Sports Field Maintenance Strategies Ranked

If you’re like us and other professionals that work in the turf maintenance industry, you can’t watch a game on TV without noticing how amazing the field looks. Maintaining the grass on a field that sees such a high degree of use and is on such a big stage is a huge undertaking. In today’s blog, we’re highlighting the sports field maintenance strategies that create gorgeous fields, and we’re ranking them in order of importance.

At TurfTime Equipment, we’re a manufacturer of elite-quality turf equipment that sees use on golf courses, athletic fields, baseball diamonds, and much more. Learn about the key sports field maintenance equipment and tactics, and keep reading to get ideas for your turf maintenance regimen — or reach out and talk to our team!

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Athletic Field Maintenance Tasks in Order

While ALL of these athletic field maintenance strategies create the lush and strong fields you see on primetime TV, they aren’t realistic for every crew or budget. If you’re working with limited resources, we still want to help you grow the healthiest turf. Check out our ranking of the most common maintenance options and equipment starting with the most important:

Aeration

Aeration is one of the most direct ways to get water and nutrients into the soil, making grass healthier and stronger. By aerating your turf in April and May, you set up strong growth and resiliency the entire year. In addition, you’ll want to aerate again in the fall. Bottom line: if you can only do one piece of athletic field maintenance, aerate your turf. Not only is a professional grade aerator not as expensive as other pieces of equipment, but it has the largest direct effect on making your turf healthier. Learn what the best aerators have in common!
Aerator Price Range: $2,500 to $6,000

Buy Your Aerator

Rolling

While aerating is the most important technique and the one that makes the turf healthiest, rolling creates the most polished and professional looking field. Rolling your turf after the freezing and thawing cycle of the winter makes it look smooth and attractive like few other things can. This can be done, by a dedicated field roller, throughout the year to recreate that smooth surface at crucial times. In addition, this athletic field maintenance strategy makes the field more comfortable for the athletes as well. Quality rollers are fairly affordable and can add a truly professional appearance to the field.
Lawn Roller Price Range: $4,600 to $12,000

Buy Your Lawn Roller

Dethatching/Verticutting

Thatch is the term for organic matter (mostly dead grass) that gets caught around the roots of your healthy grass. This layer of thatch prevents water and nutrients from reaching the roots, undermining the health of the grass. Dethatching your turf by verticutting is the most effective way to remove thatch from your fields. This is done by dragging a series of blades over the turf that pull the thatch away from the root system. While removing thatch is crucial to the health of your turf, it doesn’t need to be done as often as other maintenance regimens (only once or twice per year). While almost all large field maintenance crews will own at least one verticutter, smaller crews may rent one once or twice per year.
Verticutter Price Range: $6,400 to $12,000

Buy Your Verticutter

Top-Dressing

While top dressing may be at the bottom of our list of must-do athletic field maintenance, it is still a very valuable tactic to employ. Any field you see on TV will absolutely have been top-dressed, but that doesn’t mean your field absolutely needs to be. During the spring, top dressing is used for spreading fertilizer, which promotes the health of the grass. Later in the spring and summer, top dressing is done following aeration to fill in the small holes created by the aerator with fill material. More than anything, a trop-dresser makes jobs you can handle in other ways simpler and less labor intensive.
Top Dresser Price Range: $10,000 to $40,000

Buy Your Top Dresser

Putting any and all of these sports field maintenance strategies to use will make your fields more resilient to use and more beautiful — from a distance and up close.

Why to Trust TurfTime for All Your Equipment Needs

TurfTime is an option for both small schools and golf courses — as well as professional teams that play at the highest level. That’s because we design equipment to solve problems and we build them to last. By learning from real turf maintenance crews, we add innovative features that make a difference in how you work every day. From a quality standpoint, all of our heavy-duty pieces are built in the USA and you can expect them to last as long as you need them.

Enhance Your Sports Field Maintenance Today

The right equipment can go a long way towards creating a field that looks so good, people give you compliments on it. If you aren’t doing any of these sports maintenance field strategies, adding one or two of them can be a game changer. If you have more questions about any of our equipment or want to place your order, contact us today!