COVER STORY
According to Cook , however , the extra year actually had some benefits . “ From an agronomic standpoint , it gave the field another year to grow ,” said Cook . “ Last year , we had sod down by the end of May , so we only had about two months of growth .”
The extra year also allowed the BrightView team to stabilize the soils on the berms where the corn was planted , add irrigation , regrade some site drainage areas , and grow a better stand of corn for this year . After putting the field to bed this past winter , the typical field maintenance plan kicked in around late March or early April of 2021 .
“ We had some great partners in the area with John Deere being up the road ,” said Cook . “ They brought us all the equipment and everything that we really needed to perform all of our maintenance requirements . It was like any other high-end sports field – we were ready for somebody to play on it . And they did . They came !”
Industry support In addition to support from partners like John Deere , they received assistance from local sports field managers , Iowa Chapter STMA members , national STMA members and other sports field management professionals . For example , the entire tarp crew was from Dyersville and the areas around Dubuque , Iowa .
“ 80 percent of the people who built the field are from Iowa – many of the contractors , much of the equipment , the lighting company , Musco . It was a tip of the hat to the state of Iowa , Dubuque , Dyersville , and the Iowa Chapter ,” said Cook . Our BrightView Sports Turf team that coordinated the build included Chad Olsen ; Kevin Moses , CSFM ; Isaiah Lienau , CSFM ; Eric Ogden ; and Tanner Dickherber , who are all from Iowa . We also brought in Iowa Sportsturf to lay our sod for us .
Cook added that people from Iowa also worked on the
Photo by John Deere Photo by Quinn Harris / MLB Photos via Getty Images
Photo by Mary DeCicco / MLB Photos via Getty Images Photo by Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images sportsfieldmanagementonline . com October 2021 | SportsField Management
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