You're going to spread 500 pounds of seed and fertilizer and topdressing. The usual home lawn spreaders will not cut it. You need something larger.

1. Walk behind cyclone spreaders are preferred for even coverage. The hard part is getting the right setting to spread the right amount of seed or fertilizer. These spreaders can cover a path 15 to 20 feet wide.
   
   
2. Large spreaders pulled by a tractor are used by golf course and sometimes by park districts. If you have a complex of parks, you might consider using one.
   
   
3. Field rakes are a real plus for spreading top dressing on the infield turf.
   
   
4. On the outfield, you can spread topdressing by making multiple passes with a tractor pulling a mesh drag.
   
   
5. A hand pulled drag is good for spreading the seed, fertilizer, and topdressing after core aerating.
   
   
6. And you can always just spread the topdressing by hand. Sling it all over the field and let the drag take care of evening it out.
   

Shop around. Landscape suppliers such as Horizon or Sequoia Pacific Turf Supply have good, large capacity cyclone spreaders. Home Depot type stores have field rakes.

1. Keep the spreader stable when you fill it. If you pour too fast and its not level, the spreader could tip over.
   
   
2. Many bags of seed and fertilizer come in 50 pound bags. Give the youth helper some assistance hauling, lifting, and pouring.
   
   
3. When seeding or fertilizing the large outfield, you need a way to keep track of where you left off on each pass. I use extra sprinkler flags as markers each pass to keep track of where I am. Move them as you finish a pass so you know where to head on your way back again.
   
   
4. I've found that the right setting is something of an art to figure out. On the cylcone spreaders in these pictures, the setting for fertilizer was on 10. The setting for seed was between 5 and 7. This got the proper coverage of about 5 pounds per 1000 square feet.
   
   
5. If you're not sure what setting to use, start low. It's better to make two passes than run out on one that was too high.
   
   
   

Mistakes to avoid

1. Don't just wing it and spread seed or fertilizer by hand.
   
   
2. Don't loose track of where you are on each pass as you spread fertilizer. Either you'll over do it or miss a section. You could end up with stripes on the field as a result.
   

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