This video is a good tutorial and the John Deere bunker machine is a good tool for infield maintenance. Dragging and raking technique with emphasis on keeping dirt out of the grass is critical. Note how home plate has been correctly set about 1/2" below grade. This allows dragging over the plate which keeps the plate area level with no damage to the plate itself. There is nothing worse than a plate that stands above grade with curled edges presenting an injury hazard to players and liability to field owners! When correctly set as shown here, it does require a bit of raking/sweeping during game preparation in order to expose the plate. The same idea should be used for pitching rubbers on softball fields. Other commenters point out the dust clouds and lack of moisture. Application of water is very important in maintaining an infield. Games/practices create lots of loose dirt not only at the mound and batter's boxes but also in other high wear areas such as around bases. Correct moisture allows dirt to bond as it dries out after dragging, reducing the formation of permanent holes. Just raking loose dry dirt into a hole does nothing to repair the hole. If water is available on your field, use it! The only mistake being made in this video is dragging around the bases. Always pull those bases out prior to dragging! If you are in charge of field maintenance, look at every aspect of how your people are doing the work and make sure their technique is improving, not damaging your facilities!
You guys need to wet down that field. Really helps with the dust. Used to do field maintenance for a summer job and it was a blast. Some of the most fun I’ve had working.
We have a water tank in the back of ours! Def need water not only to keep dust down for your health, eyeballs and nose lol but the field needs moisture so the players don’t play on concrete and hurt themselves
I prefer not to pull the bases. Hand rake around the bags and use ball groomer for the rest. Also taking bases to will bury the plugs, then you have to find them
Get some damn water on that infield dirt. Your MOST IMPORTANT ingredient in your infield mix is H2O‼️‼️‼️ Too much water and it turns into muck. Not enough and it turns into the rock hard dust bowl that you have right now.
I'll fill in. The quickdry/ diamond dry/ etc. is a clay material mostly. It's great at sucking up water and holding it. Why you use it on wet or muddy fields. Works great. What happens is that most people then leave it on the field. The clay then basically acts as a liner and won't let rain penetrate through. So now it puddles up where before it would seep through the dirt. What usually happens is that the next person comes out and sees the new puddle and throws more speedydry on it. Sucks up the standing water again but now after that liner is even thicker. Clay is used to line landfills. Water can't easily pass through packed clay. So the guy in the video is telling the folks that after the speedy/quickdry is used (and played on), you need to come in and scoop the material out and remove it from the field. This way the infield can drain as normally and puddle up with the slightest of rains. Not to mention that clay, when it dries, turns concrete hard. Hope that helps. At my fields, we don't buy much of the speedy dry. What we do have, we have to lock away. When we leave it out, tball coaches will dump it all over their field to practice. At $50 plus a bag... it gets ridiculous.
@@mattgalbraith1714 Easier said than done. It’s damn near impossible to remove quick dry out of wet soil because it becomes part of your infield mix as it gets raked in to absorb excess moisture. As long as you regularly water, cut, and drag your infield it won’t ever be an issue.
This video is a good tutorial and the John Deere bunker machine is a good tool for infield maintenance. Dragging and raking technique with emphasis on keeping dirt out of the grass is critical. Note how home plate has been correctly set about 1/2" below grade. This allows dragging over the plate which keeps the plate area level with no damage to the plate itself. There is nothing worse than a plate that stands above grade with curled edges presenting an injury hazard to players and liability to field owners! When correctly set as shown here, it does require a bit of raking/sweeping during game preparation in order to expose the plate. The same idea should be used for pitching rubbers on softball fields. Other commenters point out the dust clouds and lack of moisture. Application of water is very important in maintaining an infield. Games/practices create lots of loose dirt not only at the mound and batter's boxes but also in other high wear areas such as around bases. Correct moisture allows dirt to bond as it dries out after dragging, reducing the formation of permanent holes. Just raking loose dry dirt into a hole does nothing to repair the hole. If water is available on your field, use it! The only mistake being made in this video is dragging around the bases. Always pull those bases out prior to dragging! If you are in charge of field maintenance, look at every aspect of how your people are doing the work and make sure their technique is improving, not damaging your facilities!
You guys need to wet down that field. Really helps with the dust. Used to do field maintenance for a summer job and it was a blast. Some of the most fun I’ve had working.
We have a water tank in the back of ours! Def need water not only to keep dust down for your health, eyeballs and nose lol but the field needs moisture so the players don’t play on concrete and hurt themselves
Thank you
And if you wet your fields prior to the drag it’ll look better and you won’t be driving through clouds of dust.
How much does it cost to have a field done?
what tupe of groomer attachment is that (the attachment to the three wheeler) and where ca n i get one
Brett Hodgkin don't get that tractor or attachment. Look into the 3wheeler Toro with the rahn groomer or the smithco
you don't pull your bases before you drag??
I prefer not to pull the bases. Hand rake around the bags and use ball groomer for the rest. Also taking bases to will bury the plugs, then you have to find them
The drag pattern around second is questionable
Get some damn water on that infield dirt. Your MOST IMPORTANT ingredient in your infield mix is H2O‼️‼️‼️ Too much water and it turns into muck. Not enough and it turns into the rock hard dust bowl that you have right now.
Water that field!
Is that a smithco groomer attachment?
I love it
Dont ever drag that fast.lol
What was the conversation about the quickdry?! Was kind of hard to hear it. Thank you?
I'll fill in.
The quickdry/ diamond dry/ etc. is a clay material mostly. It's great at sucking up water and holding it. Why you use it on wet or muddy fields. Works great.
What happens is that most people then leave it on the field. The clay then basically acts as a liner and won't let rain penetrate through. So now it puddles up where before it would seep through the dirt. What usually happens is that the next person comes out and sees the new puddle and throws more speedydry on it. Sucks up the standing water again but now after that liner is even thicker.
Clay is used to line landfills. Water can't easily pass through packed clay.
So the guy in the video is telling the folks that after the speedy/quickdry is used (and played on), you need to come in and scoop the material out and remove it from the field. This way the infield can drain as normally and puddle up with the slightest of rains.
Not to mention that clay, when it dries, turns concrete hard.
Hope that helps. At my fields, we don't buy much of the speedy dry. What we do have, we have to lock away. When we leave it out, tball coaches will dump it all over their field to practice. At $50 plus a bag... it gets ridiculous.
@@mattgalbraith1714 Easier said than done. It’s damn near impossible to remove quick dry out of wet soil because it becomes part of your infield mix as it gets raked in to absorb excess moisture. As long as you regularly water, cut, and drag your infield it won’t ever be an issue.