Make Your (Baseball) Diamonds Sparkle

Eight Keys To Good Field Maintenance

Maintaining beautiful baseball and softball fields isn’t easy, but it’s well worth the effort. Here are eight must-dos if you want to keep your fields health, safe, and on top of their game.

1. Watch for infield “lip” problems – Infield edges can develop lips as red dirt (infield mix) migrates into the infield grass; adding more infield mix will just make the problem worse. Instead, hire a professional to properly grade your infield. For more severe lip problems, a infield renovation might be needed.
2. Vary your mat dragging – Regular steel mat dragging is needed to keep your infield smooth and ready to play, but dragging in the same direction every day will create high and low spots that can lead to player injuries and encourage standing water. Change dragging direction regularly, taking care to stay away from grass edges to keep infield material from spreading.
3. Mind infield grass edges – Some infield material will always find its way onto infield grass, edges no matter how carefully you perform your maintenance tasks. To minimize migration, regularly sweep and occasionally hose material at the grass edge back into the infield skinned area.
4. Attend to the mound landing and batters box areas – These highly-trafficked areas are prone to wear patterns and divots, so inspect them regularly – at least twice a week during the season, with more frequent touch ups and repairs as needed.
5. Water the infield skinned area regularly – Regularly irrigating your infield is the key to keeping consistent moisture levels in the soil profile – and therefore the key to a smooth, level infield surface. Use an irrigation system for routine watering, and hand water areas that need a little extra attention come game-time.
6. Use tarps – Keep pitchers mounds and batters boxes covered when not in use to prevent standing water after in-season rains.
7. Have regular mowing and watering routines – Regular, properly executed mowing and watering routines will make your turf strong, resilient and weed tolerant.
8. Aerate seasonally – Fields should be aerated at least two or three times per year; one of those times should be a month before overseeding. Aerating practices improve the oxygen content of the soil and relieve the turf compaction that field use and frequent mowing causes. Aerating before overseeding will help create more fertile ground for seed germination in the weeks to come.

 
For expert softball and baseball field maintenance in CT, trust the pros at Diamond Landscapes & Athletic Fields. Contact us today to learn more!