Rainy Season
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Tis the time of tournaments and rain! This is inevitable this time of year so it is important to know basic field maintenance skills. Drying a field should take about an hour or so and is a relatively easy task if you know what you are doing. If you don’t, you can ruin a field for life.
First, what NOT to do:
1. Don’t sweep the mud off the field. This only creates a hole that the water will sit in next time worse.
2. Don’t remove mud from the field.
3. Don’t put sand on top.
Do:
1. Cut tiny channels that funnel puddles into the outfield or off the field altogether.
2. Take a shovel and poke slits in the puddles in the outfield so water will seep down.
3. Take a shovel and turn the clay in the infield over bringing dry clay to the top to mix w/ the mud
4. Liberally apply turface and rake in w/ turned dirt and mud. Use the turface that is powdery, not the kitty litter type.
5. Move around the field raking and applying turface to allowing the turface to absorb the liquid from the mud.
6. Rerake and reline
7. Play ball!
It really is that simple. There is no need to damage the fields, allow the turface to work and make sure to rake it in with the dirt.
Do you have any tricks you use to dry the fields when it rains ?
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