Werner Park - A Day with the Omaha Storm Chasers

My first stop on my trip to Omaha last week was to Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers.  Head Groundskeeper, Mitch McClary and his crew are doing a great job maintaining the Kentucky bluegrass playing surface.  Here are a couple photos of the visit:

Next, a couple of photos of the post game mound repair:

A close up shot of the infield conditioner.  The conditioner is a blend of Diamond Pro Brown Vitrified Clay and Diamond Pro Professional Calcined Clay:

Thanks again to Mitch and his crew for hosting last week.

To learn more about the Omaha Storm Chasers, click HERE.

To learn more about Diamond Pro, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

College World Series - Rosenblatt Stadium and TD Ameritrade Park

I spent a few days late last week in Omaha, NE, home of the Men's College World Series.  I arrived to cloudy skies and temps around 90 degrees.  Seven hours later, a cold front passed and the temps were in the low 60's with a 20-25 mph wind.  Here is a photo from that night:

The games on Wednesday night were postponed due to the weather.

Thursday morning, Brad Garrison, from Diamond Pro, and I took a 6 mile roundtrip run up the hill to Rosenblatt Stadium.  Needless to say, the stadium has seen its better days.  Demolition is scheduled for later this year.  Below are photos from the main entrance and the scoreboard.  The back of the scoreboard is the only sign that this used to be the "Home of the College World Series."  I think the new park is a positive move for the CWS, but I wish the architects could have taken some of the old features of Rosenblatt along with the move downtown.

A tale of two ballparks - The 'Blatt has been pushed aside.......

Rosenblatt Stadium was hosting a US Postal Service Rodeo in the parking lot while the new TD Ameritrade Park was hosting over 75,000 fans for 3 games:

Finally, a couple of shots from later in the day on Thursday:

Thanks again to Diamond Pro and Brad Garrison for hosting.

To learn more about Diamond Pro, click HERE.

To learn more about World Series, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

Elizabethtown Sports Park - Video Link

I wanted to share a link with a progress report from Elizabethtown, KY.  The sports park is rounding third and heading for home.  Opening Day is mere weeks away.  Click HERE to see the video from WDRB-41 in Louisville, KY.  Below is a photo I took while on-site last week.

Click HERE to see a blog that is managed by James Bergdoll, Elizabethtown Sports Turf Manager.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

Oberlin College Softball - Infield Renovation

Last week, the J&D Turf crew was at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH.  The project was as follows:

Check existing field alignment/foul poles

Edge infield and warning track

Install 25 tons of FieldSaver 50 Custom Amendment

Install 50 tons of Dura Edge Collegiate Infield Mix

Blend the materials together with a Blecavator

Roll with a 3 ton roller and laser grade

Add 3 tons of Diamond Pro Professional Calcined Clay

Install 25 tons of crushed brick to the existing outfield warning track

Here is the project in photos:

Edging the warning track and the infield:

Adding warning track and the finished product:

The infield renovation:

Watering in the finished product.  With the recent dry weather in the Midwest, the use of irrigation heads to water the infield are a nice item to have to maintain proper moisture.

Oberlin now has a softball field that is smooth with a balanced collegiate sand/silt/clay infield mix for Div 3 NCAA Softball play.  

To learn more about Oberlin Softball, click HERE.

To learn more about how to add new infield mix to an existing infield mix, click HERE.

To learn more about another FieldSaver50 installation, click HERE.

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

Play on!

--Jamie

@JamieMehringer

Midwest Regional Turf Foundation - Purdue University Daniel Research Center

I made a visit to Purdue last week to attend a Midwest Regional Turf Foundation Meeting at the Daniel Research Center.  The MRTF supports turfgrass research and education at Purdue University.  To learn more about the MRTF and a schedule of upcoming events, click HERE.

I also wanted to post a couple of photos from the research center.  The first photo is overlooking the research plots.  Note the new Purdue baseball stadium in the background:

The next two photos are showing bermuda grass research.  The first photo is a study with Riviera and Patriot bermuda grass while the second photo is a spring dead spot study:

Finally, a photo of a drought stress study with warm and cool season grasses:

Please consider supporting the MRTF or your local organization that supports turfgrass research. After all, we need research to keep advancing the turf grass quality on athletic fields!

