Ballast roller
🎯 What is a roller?
Rollers can be utilised as part of pitch maintenance but should always be used in conjunction with a regular aeration programme to counteract the compaction created.
🔧 What will it come with?
It will often come with the ability to “ballast” the weight up through adding water to it
🗝️What could go wrong?
Be wary if you choose to add water, especially during prolonged periods of frost or cold spells as it could lead to cracking of the drums
Rollers should be used sparingly if at all, they squeeze the soil surface together closing all the pore space that is needed for oxygen, nutrients and water to move through
Regular rolling particularly in moist-wet conditions will lead to surface water retention and a number of disorders that can affect turf health
💡 Practical Tip
The weight of rollers on other types of machinery for example mowers – would normally be sufficient enough for a winter sports pitch.
It is a myth that rollers help to “level” a surface, they may offer some reinstatement of a surface after use but often they will actually just worsen surface levels or low lying spots
