I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

Couldn't we have just sent someone up to Waco to borrow their tarp?

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I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

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Thanks

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Should have sodded with St Augustine hahaha.

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lol


Bermuda for sports turf. Don't want the vines tripping people

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It was a joke, but it wouldn't have seams. Ha

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Where do you get this seem free St. Augustine sod?

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I just meant that because it spreads so aggressively with above ground stolons the seams would be stronger than the seams on our current hybrid bermuda.

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You realize that St. Augustine is NEVER used for sports fields? That's because those above the surface runners are instantly damaged by surface wear, quickly leading to a bare field. It wouldn't survive one game. It would look like a dirt baseball infield. Oh - and St. A sucks water - the wrong thing to do in Texas.

Regardless, this is an embarrassment and a joke. One of the premiere ag schools in the country can't figure out the grass in their own stadium? Jesus, wtf are we teaching down there?

Rained for most of the Aggie soccer tonight and the field looked great the whole time. Good work Leo.

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Regardless, this is an embarrassment and a joke. One of the premiere ag schools in the country can't figure out the grass in their own stadium? Jesus, wtf are we teaching down there?

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Its gonna be fine.

LOL at anyone who thinks the St. Augustine grass suggestion was serious.

Well, technically this was not about growing turf. It was about installing turf.

I'm okay with this decision based upon this:

Aside from the thicker sod base, another reason Carolina Green was chosen is that the company has expertise in replacing fields in-season. Over the last five years, Carolina Green has done in-season replacements for the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky and University of South Carolina. Just last week the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans played on surface that had been installed the week before by Carolina Green.

Sounds like they may know what they are going. Not that my opinion matters one iota.

No, technically its about installing sod with about a 4x thicker than normal base. Its still gonna have some seams that will need to be filled with topdressing. Will probably be inferior to what would have been if they had just let the old stuff grow for 3 more weeks

So if the prime contractor and others had many meetings on the new Kyle field turf plan, why wouldn't this 'well known' company have been identified and contracted originally?

After they remove the old sod and before they replace the new, can they bury the abortion of the new statues that are outside Kyle?

Well, it is still September in Texas. Guess we'll find out how well that stuff roots out in hot climates in the fall, being it's from the mid-northeast.

From the frying pan to the fire?

#saveTheCannon
#KennyTrillWantsTurf
#TheStatuesSuck

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They will begin installing the field the week of Sept. 29

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Sooo this will have less than 2 weeks to grow in?

Then again the Cowgirls and Titans played on a Carolina Green surface installed a week earlier with no problems. Sounds good to me. So where's the cannon go fokkers?

Where do I go to purchase a piece of the current field? They'll sell that s*** off, right?

Bermuda 419 laid down in rolls = the way to go. Now my question is, did Manhattan Vaughn lay down sod in pieces? NOT the way to do a sports field if so, divots and pieces coming up right and left.

The field will be fantastic for Ole Miss, book it.

So all the grass experts saying everything was fine were just chocking their little weeds.

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I am also not 100% sure that the rain hurt anything at all. I have a theory that things actually got too dry and thus the sand was loose. Wet sand is much firmer than dry and sand based sod has about the same tensile strength wether wet or dry. I didn't see much sod tearing, but I did see a lot being pushed up from lateral moves. I would guess that a scheduled irrigation the morning of the game was cancelled due to the rain the night before. May account for why things were worse than the Lamar game.

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No

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Or maybe dumping 4-6 inches of sand underneath it was a bad idea too


derp derp drainage derp derp

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You realize that's how field are built right? The sand allows the water to percolate through much faster.

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I have a hard time believing that every field has 4-6 inches of sand underneath it. There must be a better alternative to this.

If you have ever laid sod/grass you know that it would take a long time for the sod to grab to sand. Then, even when it does grab it would be sitting on top of something that's not very stable.

Just imagine for a moment of dumping a bag of sand on the ground, laying sod on it and having 260lb men running on top of it.

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[didn't read the 3 pages since this post] There is a drainage system overlain by gravel, then overlain by sand, then overlain by sod + field surface. It's thick enough for the root system to hold and allow the grass to grow, but thin enough that any excess water that is not necessary for uptake by the turf is allowed to pass through the layers quickly into a drainage system which moves the water away from the playing surface. A&M has one of the best field turf programs and crews you could ever imagine. This was a fluke occurrence where a crap ton of rain fell before the roots had fully established. You put that rain event 1-2 months down the road and you would have likely seen no issue. A&M's fields are known to be among the best in the world at being playable very quickly after astronomical precipitation levels.

