Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

“Just because one particular mix of rye grass
cultivars worked for you ten years ago, doesn’t
mean that other superior blends haven’t been
developed in the meantime”
From your PQS findings, or your own
investigations, you will now have a very
good idea of the make up of your cricket
square. Even if you don’t choose to go
down this particular root, and trust the
evidence of your own eyes, you know the
issues you need to address:
• Poor grass coverage - Clearly a
‘Chicken and Egg’ situation here. If we
find that our grass cover is
unsatisfactory, then this is a sympton
created by a cause. So, what has caused
it? Identify the issue(s) and then
address them
• Incomplete repairs to ends
• Poor germination
• Incorrect grass seed used
• Insufficient feeding of the sward
• Disease/unsatisfactory disease control
Hopefully, you won’t have all of these, in
fact you may not have any but, if you are
aware of the issues, then you can address
them by improving your sward
management.
Just because one particular mix of rye
grass cultivars worked for you ten years
ago, doesn’t mean that other superior
“By saving a tenner on
grass seed, how much
extra expense will you
be creating by having
to do extra hours of
work on the square?”
104
blends haven’t been developed in the
meantime - look into them, try them if
you get the opportunity and keep an
open mind.
Let’s look in more detail -
Pests and Diseases
Yes, it’s self explanatory, but experience
is a great teacher and, sometimes, by
suffering the slings and arrows of various
pests and diseases, whilst not particularly
palatable, can give you the knowledge to
cope with them and try to avoid them in
the future. Use a negative as a positive,
and learn from the experience and vow
to avoid it happening again in the future.
Profile
Possibly the most important aspect for
the cricket grounds manager. Whatever is
going on below the surface almost always
dictates what goes on at surface level -
that’s a truism you come to appreciate in
the world of cricket.
Root depth is clearly an indication of
the health of your grass plants, and a
guide to their strength as well. Shallow
rooted Poa annua (annual meadow grass)
will not withstand the rigours of cricket’s
harsh preparation regime, but it’s an
ever present in all but the very best
profiles and, of course, can be blown in
from anywhere.
So, while it’s not unavoidable, it can be
managed during the season and removed
at the season’s end through vigorous
scarification, or even more extreme
actions such as treatment with a total
herbicide and reseeding of the area.
Even then, Poa annua will somehow find
its way in, possibly carried in by
unwelcome breezes or sitting as a seed
bank deep in your profile - it’s the real
Millwall of grass species, no one likes it,
but it doesn’t care!
Thatch
Our next bug bear is possibly the most
influential aspect in any cricket profile,
and that is the issue of thatch.
We are all likely to get it to a greater or
lesser extent as invasive species, such as
our friend AMG Millwall, will inevitably
get in there somewhere and create some
thatch. Clippings will go astray and cause
some more. Whatever is causing it, we
need to address it!
Scarification can be carried out in