In the recreational ballfield setting, this usually isn’t possible due to the number of fields and lack of time and resources to dedicate to the project.

So, there are other ways to protect your field, like stapling down filtration socks (pictured) near the edges of the infield skins to stop the topdressing from blowing into the grass edges. These socks are often filled with chopped straw, compost, or other lightweight materials, and are really all it takes to keep your topdressing on the infield and out of your grass edges. Cheap, easy, and quick to put in place. It sure beats spending time in the spring cleaning out your turf edges.

Perhaps you have other ideas on how to capture the topdressing before it plants itself in your turf edges. If you do, send us your pictures and ideas (info@beaconathletics.com) and we’ll share them with our readers here at the Ballfields Blog.

Keep our DuraEdge ProLoc Mound Blocks in mind for all of your post-season mound and home plate renovations. It’s a great option for those heavy traffic areas. One last thing… you may be interested in watching the Bulldog Home Plate Installation video. Until next time…

The post Renovation: Mound & Home Plate appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

Daylight at this time of year is on the wane. The sun is coming up later and setting earlier. We are beginning to see a cool nights making an appearance. And most baseball and softball seasons have wrapped up for the year. There will be some fall ball seasons played, but football season has taken the lead. That means many ballfields are done for the season, so it’s time to get to it and get those fields ready for next spring.

This time of year is the best time to do any renovation on the infield skin, whether minor or major. You have plenty of time to work on it without the pressure of an opening day deadline and still plenty of favorable weather and soil moisture conditions.

A season can take a toll on an infield resulting in ragged turf edges and high and low spots in the infield skin. Reestablish your turf edges by running string lines and scribing arcs to mark out where you need the turf edges trimmed back in order to give the field some crisp, clean edges. If you find that trimming your baselines or infield edges are making those skinned areas too large, you may have to consider placing a strip of new sod in along the edges in order to reduce the width of the baselines or the size of the infield. This is usually inevitable over time where cool season grasses are grown. Southern grasses will grow much more aggressively into the skin areas and therefore trimming edges is a more frequent task where they are grown.

The post Renovation: The Infield Skin appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

The post Upgrading Your Ballpark Facilities appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

The beginning of fall is the perfect time to begin strategizing the renovations and improvements that will make your baseball and softball fields better in the next few months in preparation for next season.

A good groundskeeper will “put their ballfields to bed,” ready-to-go for the following season. Even those whose facilities host a fall ball season will typically get a period of a couple weeks or more of inactivity before the fall season starts up. Late summer and fall offer the best opportunity to make improvements to these ballfields because of the lack of on-field activity and typically drier weather patterns. Over the next several weeks, we’ll talk about the renovation period for ballfields and make recommendations for the types of projects that should be performed during this renovation window available.

To start things off, any turfgrass on the fields likely is in need of some TLC. If you have irrigation, this is a good start. You may have been a little conservative on watering your fields during the season and because of that the turfgrass cover may have suffered. If your turfgrass density is thin on your fields, start with spending a week or so flooding that turf with lots of water to rehydrate and invigorate the turf. You will be surprised how much your thin turf areas will bounce back with something as simple as water.

With the field fully hydrated, aerification and any overseeding needed would be the next process in getting your turfgrass back into shape (also see the article, Overseeding Tips from a Pro). A soil fertility test would also be a benefit at this time to help you set up the very crucial fall fertility program to help thicken your turf and prepare it for the winter season. For any large worn areas, sodding may likely be your best option.

On the infield areas, this is prime lip removal season. If your lips are fairly small, you can flush these lips out using a hose with a good quality nozzle. The Beacon Pro Shot is, without a doubt, the best nozzle for this job as you can very specifically control your water flow down to 5 to 10 gallons per minute which allows you to use less water to blast out the soil built up in the lips. This process is best done after an overnight irrigation or a lengthy rainfall has softened up the soil which will make it easier to evacuate the material out of the lips.

