SPORTS FIELD

This week we will continue to learn about Top Soil Selection.

What’s the connection between sports and soil?

Most of us don’t think much more about soil in connection to sports, other than that we need to wash “dirt” from our clothes. But soil is also important for many sports where the quality of the turf matters. To grow good turfgrass and maximize its durability, it is important to get the soil in which the grass grows right! Soils support plant life by providing the physical medium for them to grow in, and holding water that the plants need to grow.

SOIL TEXTURE

The texture of the soil is important to consider for sports. The particles of the soil have different sizes from very small to relatively large. The smallest particles are clay particles, while sand particles are the largest. In Figure below, the little dot next to the word clay represents the size of a clay particle, in proportion to the other size classes. Note that the clay is a dot on this graph and the largest sand grain is about 1000 times larger than the clay particle.

Soil texture describes the relative composition of sand, silt and clay. By knowing something about the texture of a soil, we know more about its properties and how to manage it. A close look at soil will clearly indicate that the makeup of the mineral portion is quite variable. Soil texture refers to the amount and size of clay, sand, and silt particles in a soil. It is an important property for soil as it can tell you how much water and nutrients the soil is able to hold, how fast water will drain, how much air is in the soil and how deep your grass’s roots will extend

There are many reasons why the soil texture of your sports field matters. An athlete needs to be able to run quickly (think of horse racing, or football) and manoeuvre (field hockey, soccer) – to be able to participate at his/her best. So, the running surface matters. It’s also important for maximize the safety of the athlete.

Durability of the sports field matters, too. What if you were playing a game of golf, and the texture was wrong for a sand trap? The sand could blow away! Or, if the sand trap had too many clay particles…the ball could get stuck in mud!

For safety, durability, and even financial reasons, using the right soil for your sports field, and maintaining it for optimum conditions, is important for everyone’s fun!

TEXTURAL TRIANGLE

Soil texture is the relative proportions of sand, silt, or clay in a soil. The soil textural class is a grouping of soils based upon these relative proportions. Soils with the finest texture are called clay soils, while soils with the coarsest texture are called sands. However, a soil that has a relatively even mixture of sand, silt, and clay and exhibits the properties from each separate is called a loam. There are different types of loams, based upon which soil separate is most abundantly present. If the percentages of clay, silt, and sand in a soil are known (primarily through laboratory analysis), you may use the textural triangle to determine the texture class of your soil.

Media Department; The RS Group