After another practice, as evening comes, the groundskeepers turn to watering the thirsty field. As one can imagine, it takes a lot of water to quench the thirst of a professional baseball facility. At Thomas J. White Stadium, the grounds crew uses about 120,000 gallons every other day to quench their fields, and many stadiums, Roger Dean among them, use more than 300,000 gallons a day, although their source of water is different from that of the Port St. Lucie facility. Tom Bowes, head groundskeeper at White stadium, said the fields used to take a lot more water, but self-imposed water restrictions were put in place last year, and his crew has closely monitored water use for conservation ever since. In addition, we've cleaned every sprinkler head, to ensure the most efficient watering possible, and Burt strives to time our fertilization with our watering, so that is done as efficiently as possible.
Groundskeepers are sensitive to public perception of their activities.
And we really are caught in the middle sometimes, because while we're trying to conserve as much water as we can, other factors come into play. When the Mets are here, it's critical that they look good. It's also critical the county looks good - after all, this stadium is shown on national television. The crew works hard to ensure the grass stays alive and the clay infields are softened with water every night, but baseball stadiums do not live by water alone. One is the application of iron, which helps bring out the grass's natural green color.