How have the field crew people not been interviewed to explain the issue? It's been quite a hot topic.

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Or maybe dumping 4-6 inches of sand underneath it was a bad idea too


derp derp drainage derp derp

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You realize that's how field are built right? The sand allows the water to percolate through much faster.

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I have a hard time believing that every field has 4-6 inches of sand underneath it. There must be a better alternative to this.

If you have ever laid sod/grass you know that it would take a long time for the sod to grab to sand. Then, even when it does grab it would be sitting on top of something that's not very stable.

Just imagine for a moment of dumping a bag of sand on the ground, laying sod on it and having 260lb men running on top of it.

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[didn't read the 3 pages since this post] There is a drainage system overlain by gravel, then overlain by sand, then overlain by sod + field surface. It's thick enough for the root system to hold and allow the grass to grow, but thin enough that any excess water that is not necessary for uptake by the turf is allowed to pass through the layers quickly into a drainage system which moves the water away from the playing surface. A&M has one of the best field turf programs and crews you could ever imagine. This was a fluke occurrence where a crap ton of rain fell before the roots had fully established. You put that rain event 1-2 months down the road and you would have likely seen no issue. A&M's fields are known to be among the best in the world at being playable very quickly after astronomical precipitation levels.

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thank you

And this is going to be the same turf that's goihg to be ripped out at the end of the season to continue renovations?

If you're gonna spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just put in Fieldturf for two seasons to alleviate the construction and growing problems and go back to grass in 2016.

At this point, it's probably safe to assume the current turf was so damaged by the rain and subsequent tearing up during the game that you can't just "let the current grass take hold" or whatever.

While everyone here likes to jump to the conclusion that the paid professionals don't know what the *****they're doing, I venture to think this issue will be resolved. It's gonna cost $300K, but they'll do what they gotta do to make the field acceptable.

It's not a ******* black eye, no one really gives a sh*t outside of this message board.

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I am also not 100% sure that the rain hurt anything at all. I have a theory that things actually got too dry and thus the sand was loose. Wet sand is much firmer than dry and sand based sod has about the same tensile strength wether wet or dry. I didn't see much sod tearing, but I did see a lot being pushed up from lateral moves. I would guess that a scheduled irrigation the morning of the game was cancelled due to the rain the night before. May account for why things were worse than the Lamar game.

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No

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Care to explain why you think this is wrong? I would love to have a real conversation about it.

And in other news, Matt Wallerstedt turned his car around half way to College Station when he learned that the $300,000 worth of grass headed to campus was not "that" kind of grass.

Videos of this company replacing sod

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At this point, it's probably safe to assume the current turf was so damaged by the rain and subsequent tearing up during the game that you
can't just "let the current grass take hold" or whatever

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Agree. I know we like to make jokes about our current administration (and they are deserved) but even they wouldn't just be buying grass to buy grass, if the current field would be in suitable shape in the next 2-3 weeks.

why is there not a bigger uproar to get the construction cams back on to watch this process?!?

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At this point, it's probably safe to assume the current turf was so damaged by the rain and subsequent tearing up during the game that you
can't just "let the current grass take hold" or whatever

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Agree. I know we like to make jokes about our current administration (and they are deserved) but even they wouldn't just be buying grass to buy grass, if the current field would be in suitable shape in the next 2-3 weeks.

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I guess there are two major factors in the decision.
A perceived known final product: new grass expected to be playable 1 week after install.
The unknown: How many more subsurface issues were not torn up by a player and remain hidden?
CYA if it fails: If they just "let it ride" with the current install and it fails; they get criticism of being either incompetent to manage a field, or negligent in doing enough. If they replace the field using a known and respected company with a good track record and it fails; they can say they did everything they could.


Also, keep this in perspective. Would we rather be where the Houston Texans are with crap turf and no team leadership initiative to do a damn thing about it?

So, what are they doing with the current sod? Will this be a "Buy Kyle Field Part Two"?

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A&M's fields are known to be among the best in the world at being playable very quickly after astronomical precipitation levels.

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Not anymore they aren't

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More info on the new turf: This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 4 quarters on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff.

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Better not let Les Miles know that or he'll wreck the chicken fried hot dog inventory before half after he eats up the LSU sideline.