Infield Mixes, Vol 9: “Lip” Controls for Infields

One of the questions I receive during my travels is: “How do I control the “lips” around the infield?”

To answer that question, we need to investigate what a lip is. A lip is a raise in elevation around the edges of the infield. A lip causes bad hops for infielders and also creates a trip hazard for athletes.

The first step is to decide if your field has a lip or a dam. Why is that? I have seen just as many fields that where too low from a lack of infield mix than fields that had bad lips. Please review Volumes 4 and 5 of the SmartTurf Blog for more infield drainage information.

Now that the decision is made that lips are present, how did they occur? Typically a few factors cause lips:
1. Edging did not occur frequently. – Please refer to Vol. 8
2. Material was not removed from the turf after games – using either leaf rakes or vacuum units
3. Poor dragging techniques – Please see correct dragging patterns here.
4. Raking material into the turf
5. Persistence use of a field tarp – dragging the tarp across the field with push material into the edges

So, how do you repair lips? There are a few options depending on how severe the lips are on your field. I will break it down from small lips to large lips:
1. Simply edge your infield more frequently. Quite simply, this will help solve a minor problem
2. Use a tine rake or broom to remove material from the turf
3. Use water to “blast” the material from the turf back into the infield
4. The last resort – take a sod cutter, trim the sod back, remove the material with a rake and replace the sod

With the sod option, keep in mind if you have older sod or fescue sod, the sod may not hold together as you move the turf around. There may be a need to replace the sod with new turf.

After repairing your lips, work hard to avoid creating lips in the future!

Play on!
--Jamie