In addition to the weekly astro sweep and maintenance carried out buy the BHHHC Sweepsters, BHHHC employs a specialist Astro Maintenance Contractor (currently Sports and Courts) to complete 3 monthly maintenance visits where they use their specialised equipment to more thoroughly sweep the astro and treat the shaded edges of the pitch to keep weeds, moss and algae growth at bay. On the latest visit (12/3/24) it was impressive to see how effective their ‘Aussie Cleansweep Tennis Court Drag Mat’ was at removing the remaining surface autumn debris (seeds etc.) which have proven difficult to remove using leaf blowers and exhausting manual brushing. We’ll consider buying one of these to add to the Sweepsters’ arsenal of astro maintenance tools.

In the summer the contractor will be completing our first astro ‘deep clean’ which involves extracting astro sand and organic debris that has got into the astro pile, removing the organic debris and replacing the sand. We’ll be having a close look at how much organic debris is removed to determine how often this more expensive process is required.

As the contractor advises it’s best to do astro maintenance little and often to avoid the astro pile flattening and/or organic debris building up which can cause problems with the playing surface due to poor drainage and/or growth of slippery vegetation or algae on the surface. Recovering astro pitches where owners have allowed things to go too far can be costly (£25k or worse !) so best we keep on top of this to keep your astro in top condition for many years.

You can play your part in minimizing organic debris getting into the pitch by always making sure your astro shoes are clean before you go onto the pitch (best practice being to come to the pitch in one pair of shoes and changing into your clean astro shoes just before going through the main gate onto the astro pitch). Thank you in advance for observing this good practice.

BHHHC Sweepsters