“Our job at United Turf and Track is to remove the gravel layer down to the base of the original rootzone, install irrigation, and reinstall the new sand rootzone,” Salmond says.
How much gravel was there underneath the artificial turf? “A lot,” Salmond says, laughing. To remove the eight-inch thick layer of gravel, Salmond and his crew “hauled out about 150 truckloads with 25 tons per truck.” Te process took seven days.
“It was a very delicate process. We had to protect the gravel from being pushed through the fabric into the rootzone sand,” Salmond explains. “Tis was accomplished with expert operators on excavator machines. You had to use your brain quite a bit with the machine to be able to slow mop off, (I call it mopping because our guys have experience on oil fields of mopping up a site and getting it ready for construction). We had to use a mop, so to speak, with the excavator to mop the gravel off of the fabric. With the gravel removed, we will take the fabric off, then we’ll install the irrigation system and create a homogenous rootzone that will be 12 inches thick before the sod gets laid on top.”
From there, Winstead Turf Farms will begin the process of harvesting the big roll sod and packing it into refrigerated trucks for the journey to Fayetteville. Harvesting will begin around midnight the night before so that it may be delivered the next morning before the heat of the day. Each big roll consists of 100 square feet of sod. With the rootzone firmly grown into the Evergreen Turf Matrix mesh, each 1.5-inch-thick roll of sod weighs around 1,500 lbs. At 75,000 square feet needed, Winstead will harvest 750 big rolls of sod for the job. Winstead’s plan is to have a crew at the farm harvesting, while a second crew at the stadium awaits the delivery, ready to lay the sod as soon as it arrives. As soon as the sod is laid, they’ll turn the irrigation system on. It should take no more than three days to install the entire field.
When the Razorbacks take the field against Portland State for the 2019 season opener August 31, the teams will be the first to play on Tahoma 31 and the first US teams to play on the Evergreen Turf Matrix system.
To Salmond, going back to natural grass just makes sense. After all, Salmond says, “Arkansas is called ‘Te Natural State,’ so they are going back to that for natural grass.”
Pregame activities start the action on the new natural grass field.
Stacie Zinn Roberts frequently writes about sportsturf and is the founder of What's Your Avocado? Marketing and PR in Mount Vernon, WA.
Photos pages 98-100 courtesy of SportsTurf. Photos page 101 courtesy of Winstead Turf Farms.
Turf News Follow-up:
Passing All Tests Arkansas Razorbacks football fans were more than a bit disappointed at the end of September with back-to-back losses and a 2-3 record. But fans of natural grass were raving! With four home games on the newly converted natural grass field completed, its stats were top notch, playing to perfection.
As Clay Henry reported on
wholehogsports.com after the season opener, Pat Berger, CGCS, Director of Sports Turf Operations at Arkansas, gave the new field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium a “green thumbs up.’ He stated, “It did great. Tis was our first big test: three times in less than 24 hours.” Henry noted Berger was referencing practices on Friday by both teams, then the game. And Henry reported—and Berger confirmed—no divots were visible after the game.
Bobby Winstead (in pink shirt) and Pat Berger (in red shirt) join the Winstead Turf Farms installation crew for a photo on the natural grass.
TPI Turf News November/December 2019
Bobby Winstead, president of Winstead Turf Farms, is the sod producer who supplied the natural grass, Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass custom-grown for the conversion on the Evergreen Turf Matrix system. Winstead says, “With all the sports fields using that system in Australia and the performance of Tahoma 31 in research trials, we knew the field would surpass expectations in performance—and it has. It’s the lack of divots that’s amazing. Even at field level or with eagle-eyes watching replays on TV, we’re just not seeing them. And it’s playing great!”
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