Football Pitch FAQ 13. How much water do we need to put on the pitch at renovation time?

This will depend on how much rainfall is also occurring, but the aim will be to ensure adequate and rapid germination takes place. Providing enough water in addition to any rainfall will be essential if the grass seedlings are not to dry out and die.

With a seedling there will be very shallow roots, so it will be important to water daily to ensure they do not dry out. As the roots extend deeper into the rootzone the watering can be less frequent and to greater depth so as to encourage roots to explore further into the soil profile as the surface layer dries.

What might be needed for optimum plant health might be different from what can be physical applied with available irrigation equipment, especially during hot dry spells which might follow renovation work.

A theoretical amount of 25mm of water applied over a pitch per week (whether by rainfall or artificially applied as irrigation) is often quoted as being what’s required to replace the water which a plant loses through evapotranspiration per week. However, this figure assumes an unlimited supply of water is available to the plant, basically luxury supply, and also not what a plant actually needs for adequate growth and development, so in practice the actual amount needed for irrigation is less than this, especially at germination and initial seedling stage.

Monitoring weather conditions as well as careful observation of the grass sward, along with taking soil cores to help determine how far roots and moisture are penetrating are essential activities which a grounds person should carry out to get the most from the renovation work.