JOHN MASCARO’ S PHOTO QUIZ
ANSWER
From page 17
The aerial view of this high school sports field was taken by a drone, and shows a major problem with the irrigation system. What caused this situation was that the school’ s 20-year-old irrigation pump went down during the summer soccer session and needed to be replaced. The weather was hot and dry, so the irrigation system was switched over to the city’ s municipal water supply until the pump could be replaced. Unfortunately, the municipal water supply’ s water pressure was 65 psi( compared to the normal 85 psi from the irrigation pump). The lack of pressure led to the irrigation heads not functioning properly, which created these pronounced crop circles on part of the field. Also, if you notice, one side of the field is greener than the other; this is because that side is in the shade for more than half the day. As a result, that side of the field has a little microclimate and did not dry out as much as the full sunny side of the field. It took 33 days for the new pump to arrive and be installed. After the system was up and running properly again, the fields were aerified, reseeded, topdressed and then watered deeply. It took approximately 30 days for the fields to recover.
Photo submitted by Mike P. DiDonato, CSFM, grounds coordinator at RSU 14 Windham / Raymond Schools in Windham Maine
John Mascaro is president of Turf-Tec International
If you would like to submit a photograph for John Mascaro’ s Photo Quiz, please send a high-resolution digital photo to John Mascaro via email at john @ turf-tec. com. If your photograph is selected, you will receive full credit. All photos submitted will become property of Sports- Field Management magazine and the Sports Field Management Association.
sportsfieldmanagementonline. com May 2025 | SportsField Management
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