TheolderIgetthebetterIwas

And the dry worm casts.

Sorry Mr Green I missed the worm bit on your post. The worm casting has slowed down now but still a fair amount showing, the difference now is the cast dries out within a couple of hours so no fear of smearing and capping the ground anymore. Our pitch has been regularly treated over many years so not a lot of weed seeds being brought to the surface as not as lot of weeds. Those seeds that germinate on the casts are doomed in this heat as they dry out to quickly for germination to be successful. Curses, a couple of mild frosts here the last two days! And still water in the trench...this the true water table now I'm sure.

Trivia. Most of the nitrates used in fertiliser are a by-product of petrol production. Fertiliser prices mirror increases in cost per barrel of oil as a general rule.

Yes Mr Green. You are talking about nitrification in an aerobic soil, microbes changing electrical charges on fixed nitrogen molecules and changing them into soluble nitrates (most nitrates are soluble salts) and so on, too deep to go into on a football forum as you say methinks! Plants do need nitrogen to build their cellular structures though and too stay green, which is why when soil is waterlogged (anaerobic) the grass turns yellow as lack of oxygen stops nitrification. Also at the time of the spring flush brighter days facilitates the start of photosynthesis vital in the growth of grass as well. Enough of this anyway...too heavy bro'. The flush after aeration is due to gaseous exchange, stale air being replaced by fresh air. The soil, and all that entails can breathe again. I would consider a blanket spray of selective weed killer if my initial reaction to looking at a severely infested pitch was... F#$% spraying that by hand!

Just finished treating the whole pitch and surrounds, Total cost for the application...7 x 16p per filling =£1.12p including a very pleasant 5 hours stroll up and down the pitch over 3 days. Never seen the need to waste money spraying the whole pitch for a few weeds. If I had the whole pitch treated it would have been £112 for the chemical plus the contractors costs, probably another £100 ...no way Jos'e. And here is the flush starting for the third time...free Nitrogen!

Falmouth docks who used to have a sports complex on Bickland water road...best pitch in Cornwall by far for many, many years...now an industrial site. They moved across the road and that is also an industrial site now.

The deformities are caused by the auxins going to the shaded side of the stem as in direct sunlight auxins are destroyed. When the auxins are on the shaded side cell elongation continues on the light side and the stem bends, this process happens each time depending where the light is coming from so the stem ends up deformed. Particularly noticeable in the bent stems in the daisy picture.

Raining here...there's a surprise!

Good news. The ground temperature is up to 11⁰ that is in the first inch and the flush is starting again, when it gets a bit deeper it will fly...happy days. Had another hour or so with the sprayer and another hour tomorrow will just about crack the first treatment. Plenty more will show yet but the bulk is treated. Those sprayed yesterday are already showing signs of malformation due to the rapid elongation of the cell growth. As long as it stays dry for around 3 to 5 hours after spraying the weedkiller will work. Note how the Dandelion is already above the grasses with the accelerated growth. The other pictures showing the deformed new growth, nothing can stop it now. And the Daisy curling up nicely.

The growing point (meristamic tissue) has little to do with the action of selective weedkillers, it's all about the volume of active ingredient held on the leaf by the surfactant, in selective weedkillers the surfactant is oily based so sticks to the broad leaf in greater quantities. Selective weedkillers enhance a compound in the plant structure called Auxin, this compound is a precursor to cell elongation which is how grass actually grows longer, it speeds this process up to a point where the other compounds in grass growth (roots included) cannot keep up and the plant literally grows to death. Trivia. Auxins are also responsible for tropic responses, they control the phototropic response (growing toward light) and the geotropic response (roots growing downward) The cell elongation manifests itself as the weed growing irregularly after absorption by the leaf. In other words the auxins go crazy! From memory there are five compounds responsible for grass growth, I can remember 3 of them but not the other two...old age! Auxins, Meristems and Geberilic acid but no need to go any deeper into the subject methinks! Graminicides were developed primarily for use in agriculture I believe, they are primarily used as a post emergence weedkiller in crop production. Although a few golf clubs use them to manage the rough on their courses. Gramincide is based around the generic name for grass...Gramineae...so - grass killer! That's all I know about them I'm afraid. Yes. It can be beneficial to fertilise a couple of weeks before spraying but I've never seen the need for it myself. Had an hour today spot treating the weeds on the pitch. I've never sprayed the whole pitch as I see that as wasteful, I just spot treat over a couple of days using a small hand held sprayer, any I have missed I carry the sprayer and catch any stragglers when mowing. My 2 litre sprayer. And today was the first time for the year I've worked on the pitch without a coat on...YAY! warming up maybe? A little bit of rain would be nice now!

Hello again Mr Green. 24 D is the active ingredient I look for in a selective weed killer as its very effective on Clover and has a broad spectrum of kill. Yes, weeds are most prevalent outside the diamond of concentrated wear on a football pitch, here's a rough outline of the area known to grounds people as the diamond.

Hey! no need for that...Aww! - go on then...lol

What was you...the sub, water boy, ran the line (?) Lol

Haha

Made up a longer pin for the draw bar which lowered the angle on the scarifier and corer, made a big difference, both are now tilted forward so the mower is slightly pulling the machines into the ground, the law of physics means they have both increased in weight when moving forward. Scarified the same area as before ripping out the same amount again for only 4 passes, and the corer now pulling out 2"+ plugs. With the corer though the ground has now become a bit to firm for it to pull out full depth plugs of 3" need a bit of rain...lol Put the box on and hoovered up the debris, but even with the mower on its lowest setting there was no grass to cut! The spring flush has stopped completely, that's no growth since the last cut 14 days ago, disappointing that...just have to wait for it to start again. Big bonus today though, one of the players on a furlough came up and did all the strimming...excellent...thank you Cohen. And got around to starting the selective weed spraying on the pitch. Remember to follow the manufacturer's dilution rate, do not make it stronger or it will kill the grass as well! Trivia. Selective weedkillers work by volume. Weeds are broad leafed so hold more active chemical on the leaf than a linear grass leaf. The chemical accelerates growth to the point that the plant cannot sustain itself and it dies, normally around 10 days. Sometimes a second application is necessary if the weed has a tap root and recovers from the first application. The result of changing the angle on the scarifier...brutal! And on the corer...not bad.