Sports Field Soil Amendment

Soil conditions play a pivotal role in determining the carrying capacity of a playing surface and as well as how much irrigation it needs.

Paul was responsible for the development and implementation of a sports field soil improvement program at Lake Macquarie City Council. This program was required to identify opportunities to: a) utilise compost product, b) reduce irrigation demand (water use) on sports fields and c) maintain or improve turf conditions. The project included:

• Detailed soil assessments of existing soil conditions at all of Council’s sports fields;
• Development and implementation of a works program (over four years) to meet multiple strategic objectives;
• Program review and reporting, including recommendations for the next phase of work.

Paul has presented a synopsis of the soil improvement works program (compost trial) as a case study at the Australian Organics Recycling Association National Conference in 2017.

Arising from this project was a clearly identified need to convert the turf at several highly trafficked and high profile fields to a more suitable cultivar. Paul successfully put forward the business case and the resulting works are scheduled to occur from 2017-18 to 2020-21.