Overview
In addition to the construction of sports grounds, we also provide lawn maintenance services. No matter whether it is a one-off or continuous service or maintenance every three months - We will take care of your sports ground maintenance.
Among other clubs, we provide maintenance for the SV Wehen Wiesbaden, Arminia Bielefeld and the 1. FSV Mainz 05. In the frame of individual maintenance contracts we assure that the competition and training areas are always ideally playable.
Regarding our work for 1. FSV Mainz 05, we are responsible for the two stadiums and the various training areas. Several experienced workers are on duty to live up to the national league prerequisites.
The weekly tasks include, among others, lawn mowing, manuring, making corrections and line marking. All other maintenance work such as aeration, scarifying and sanding are coordinated and carried out as required.
FOR EXCELLENT PLAYING CONDITIONS
Mowing
Mowing the sports grounds on a regular basis is an extremely important maintenance measure. Mowing ensures that the leaf buds close to the ground receive enough light. If the buds receive enough water and nutrients, more side shoots can develop and contribute to a denser turf area.
Furthermore, the length of the grass exercises decisive influence on the playing conditions. Longer grass seems duller, and the increased surface retards the ball significantly. We use different mowers according to the individual requirements to achieve ideal results. As the cutting quality is also decisive for the visual appearance and the growth of the grass, all our blades are sharpened on a regular basis to ensure that the blades of grass are cut precisely.
FOR A SEAMLESS LAWN
Reseeding
The plant stock can be improved by reseeding with efficient varieties of the range of the resilient type lolium perenne. If the lawn is entirely destroyed and hardly any grass left (penalty area/centre line of the pitch), the sports ground seed mix RSM 3.1 with poa pratensis and lolium perenne is a good option.
The way of seeding is decisive for successful reseeding on the sports ground as the seeds have to be inserted into the soil structure equally. Slit seeding devices and perforation devices or spike seeders have proved effective in practice. Soil contact and uniform moisture provided by appropriate sprinkling is beneficial for the seed development.
Reseeding should be part of the general annual sports ground maintenance as this is the only way to maintain the lawn at spots of the sports ground that are in heavy use. Furthermore, reseeding benefits the change in grass stock to the detriment of the unwanted annual meadow-grass.
NUTRIENTS WHENEVER THEY ARE NEEDED
Manuring
Providing enough nutrients is a maintenance measure that is very often underestimated. Due to the heavy use of sports grounds, these turfs require more nutrients than other lawns. The main nutrients are nitrogen, phosphor, potassium and magnesium; the main micronutrients are iron, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, boric and copper.
Sufficient nitrogen is a prerequisite for the turf’s resilience. Therefore, an adequate nitrogen supply is one of the most important functions of manuring.
In order to meet a diverse range of requirements, we use fast dissolving manure, organic manure and slow release manure according to our customers’ needs. As both the choice and amount of manure depend on the condition of the sports ground and the season, manuring measures are always customised individually.
Oxygen supply
Aeration
Aeration is similar to Verti Draining, where holes are punched into the lawn. Contrary to Verti Draining, 400 holes per square meter are punched, and the holes have a relatively small cross section and only a low depth of about five to eight centimetres.
Aeration benefits water infiltration, increases root growth and aerates the root zone. Aeration facilitates an exchange of gas. The CO2 in the soil is exchanged with oxygen-rich air. Those effects improve the growth of the grass and the roots significantly.
Both solid and hollow spoons can be used, depending on the objectives pursued with aeration. If solid spoons are used, it is recommendable to use a small amount of five to ten kilograms of sand for sanding per square meter.
Best conditions for the roots
Verti Drain
Our various Verti Drain devices allow us to achieve penetrations in the ground with diameters of 6 – 30 millimetres. The spoons penetrate the soil vertically and are lifted at the tip when being extracted. This means that the spoons are extracted from the soil slightly diagonally and called crack effect. The penetrations should be filled with sand. The working depth is infinitely variable from zero to 30 centimetres. The crack angle can also be adjusted precisely. Between 50 and 400 holes are punched per square metre depending on the setting.
Hollow spoons that cut out and eject cores can also be used. Hollow spoons are used for depths of up to 20 centimetres approximately. The crack angle is set to the minimum when hollow tines are used. These hollow tools also have a diameter of 10 to 32 millimetres.
The advantage of using hollow spoons is that the soil around the holes is not compacted by the displacement of the soil since the soil is taken out of the holes instead.
The use of hollow spoons is especially recommended for sports grounds consisting of several turf-bearing layers as the aeration horizon, which is usually five to eight centimetres, is interrupted and a lot of soil is brought to the surface, therefore compensating for slight unevenness, worn spots and dents.
In the course of going over the turf with the Verti Drain with solid spoons and full crack effect, the entire turf area is uniformly lifted by about two to three centimetres. All grounds on which Verti Drain is only used to loosen and aerate the soil can be played on right after the work is completed. Despite the excellent loosening of the soil, the turf is hardly damaged. Moreover, drainage is improved and good ventilation of the turf achieved.
The application intervals should depend on the individual sports ground.
Absolute evenness
Sanding
Sport turfs should be sanded regularly. This attenuates cohesive and humus-rich soil. Slight unevenness is smoothed and air and water permeability improved.
Top soil grounds require sanding to support ventilation and neutralising worm faecal matter. For layered sports grounds and sand grounds, sanding is to be considered a means of reducing tomentum.
Sanding should be carried out as a means of maintenance at least once a year with 50 – 60 tons of sand. This amount will increase the ground by 4 to 5 millimetres in height. It is advisable to carry out maintenance sanding in combination with aeration. For renovation we recommend sanding with 80 to 150 tons of sand as required and the incorporation of 50 – 75 tons of sand in combination with aeration in several sessions afterwards.
We generally use round-grain sands with a grading curve of 0-2 mm to 0-4 mm. The zero components should be as low as possible. The grain should be solid and not include soluble lime shares. By using centrifuging shakers we can ensure that even small amounts are spread equally.
Room for the turf
Scarifying
Tomentum turf will build up on the surface of the turf out of dead plant parts. It damages the turf and therefore needs to be removed on a regular basis. These maintenance measures should be carried out once to three times a year as required.
The work has to be carried out in dry weather and during the growing season. The scarifying blades are not to be set too low to ensure that the roots are not too severely damaged. Our devices have a blade depth of three to five millimetres. In the event of thick tomentum we will scarify the turf several times with breaks of several weeks between the individual measures.