If the lips on portions of your infield are too large and cannot be removed by rake or water, then it is time to take a sod cutter to those areas and strip away the turf. You can then go back with the sod cutter and cut down and remove the excess soil to get the grade back to the original elevation. Then, replace the sod using the existing turf you removed or use clean, new sod. By removing the lips on your field you have improved the playability of the playing surface and removed barriers that impede water from surface draining off the infield. Remember, you can also visit our Groundskeeper University lesson, Module 103 Lip Management: How to Remove Lips.

If you have issues with your infield soils (too dusty, too greasy when wet, infield soil chunks out too easily, sink into the infield when moist, infield material erodes during rainfall), an infield soil test will unlock all of the issues and will help to plan a strategy to repair that infield soil to help it better perform to your expectations. Beacon can provide the testing and analysis as well as recommend how to fix those problems.

More on that next time but in the meantime, visit our Fall Renovation page for even more resources and stay cool and hydrated (both you and your turf!).

The post Renovation: Plan Now appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

You’ll want to download and print the PDF (at the end of this post) with the following lists so you can add them to your binder. To get going efficiently, you can also check our Field Opening Checklist.

Download Printable PDF

Inspection & Evaluation

You’ll want to look at everything. Consider safety, performance, appearance and the amount of work required to make repairs or upgrade to a better condition.

▢   Bases, anchors, pitching rubber, and home plate: Check for cracks, tears, discoloration, and worn edges.

▢   Tarps and field covers: Look for holes, tears, separated seams, mildew, missing grommets or handles.

▢   Protective screens and nets: Check for broken frames or missing bolts, torn or rotted netting.

▢   Infield protector screens and area turf mats: Check for holes, tears, delaminated backing, missing grommets.

▢   Batting cages: Note any broken frame units, torn nets, uneven ground, damage to the home plate or pitcher’s plate.

▢   Maintenance tools/equipment: take an inventory of drags, line markers, line painters, marking templates, string winders, rakes, shovels, tamps, hoses and nozzles.

▢   Facility: check the backstop, fencing, netting, windscreen, fence cap, padding, benches, bleachers, drains, water lines.

The Work Plan

INFIELD SKIN CARE

▢   Lip removal: Re-level the borders between the skinned portions of the field and the turf.

▢   Nail drag the skin to loosen the top ½”.

▢   Add soil material to modify the soil profile and re-establish proper field grade.

▢   Spike to mix new or added material and loosen so material can be moved to level the field.

▢   Regrade and roll field surface. Correct field crown must be established to promote positive surface drainage.

▢   Expose clay fortification in batter’s box and pitching mound. Make repairs and re-level.

▢   Reset the pitching rubber and home plate if needed. They should be level, square, and set to the proper height.

▢   Measure the mound slope and re-work the table and slope shape.

▢   Locate base anchors; measure and confirm their correct positions.

▢   Apply ¼” top dressing layer onto skinned surface for moisture management and to add color.

TURF CARE

▢   Aerify the turf to prepare for over-seeding, counter compaction, and allow soil modification.

▢   Select the machinery and method best suited to your purpose.

▢   Topdress following aerification if needed to re-level low spots or amend the soil composition.

▢   Over-seed high wear locations.

▢   If fertilization is called for, use a slow-release product matched to your soil condition. It’s a great idea to have your soil tested for pH and nutrient deficiencies. Contact your fertilizer and seed supplier.

▢   Apply crabgrass and annual grass weed control. Proper application and timing is essential so contact your supplier for product advice and recommended application times in your area. Do not apply control products to freshly seeded areas until new growth is up high enough that it has been mown several times first.

▢   Broadleaf treatment is best done in the spring. This can interfere with grass over-seeding so consider the waiting time as stipulated by the broadleaf control product supplier.

IDEAS TO MAKE FIELD MAINTENANCE BETTER & EASIER

Visit Beacon’s Groundskeeper University for more ideas and how-tos for all the tried & true techniques used by the pros.

▢   Add vitrified clay or calcined clay topdressing amendments. Use no more than a ¼” layer to the top of the skinned base for moisture and compaction control and to add color and create a uniform playing surface.