To learn more about the Purdue Turfgrass program, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

St Luke Catholic Church - Patriot Bermuda - Grow In

An update from the sod installation at St Luke Catholic Church.  The sod was installed on June 6.  To see the post from the installation, click HERE.

The photos were taken from this past week.  Needless to say the new sod is enjoying the warm weather.  The sod was kept extremely wet over the first weekend.  Water was reduced in half on Monday, and then in half again on Wednesday.  Here are the photos from the week:

Notice the rooting over the past week.  From a rooting standpoint, the field is ready for play.  A couple of other photos of interest.

The first photo is from new stolons already filling a bare area in the sod.  The next photo is the rooting from the stolon.  Needless to say, Patriot is very aggressive.

The surface will be cut tomorrow for the first time using a John Deere 2653A.  Look for additional updates later this week.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

Xavier University Baseball

Stopped by the campus of Xavier University last week.  Here are a few photos of the baseball field:

Quite simply, this is a great surface in downtown Cincinnati, OH.

To learn more about Xavier Baseball, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

Seeded Riviera Update at DePauw and Brebeuf

A quick update on the two seeding projects at Depauw University and Brebeuf HS.

Both fields were seeded in mid May.  Here are a couple of photos from both sites:

DePauw Soccer:

A couple of observations from DePauw:

1. The field was seeded May 15.  It is ahead of Brebeuf which was seeded May 20.
2. The areas with heavier irrigation are germinating much faster
3. There is a decent amount of crabgrass and very little goosegrass

Brebeuf High School:

A couple of observations from Brebeuf:

1. The areas with heavier irrigation are germinating much faster

2. There is a very little crabgrass and a decent amount of goosegrass

3.  As illustrated on the last photo, the Riviera seed is germinating quickly

Look for future updates on both projects.  To see the first post on the Brebeuf renovation, click HERE.

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

Play on!

--Jamie

@JamieMehringer

Does Overseeding Effect Patriot Bermuda Quality?

The answer, yes!  Here are a few photos I took yesterday at DePauw.

Below is a shot showing three different items.  1.  The far left shows an area that was skipped when the Katana herbicide was applied to remove the ryegrass.  Notice the significant color difference.  2.  The area just to the right of the ryegrass was overseeded with ryegrass in the fall and the rye was then removed with Katana herbicide in mid May of this year.  3.  The far right of the photo shows an area of bermuda grass that was not overseeded.  

Bottom line, consider if overseeding is necessary?  When is the field used for play?  In this case overseeding is necessary as the field has over 150 events each fall between Sept 1 and Dec 1.  Also, give it a month and the bermuda quality will be the same, but keep this in mind if the field is needed for June/July play.  The field at DePauw is not used for high-end play during the June-July time period.  The only traffic will be summer camps.

A view of the field looking south.  This entire area was overseeded.

A close up view of the field.  The rye is clearly on the way out.  Notice the good Patriot density.

To see a post from this spring when the field was overseeded, click HERE.
To see a post from the past fall, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer

St Luke Catholic Church - Patriot Bermuda

The last of 2 bermuda renovations took place at St Luke Catholic Church in Indianapolis, IN.  With the assistance of Myers Sod Farm, 60,000 sq ft of Patriot bermudagrass was installed yesterday.  The sod arrived in refrigerated trucks from Oakwood Sod Farm in Delmar, MD.

The following activities took place before the sod was installed:

• One glyphosate application to the existing fescue field 
• Blecavating the existing tall fescue turf into the rootzone
• Addition of 10 loads of pulverized topsoil
• Minor irrigation adjustments
• Laser grading of the rootzone

After those activities were complete, the sod was installed.  Here are a few photos:

Refrigerated trucks:

Installation of the sod:

Rolling of the sod with a 3-ton duel drum roller:

Night fall is arriving:

Check back throughout the summer as the field is grown in for football/soccer season.

To learn more about St Luke Catholic Church, click HERE.

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

Play on!
--Jamie
@JamieMehringer