Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Layered Infield - Great for Cakes, Terrible for Infields

Layered cakes are great to look at and great to eat, but layered infields will cause major issues.  The most severe issues are seen in the spring and after rainfall events.  This morning I stepped on a infield with 3 layers.



As you can see from the photos above, there is approximately 1 1/2 inches of calcined clay, followed by approximately 1 inch of infield material trucked in from a southern part of the country (notice the red color - iron oxide in the soil) and then finally a base material that was either imported during initial construction or native to the field.  

There are a couple issues here.  First, the layer of calcined clay is too deep.  Even with a great base mix, a layer of calcined clay exceeding 1/2 inch will be very loose and unstable in dry conditions. Secondly, the 1 inch layer of infield mix was not incorporated into the native material.  This causes a layering issue that causes the mix to chip off as well as being difficult if not impossible to manage in wet conditions.

So, what is the solution?  There are a couple for this field.

1. The calcined clay material should be removed and stockpiled. 
2.  The infield mix and the native material should then be tilled together, rolled and graded.
3. Finally, the calcined clay can be topdressed across the infield at a 1/4 in depth

But, there is another issue on this field:


There is a lip along the back edge and the infield is low.  So, this would be the new plan.

1.  Remove and stockpile the calcined clay
2.  Pull a sample and send to an independent lab to determine the composition of the 4 inch column of infield profile
3.  Add a custom amendment from the DuraEdge line of products, blec, roll, and laser grade
4.  Add DuraEdge Classic to bring the infield to grade blec, roll, and laser grade
5.  Finally, the calcined clay can be topdressed across the infield at a 1/4 in depth

Click HERE to learn more about topdressings
Click HERE to learn more about how to add new infield mix to an existing mix

Go to j-dturf.com to learn more about J&D Turf.

Play on!
--Jamie 

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