Fast Grow Fertiliser Expansion

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Fast Grow Fertiliser Expansion: Fertiliser entrepreneur and founder of the Fast Grow Fertiliser brand, Shane Walsh has announced the expansion of his business into the professional pitch care market in Ireland and the UK.

Established as one of Ireland’s foremost suppliers of seaweed fertiliser, The Fast Grow Fertiliser Company already has a significant presence amongst Irish and UK garden retailers. Now, thanks to a sustained enquiry from the professional pitch care market Walsh, who founded Fast Grow in 2015 is now ready to expand into this important Irish market. Commenting on the effectiveness of his seaweed fertiliser Walsh says, “We produce 100% natural fertilisers with absolutely no artificial additives. Regardless of the weather, Fast Grow will continue to benefit the soil for 8 weeks, whereas with artificial fertiliser, if you get a good shower of rain, it will be washed through your pitches.” 

Fast Grow Fertiliser Expansion

Walsh believes that the growing interest amongst those who manage pitches in Ireland is partly due to the fact that there are significant environmental concerns over using artificial fertilisers and weed killers. Walsh suggests that “using natural products for pitch care is a great marketing message for any sports club and really captures the concerns and mood of the public about protecting the planet.”

Fast Grow Seaweed Plant Fertiliser is particularly effective on pitches where there is a heavy concentration of sand to aid drainage. Artificial fertilisers are typically leached through the soil quickly leaving the grass vulnerable to attacks from pest and diseases which in the past would have been treated with chemical sprays. Now with the reduction in the use of pesticides pitch care is more problematic. However using Fast Grow will improve the soil to the point where the grass will be healthy and strong and less susceptible to pest and diseases.

Fast Grow Seaweed Plant Fertiliser is available as a granular product, especially crumbed for pitch application and is available in either 10kg bags or 1000 kg bulks bags.

For further information visit www.fastgrowfertiliser.com

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New Toro Fleet At Bradford GC

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New Toro Fleet At Bradford GC: If success is a fresh pair of eyes, then The Bradford Golf Club in West Yorkshire has well and truly succeeded since the arrival of its first Toro fleet.

Darrell Crowley re-joined the club as course manager in 2018, and one of his first big decisions was to choose the supplier from which he would source his new fleet, as part of the club’s commitment to continually investing in the course.

New Toro Fleet At Bradford GC

Having seen the difference and improvements that the previous Toro fleets had made since his return, it was an easy task. Darrell comments: “There have been Toro machines, among other brands, at the club since the millennium, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the first package deal arrived. I had recently started as an assistant greenkeeper at the time and the club wanted to move away from updating individual machines to getting a bulk amount of new kit from one brand to see what difference that made, and if that approach further improved the course.”

And while Darrell could see the immediate improvements the switch to a Toro fleet deal with Reesink Turfcare made to the overall quality and condition of the course, it’s coming back to the club now as course manager and seeing the long-term benefit that this has made when it really hit home for Darrell.

“The course is looking better than ever. It goes without saying each individual machine makes a difference, but of course only to its particular area such as the greens or tees, so to get a fleet of new machines to cover all areas of the course, well the collective improvement is simply striking.

“The board has been working tirelessly for the last twenty years to keep the club in the modern era, keep up with the latest machinery advancements and make it more self-sufficient, the first Toro fleet deal was a big part of that. It’s been so successful and made such a positive improvement to the course since that we have continued our relationship with Toro, and this is now our third lease agreement.”

And it’s an impressive fleet of Toro machines that have been brought on board. The fleet consists of like-for-like renewals of the Greensmaster TriFlex 3400, Groundsmaster 3500-D, and Workman HDX, plus three new additions in the Groundsmaster 4500-D, Reelmaster 5010-H and Multi Pro WM sprayer, which are already making a strong impression.

“The Multi Pro WM sprayer and RM5010-H are definitely my new favourites,” says Darrell. “The Multi Pro WM’s information centre gives us more accuracy and the hybrid drive system on the RM5010-H is really beneficial for fuel savings.

“The demonstration process for these two was great as well. Russell Groundcare were able to get us the machines we wanted quickly and then gave us the time to really test them out. They then worked closely with us to help supply the package once we were set on the machines for the fleet. The whole process from start to finish was seamless.”

Named 2018 West Yorkshire Golf Club of the Year by Your Golfer Magazine, the club is a popular destination for golfers and keeping the course up to standard has proved even more vital in recent years with the club undergoing a large development project. But the Toro fleet has been more than up for the job says Darrell.

“In recent years we have restructured several holes and undergone tree removal to help return the course back to its traditional moorland roots, this has been coupled with a major refurbishment of the clubhouse.”

With Darrell, the team and the board all having seen the benefits Toro has brought to The Bradford Golf Club, it’s likely Toro will continue to have a place at the club.

“What Toro provides is reliability, high quality of cut and high quality of build, all at a competitive price. I don’t think other brands can really offer the same, and if the quality is there, there’s no need for me to look elsewhere,” says Darrell.

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GreenMech’s New SURE-Trak

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GreenMech’s New SURE-Trak: GreenMech’s new pivoting track extension system has proven itself to be a real game changer for Scotland’s South West Arb.

With an increasing number of rail-side de-veg projects demanding work on steep embankments, the SURE-Trak’s ability to perform in even the most challenging of environments saw owner Stewart Ball taking delivery of the first SURE-Trak 19-28 woodchipper in the UK earlier this year.

GreenMech's New SURE-Trak

“When I established South West Arb five years ago, the first thing I purchased was a GreenMech SAFE-Trak chipper” explains Stewart, who now heads-up a team of 15. “My previous employer had been a longstanding user of the SAFE-Trak units and, having looked at other machines, when it came to working on embankments or challenging terrain, no other chippers came close.” After quickly adding a second SAFE-Trak to his fleet, Stewart then heard about the launch of GreenMech’s next generation track system, SURE-Trak.

Allowing safe traversing of slopes in excess of 35 degrees, the pivoting SURE-Trak assemblies allow each track to maintain contact with the ground independently, while following differing contours, to provide a surer footprint and improved stability. “When I saw what the 19-28 fitted with SURE-Trak system could do, it was a complete game changer. It can get absolutely anywhere and the ability to tilt the body means it’s now even easier and safer for the operator to feed in material, no matter the embankment angle.”

To help in the delivery of power line and railway contracts, Stewart was delighted to take delivery of his SURE-Trak 19-28 from local dealer Lloyd Ltd, in January 2019. “Not only can they reach any given location, but the actual chipping performance is second to none. The powerful rollers will pull in even the most awkward forked material for the disc blades to process. Keep these sharp and they won’t skip a beat.” Stewart concludes, “Since we’ve had the SURE-Trak, it’s been working on embankments that other chippers could only dream of getting to!”

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