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Leaves and debris

Woke up this morning, checked the rink and almost chopped down every tree in my backyard. The rink was covered in needles and small leaves. I tried my best to get as much off, but I still can't walk on it, so some is left on. My question is, with these needles in the ice, will it ruin the rink? Should I just flood it and have them just freeze underneath? What are you experiences/tips with leaves and needles.

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Permalink Reply by John Shapiro on January 8, 2012 at 12:46pm

Has anyone ever thought of using, or has used, a mesh netting across their rinks to stop all those leaves and debris from getting into the ice?

I was thinking about something like this or that, but am wondering if it will create a greenhouse like effect and stop the ice from actually freezing below. I imagine it still gets airflow, so it wouldn't be nearly as bad as a tarp over the top. It would have to come off before any snow though. If it works, it would save an awful lot of work getting all that crap out of the rink and result in really smooth ice.

Any thoughts on this?

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Kuerlemann on January 8, 2012 at 3:17pm

Where do you get your liners from...I was looking at some sites that have liners and it seems they are all OUT OF STOCK for this year.....I was like...WOW!

John Shapiro said:

I have a tube of E6000 ready to go. I figured that plus a piece of liner will fix it if I can find it. If not, a rush on a new liner will be on order.

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Permalink Reply by John Shapiro on January 9, 2012 at 12:17pm

Bought mine from Nice Rink in Oct....not sure if they are in stock or not.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Noto on January 14, 2012 at 10:52pm

I got mine on sale at Menards. A 50x30 silver tarp liner was only $90!! That might be your best bet to try and find one this time of year.

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Permalink Reply by Captain Purple on January 29, 2012 at 12:46am

Sometimes you can reach into the holes melted into the ice because of the leaves and pull them back out. It's always such an exciting time when the rink first goes up and is all clean and ready to go. And it is always so depressing when that first wind storm seems to fill the entire rink with every leaf from a three county area.