▢   Fortify the high wear areas in the batter’s box and pitcher’s mound to simplify or reduce maintenance.

▢   Use DuraEdge ProLoc Blocks, DuraPitch Premium or Professional Mound Clay, DuraEdge BlackStick Mound Clay, Porous Batter’s Box Mats, Field ArmorPanels or Jox Box mats. Call Beacon for advice and instructions.

▢   Add “french drains” or “dry wells” to remove water from field low spots.

SOIL, CLAY, CHALK

Reference Beacon’s Ballfield Dimensions & Reference Guide for recommended amounts.
▢   DuraEdge Pro Slide Calcined Clay Topdressings are superior to other brands of calcined clay in that their hardness greatly slows the physical degradation resulting from frequent field dragging. Available in several different particle size ranges depending on your need. Use only as a topdressing. Benefits of a calcined clay are greatly reduced if tilled into the skin.

▢   DuraEdge Pro Slide Expanded Shale Topdressing are harder than calcined clay further reducing degradation from float dragging. Dries the fastest of all top dressings while allowing the infield soil to absorb as much water as possible.

▢   DuraEdge ProLoc Blocks for the batter’s box and pitching mound are made from solid unfired pure clay. The 10 parallelogram shape locks blocks into a solid mass. Much less tamping than when using bagged clay. Simply put bricks in place and perform some tamping at the end to help lock the blocks together. These are perfect for new construction or major mound and batter’s box renovation.

▢   DuraPitch Premium or Professional Mound Clay or DuraEdge BlackStick can be used for new construction, renovation or daily maintenance of mound and batter’s box high wear areas.

▢   Beacon’s Sparkle No.6 dry line marking compound will produce approximately 1,000 ft. of 2-inch wide line per 50 lb. bag. This will vary depending on your marking machine setup and operation techniques.

Stock Up on Tools & Supplies

SUPPLIES & MATERIALS

Make sure you have these tools in your shed and ready for the season.

▢   Beacon Ballfield Dimensions & Reference Guide

▢   Bases with anchors and plugs

▢   Home plate and anchor

▢   Pitching rubber and anchor

▢   Cleat Cleaner

▢   Missile Markers

▢   Beacon Pro String Winder

▢   Fiberglass measuring tape

▢   Batter’s box template

▢   Beacon Streamliner dry line marker

▢   Outfield line paint/sprayer

▢   Beacon protective infield screens

▢   Practice area mats

▢   Beacon premium infield protector

▢   Beacon SweetSpot tamp system

▢   Infield rake

▢   Infield leveling bar for infield drags

▢   Beacon Level Board

▢   Turf edger

▢   Infield drag broom

▢   Field water pump

▢   Field tarps/area tarps

▢   Hoses & Nozzles

▢   Beacon Mound Slope Gauge

▢   Beacon Infield Drags

MATERIALS & ACCESSORIES

▢   Beacon Sparkle No. 6 Chalk

▢   DuraEdge ProLoc Blocks

▢   DuraPitch Premium or Pro Mound Clay

▢   DuraEdge Black Stick Mound Clay

▢   Field Armor Panels

▢   Pro Slide Expanded Shale Topdressing

▢   DuraEdge Pro Slide Calcined Clay Topdressing

▢   DuraEdge Pro Dry Calcined Clay

▢   Custom protective netting

▢   Custom windscreen panels

▢   Custom protective padding

▢   Fence cap

▢   Batting cage frames/netting

▢   Dugout bat racks

Download Printable Checklist  View The Field Opening Checklist

The post The Ultimate Field Prep Checklist appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

They provide two major benefits to the playing surface.

1. Mats eliminate the wear that would normally occur in the batters’ boxes or the front of the mound when any kind of practice is occurring.
2. The mat helps to manage moisture in the clay areas beneath the mat during practice since those two clay areas would normally have been exposed and susceptible to the evaporative forces of sun, wind and low humidity. These are the culprits that can rapidly steal valuable moisture from these high-wear areas.

