This practice is used by Pacific Sports Turf to mitigate the minor depressions and unevenness (the ankle twisters) from the playing surface of sports fields. In the spring, some sports fields will exhibit what we call the “turkey bowl syndrome”. These fields were played heavily in the late fall and winter when it was too soft and the resulting footprints are still in the field in the spring.
The pre-seeder is PTO powered and contacts the turf via an angular drum with blunt knives that cut the higher profile turf areas/soil and fills in the lower depressions. The existing turf surface is then rolled with a solid drum. The machine must be calibrated very carefully to minimize the aggressiveness of the cut as to minimize the debris that can be created and then must be removed from the field/playing surface. Usually followed up with slice-seeding and top dressing with a medium gradation sand product suitable for sports fields.
This machine can make a tremendous difference in the smoothness of your playing surface. Sometimes fields that are really torn up will need more than one treatment per year until the desired surface smoothness is achieved then we recommend once a year (typically spring) in order to keep the condition consistent. If there are deeper holes in the field they can be filled with a soil then the pre-seeder can help “feather” in to the surrounding area.
The best part of this machine is it makes such a big difference in smoothness without causing significant scarring which would require the field to be out of commission longer.
