Question on infield dirt

I was wondering if anyone has the following mixture on their infield or knows of a school that uses this mixture. Was wondering how it holds up under weather conditions.

50% sand, 25% silt, and 25% clay

 

Most around use

1 part brick dust, 99 parts red clay. Good mix till rain. After that slick is an under statement.

 

Just wondering...

What's the cost to "re-dirting" an infield and using crushed red brick as the base?

 

The silt and sand at that % will definitely help with moisture but the down side is footing. Having at least 30% clay is what I would reccomend from experience. I know that is only a 5% change from what you have but it will make a difference in footing. The downside of clay is: the more you use, the more you water and work on it. A lot of MLB grounds crews use 60% clay and 40% tichert #2 sand or something pretty close to that. But they have a CREW to help maintain it! For high school level manpower, 30% clay and 70% sand is a great mixture when turface is also harley raked or tilled in. ( not too much turface or you will harden the surface that you just softened.) I would reccomend starting with 8-10 bags of turface on each side if you are somewhere that receives a considerable amount of moisture. Invest in a good nail drag to ensure your field does not bake and harden too much by turning it over and a consistent schedule. Wet turface and clay will definitely bake if exposed to sun quite a bit without being turned over. Hope this helps.


P.S. Have you jar tested to ensure you have the mixture you think you have before you work on it?

 

Excellent post!!! Great job

 

Field Clinic

Got announcement from Burnete Athletics (turface and other distributor). Having a clinic at USA complex in Cary on Wednesday, Sept 23 on field maintenance. Will have groundskeepers from Bulls and other parks on hand. Clinic is from 8:30 to 3:30. Cost is $15 and includes lunch.

%clay and %sand is dependent on properties of the two (how fine the sand and plasticity of the clay).

 

Technical knowledge??

I never thought much about the technology of "dirt"
Good Post!

 

I know they were also going to do a mound-building clinic out there as well. Is this part of the field maintenance clinic?

 

Question

What % plasticity is best used when I tell a kid to "rub some dirt on it" ?

 

thats what happens when geek engineers reply

plasticity is a term relating clay behavior with water content. Point being is that because one person may use a 70/30 percentage does not mean you want to do that same from another supplier. Our North Wake league gets infield mix from two different suppliers and what percentage I order from one does not match what we get from another. If I did, it would take a lot of Turface to keep it playable.