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Softball & Baseball Field Renovation Services

Renovation is the process of restoring a field to its original condition after it has undergone the stresses of a competitive season. Typically, these processes do not require substantial removal of turf or changes to the grade. Renovation should be deferred until after the season is over, unless the planner can count on a two to four-week period after the work to let the field settle. Remember that if a process is begun before the season and heavy rains delay completion, the field might not be playable when the season starts.
 
Renovation Techniques
 
Deep Tilling of the skinned area--especially tilling over 2" deep.
 
Adding Soil for Drainage. Another renovation process is adding soil to improve surface drainage. If drainage has been a problem, perform a survey to check the contours of the field, and plan to add soil to correct the grade once the season ends.
 
Lip Removal. Every season, dragging and weather conditions like wind and rain push lots of dirt into the grass at the arc of the infield and along the baselines. That dirt forms a lip that keeps rain from draining away into the grass the way it's supposed to. This lip also becomes a hazard to players because it causes erratic bounces of the ball, and because of the possibility of tripping.
 
Failure to remove this lip will allow a grass mound to form, and will then require removal of sod, lowering the grade, and resodding. Left untreated, this type of grass mound will prevent water from running off the skinned area. At some fields, the resulting standing water has been dealt with by adding more sand/clay soil, which can then turn the mounds into hills. This can make the problem worse by reversing the direction of the slope toward the infield. The result is standing water near the baselines.
 
Most of the time, a useful solution to this kind of buildup is to excavate and remove sand/clay soil from the area to create the proper slope required for surface runoff. This will usually require regrading three to seven feet of the grass surrounding the skinned area (Figures 11.26 to 11.28).
 
Seeding and Sodding. Perform reseeding or sodding operations on areas that were cut out to remove lips or hills.
 
Turf renovation work should be carried out when the turf is actively growing. Skinned area renovation can obviously be performed whenever convenient for the field staff, but it's important to remember that the skinned area requires one week to resettle for each inch deep that tilling or other processes disturb the soil.
 
Renovation Recommendations
 
We often get calls from our customers asking how much a certain product is needed for their field. Without actually seeing a field it is hard to say exactly how much is needed but we got a ballpark figure from Tom on how much a typical baseball field might need.
 
These are only recomendations and can be adjusted depending on what your field is needing.

• 15-30 yards of Fielder's Choice Red Infield Dirt.
• 15 Tons of Diamond Pro Red Regular infield conditioner (Vitrified Clay).
• 50-60 50 lb. bags of Diamond Pro top dressing (Calcined Clay for water absorbtion).
• 215 Diamond Pro Mound/Home plate clay bricks with enough bags of the Diamond Pro Mound/Home Plate clay to fill in the gaps. Be sure to wet the bricks before filling in the gaps.

You want to have about 6" total for your base lanes with 2-3" being conditioner.
 
The left over infield dirt should be used to fill in any low spots that appear as the field is used.