That First Turnaround After completing the pre-season and 25 fall practices, it was finally game week; and time to replace the field. Carrick says, “Te first resodding was scheduled for Tursday, before the Saturday game. But with a hurricane brewing off the east coast and bearing down on Chapel Hill, they were predicting 1.5 inches of rain that day—and more if the hurricane path changed. I called Chad on Wednesday morning at 7:00 am and asked if they could move that up to Wednesday night after practice. Tat took unbelievable coordination on his part. Tey started harvesting our sod that day. Te Carolina Green crew was here and ready to start tearing out the old sod at 6:00 pm, right after practice.”
Price says, “Casey and I knew that the first time we did the resodding all the administrators were going to be extremely nervous, and moving it up a day to avoid the potential of heavy rains probably made them a bit more so. Tey came to the field to check on us. We had the new rolls of grass going down and all was going well, so the administrators left about 10:00 pm Wednesday night, figuring we had it all under control.”
Carrick says, “Working through the night, we laid the last roll on Tursday morning around 8:00 am. When the administrators arrived not long afterwards, the new field was in place. Our grounds crew began laying out the stencils and painting, even a little before 8:00 am. We were painting the numbers while Chad’s crew was putting the last rolls in place. By 12:30 pm the field was ready.”
Price says, “Seeing is believing and that first resodding proved to everyone that the plan would work. Te team got to practice on their field before the game after that first installation. Tat was good because the players got the feel of the new sod and weren’t worried about the surface being in good shape.” Carrick adds, “It rained 1.25 inches on Friday, after we’d had the practice. Te field played perfect on Saturday, with no issues at all. After that, everyone had confidence in the process.”
Making the Call After the first resodding, Carrick and his sports turf crew worked with the football staff each week to evaluate the field. Carrick says, “I’d walk the field with the football staff members and we’d determine how the field was holding up and what areas would require attention.”
Price says, “Casey and I would start talking about Tuesday to discuss their needs. He’d tell me, ‘I think we’re going to need to do the whole field, or the middle third, or I think we’re going to be okay.’ We needed to be on standby. Casey and I would coordinate the best time to do the work and we’d be ready to roll with the people we’d need to get the job done.”
48 Field area preparation for a partial resodding.
Carrick says, “Working with Chad was almost a partnership. Tere were times we’d planned for them to come on Tursday and I’d need to call and say we’ll need you on Tuesday. He’d pull some of his crew from other jobs to get it done for us. It helps that they’re two hours away from us, but I know he does the same thing for his other clients. We did really well in the fall of 2017. Te weather was great when we did the resodding. We had an unseasonably warm October and not too many rainy days after one of the wettest summers on record. Tat played a huge factor in recovery time after practices and games.”
Carrick reports, “We ended up doing three full replacements and replacing the middle third twice. When the football season was over, we’d used half the amount of sod we’d anticipated in our worst-case scenario and spent about $500,000. Financially it was a huge win and the football staff was pleased with the safety and playability and the season.”
Price says, “While the contract wasn’t fulfilled because they didn’t need as much grass as we’d needed to prepare for resodding the full field seven times, the open communications and working so closely together allowed us to find other options to sell that grass.”
Carrick says, “At one point, Chad had another university that had an unscheduled resodding need and he called us to see if they could use some of what we had contracted for, and we said sure. Once we realized we wouldn’t need all the sod, we released it to Chad hoping that even though much of the football season had passed he’d still be able to find other buyers.”
How about 2018? Carrick says, “Tis go-round, the weather was not cooperative. We had the sixth coldest winter in the last 150 years. Bermudagrass doesn’t like that. Ten it was
TPI Turf News January/February 2019
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