Tips for Wet Baseball Fields

Spring has sprung! Well … maybe it’s more fitting to say “spring is here” thanks to the squishy sound beneath my feet as I walked the ballfields at the Complex recently. Winter is trying to hang on here in the northern and eastern part of the country, but I’ve seen the future … and it’s wet fields. With a wet spring predicted for much of the country, what is a groundskeeper to do to keep the fields dry and playable as quickly as possible?

Here are some wet field tips:

. The winds of winter and machine-dragging too close to the grass edge can build up soil and topdressing materials into the lips of the infield skin. These lips will drastically affect the drainage of water off of your infield skin so be sure to clean out all lips using a rake. . Make sure the surface of the skin is smooth and level after all games and practices. Make sure there are no low spots in the skin which will collect water. This exercise best prepares the fields for rapid water removal in the event of a heavy rain. . Go out to the field right after a rain while there are still puddles on the infield skin and, using a rake, carve the outline of each puddle. When dry, nail drag the infield avoiding the low spots so you can find them, then use the loose infield soil to fill these low areas to help the water move off the infield more effectively. . Keep some calcined clay drying agents around for those emergencies. But if the puddles are large or deep, then use some puddle sponges or a puddle pump or a scoop to remove excess water leaving just very shallow wet areas where drying agents can then work their magic. . Whatever you do, NEVER use brooms to sweep excess water off an infield. You will only be worsening the surface grade of the skin by sweeping more soil out which will create an even deeper hole for water to stand in. This will also build up the lips even worse creating a bigger dam along the edge. . Carefully trench puddles that are near the edge of the infield so the water drains into the grass. Once the water has stopped running, carefully replace the sod that was removed. . Groove wet areas using one pass of a rake to create parallel lines in the mud. Do not “rough-up” the surface into mud balls with the thinking that lots of raking speeds the drying time. It does not. Clumps of mud resulting from excessive raking dries slower than grooves and the mid gets caught in the teeth of a motorized bunker rake, clogging the machine. When grooving muddy areas, the result should look like floor glue after passing over it with a slotted trowel just before laying the tile:

. Once parts of the field has dried, move the dried material into the wet material using a rake. Sun, heat and wind are your friends here. The absence of any of those 4 will dramatically increase drying time. A cold, cloudy humid day will not allow a field to become playable any time soon. . Once a field is mostly playable, apply Turface or other calcined clay drying material to the wet areas and allow it to absorb the moisture for 10-15 minutes. Then rake the material in and play. Drying clay is to be used for problem spots only. Do not use the product on the whole field. If the whole field needs Turface, it’s too wet to play on and you will have to wait. . Use a steel drag mat with a drag bar to smooth and level the field when dry, especially before a rain. The drag bar and mat move infield material from high spots into the low spots and creates a level playing surface that drains evenly.