If you parked in a grass area lot last weekend for the Boston College game, you undoubtedly saw the work done by our amazing field turf crew throughout the week. After two weeks of rain left lots looking more like mud pits than fields, Mike Echols and his team orchestrated a remarkable comeback to salvage more than 95% of all grass parking lots for homecoming.
Mike and his outstanding crew received assistance from Danny Hutchinson of Hutch-N-Son Construction, Jonathan Holland of Precision Turf and Stanley McJunkin of McJunkin Grading. Each of those gentlemen provided resources to Mike’s crew to make getting the fields dry possible.
Here’s Mike’s summary of the work that was done throughout the week…
Beginning Tuesday Hutch-N-Son began running the portable blower/dirt drier on the different areas. Several tractors from Hutch-N-Son and Precision Turf began working in conjunction with the dirt drier to begin the process of turning the soil and exposing the associated moisture to sun and wind. This continued through Saturday. Once the soil got dry enough to shape, tractors began the process of leveling and filling low areas. This process began Thursday and ran through Saturday morning. Once we felt that the fields had reached an appropriate grade, the fields/lots were then top-dressed with sand to create some additional drying material. This top-dressing also continued through Saturday. Lastly, the fields were rolled with highway rollers. Lot 1 was the last field/lot to be rolled Saturday morning.
Additionally, The Walker Golf Course loaned us a portable fan which we placed in lot 2. The golf course uses the fan to move air across putting greens. This fan was placed in the SW corner of the lot to aid with drying. We also used Turface MVP, a drying agent used on baseball infields and in certain turf applications, to assist in the drying of certain areas of lot 2. We used our baseball infield machine to drag Lot 2 to further enhance the grade and drying.
Jason Wilson gave us a list of lot entrances, walkways, and porta-john areas that needed shaping and stone placement. Hutch-N-Son along with Clemson Athletics worked these areas Friday and Saturday morning.
December 10, 2024