► Other uses for hitting mats

These hitting mats and pitching mats are not only beneficial outdoors or on natural fields, they also work great for protecting:

• Permanent artificial turf playing fields
• Batting cages (turf or non-turf areas)
• Soft-toss areas (hitting stations)
• Gym floor
• Turf at your indoor facility

Just like with natural surfaces, when permanent artificial turf is installed it’s smart to use a hitting mat to hit off whenever possible so that that routine concentrated foot traffic does not cause excessive wear and damage on the permanent turf. The bottom line is this: not adequately protecting your playing surface — natural or artificial — will result in costly repairs.

The post Hitting Mats – The Groundskeeper’s Secret Weapon appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

This annual celebration throughout the league has become a tradition we all a look forward to. It is truly an emotional, prideful and inspirational sight to see everyone taking the field wearing #42 on that day — “Jackie Robinson Day”.

The post Celebrating 42: Jackie Robinson appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.

With autumn sports finishing up, the clock is ticking toward winter. If you haven’t already, it’s wise to finalize your ballfield’s fall renovations … now. It always amazes me how many people in our industry wait until the last minute — scrambling at the eleventh hour to try to pull a project together. Of course, they may at times be successful at pulling that off, but it surely won’t happen without some unnecessary stress for the manager and his or her crew.

The Earlier The Better

If your fall renovation involves bringing in contractors, you’ll want to lock them in quickly before they get booked up for the fall. The rule here is the earlier in the year you can confirm the project, the better. Those who notoriously wait until the last minute to try to hire contractors for their field work will likely find themselves getting shut out because most quality field contractors will already be booked for the season. The earlier you lock them in, the better choice of dates you have to select from for them to complete your project.

Part of your fall renovation may require some quantitative testing, such as a soil fertility test for grass areas. These tests are used to help determine your fertility needs in order to bring your soil fertility up to optimum levels for your turf grass. This is always a good idea, especially going into fall as the soils have been depleted somewhat from the active summer growing season. The turf plants are in need of nutrients to rebuild their root systems, repair from summer disease and drought damage, and to aide in winter carbohydrate storage as winter dormancy approaches.

Infield Soil Testing

The other testing you should consider would be your infield soils. Did they perform like you wanted them to? Do they take too long to recover after a rain? Are your infield soils stable or loose? Does your infield soil runoff or move dramatically when it rains? These are all signs that your infield soils may need some help in order to bring them into balance to improve performance. Don’t guess what’s wrong with your infield skin; have it tested. Many can test, but few can analyze and interpret the results properly with respect to infield soil use, so choose your testing agency carefully.

Once you’ve finished up your testing, organize what work for fall renovations needs to be performed on your ballfields. These projects may include:

Turf Areas:

• Aerification
• Overseeding
• Topdressing
• Fertilization
• Regrading to improve surface drainage
• Sodding
• Edging
• Lip removal

Infield Skin Areas:

• Infield Soil Amending
• Leveling Infield Skin
• Fortification of High Wear Areas (Batter’s & Catcher’s Boxes, Top Table & Front Slope of Mound)
• Replacing Worn Pitching Rubbers and/or Home Plates
• Replacing Old Base Anchors

Choose your projects, order your materials and equipment and begin to strategize how you will schedule the project and your crew.

Planning is an important stage of sports field management. Shooting from the hip will cause inefficiencies and idle resources. Proper planning builds efficiency and keeps those resources busy, which usually increases the number of projects that can be taken on and completed during your fall renovations. Not being prepared will hold up your crew this renovation season. Get your testing completed, make your plans and purchase the products needed so when the time comes, your crews are ready right out of the gate. They’ll know where they are going, what they are doing, and have the material and equipment they to get the job done in a timely manner.

MORE ABOUT FALL RENOVATIONS:
Renovation Planning Infield Skin Mound & Home Plate

The post Tips for Fall Renovations appeared first on Beacon Athletics Blog & Ballfield Tips.