Drought recovery guidance
🎯 The aim of this article is to provide practical guidance for community sports facilities on recovering their playing surfaces from drought damage. This accompanies our other sports specific guidance on drought management. In reading this resource we’re assuming that you don’t have access to irrigation or that irrigation is limited.
During drought
Immediate focus should be on discouraging site operators from carrying out works to their playing surfaces that are likely to worsen drought stress and damage,
⚠️ Tasks to avoid before rain returns…
💡Maintenance of any sort including mowing if the grass is brown and dormant.
💡If mowing is needed, keep mowing heights higher than normal, avoid mowing in the heat of the day and don’t remove any more than a third of the grass length.
💡Avoid any maintenance tasks that are likely to worsen grass stress including, aeration, surface grooming, fertiliser application or weed control.
💡On winter sports pitches it may be difficult to maintain grass cover on high wear areas such as goal mouths, penalty and centre spots, it is however still worth continuing with repairs that maintain surface levels such as top dressing to avoid dishing.
💡For summer sports such as cricket, focus only on maintaining the area directly required to facilitate play such as the cricket pitch rather than the whole square or outfield. https://toolkit.thegma.org.uk/cricket/watering-and-drought-management/
❗Avoid training on match pitches if possible, particularly avoiding high wear areas.
🚜 Preparing/repairing for the autumn
Many grounds will require either comprehensive or minor remedial works once rain returns. Although not guaranteed, by early autumn you can usually expect milder weather and more consistent rainfall allowing the following works to take place on winter sports pitches and cricket outfields. On cricket squares the hope is that end of season renovations can proceed largely as normal or with short delays of a week or two.
💡Light scarification to remove dead grass and organic matter.
💡Wetting agents, when rain returns application of wetting agents can be made but typically need to be applied shortly prior to or during persistent rainfall, this can make timing the application right on community sports sites who are often reliant on contractors for spray applications tricky, however if this can be achieved it will help your soils absorb rain when it does arrive as prolonged drought can make soils hydrophobic where effectively they become water repellent rather than absorbing water as expected.
💡Sarel spiking, also known as barrel spiking where you’re just lightly spiking the soil surface can also aid water penetration.
💡Application of bio-stimulants, depending on the type and application method bio-stimulant sprays can be beneficial both during and to recover from drought periods, a good example would be liquid seaweeds.
💡Over-seeding, disc seeding in 2-3 directions, the amount of grass seed applied will depend on how much grass coverage recovers after rain or post scarification.
💡Fertilisation, to support grass recovery/establishment (again once conditions are appropriate to do so).
💡Decompaction, works (i.e deep spiking) once the soils soften adequately requiring prolonged rainfall post drought.
💡Top dressing, if surface levels are poor, but due to high-cost focussing on the areas most in need.
⏰ Timing and💷resources
The above tasks can take place even when surfaces return to use, whilst some grass establishment may be lost to wear, we generally find that results from working with the weather are still good even if carried out during the playing season. If you’re reliant on a third party to deliver these works, ensure that you’ve discussed your concerns/plans with them at the earliest opportunity. Secure budgets from committees and have contractors lined up to deliver these works as soon as conditions change if you do not have the equipment to carry out these works in house.
