August 5, 2020 - Turf Matters

J Premier Pitch delivers reliability: With over 13 seasons of experience using Johnsons Sports Seeds J Premier Pitch mixture, Head Groundsman at Cardiff City FC Liam James confidently conducted his renovation during the lockdown period, without doubt that the pitch would be match-fit when play resumed.

In use at the Cardiff City Stadium, together with two of their other sites, the rapid establishment of J Premier Pitch has delivered a pitch that meets the Bluebirds requirements for both play quality and aesthetic appeal.

J Premier Pitch delivers reliability

Under Liam’s remit is the Desso pitch at the main club stadium, another full size Desso and fibre-sand surface at the Cardiff International Sports Campus – home to U18’s, U23’s and Cardiff City FC Women – along with two further Desso GrassMaster systems at one of the club’s training grounds. Helping Liam with the maintenance is a team of six groundsmen, and Hewitt Sportsturf, who conduct the end of season renovations. “Our programme is thoroughly tried and tested, with Johnsons already firmly in place when I joined the club. All of these years later and we wouldn’t use anything other than J Premier Pitch across our sites, for both our renovations and routine overseeding.”

“With this mixture, we achieve a surface that retains good colour, consistency and deep roots – giving us the all-important wear tolerance. When the season re-started following the lockdown, fixtures were taking place thick and fast, putting the newly established pitch through its paces. Following our well-timed renovation, it delivered fantastic sward density and coverage.”

Like a lot of stadia, Liam struggles with shade, with some areas receiving no natural sunlight even in the peak of summer. “J Premier Pitch tolerates that really well, along with giving us great resistance to disease which means our single fungicide application is more for preventative purposes than anything else.” For a bit of additional winter strength, Liam’s regional DLF Technical Manager Ian Barnett suggested incorporating Johnsons J 4Turf into their cold season overseeding programme. Containing DLF’s 4Turf tetraploid perennial ryegrass, J 4Turf delivers rapid establishment under soil temperatures as low as 3^oc for enhanced disease resistance and strength through the cooler conditions.

Liam concludes, “Getting us through the challenges we face with weather, disease and now big increases in wear, we’re fortunate that we have proven programme that we know we can rely on.”

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Dennis PRO 34R a time saver: Michael Watson, Turf Manager at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, claims that his two recently purchased Dennis PRO 34R rotary mowers are saving the grounds team an incredible four hours of maintenance work compared to the previous mowers they were using.

The Forsyth Barr Stadium is New Zealand’s largest and most versatile events arena. Sitting proudly as an innovative Dunedin icon, it hosts a wide variety of sports, concerts, events and conferences.

Dennis PRO 34R a time saver

Dunedin Venues Management is the company responsible for the upkeep and operations of the stadium and Michael oversees the maintenance of the pitch.

Since the stadium’s opening in 2011, the number of events taking place on the pitch has rapidly increased. With an old set of rotary mowers, Michael felt that it was time to invest in something new to keep the turf clean and healthy and to help combat such heavy usage.

“We used to have two small rotary mowers, but they took such a long time as they were small and slow,” he said. “The machines didn’t pick up much debris either and perhaps worst of all they did not have a roller on them.

“I felt that we needed something bigger which would pick up debris more effectively after training and certain events while maintaining a visually appealing field.”

With this in mind Michael began his research and was recommended the Dennis PRO 34R by Power-Turf – a Dennis and SISIS dealer in New Zealand. It immediately caught Michael’s attention.

“I know that Dennis supplies some of the world’s best turf maintenance machinery for many different sports and maintenance tasks,” he said. “I had also seen the Dennis G860 cylinder mower in action, so I was keen to find out more.”

The Dennis PRO 34R is a 34” (860mm) rotary mower which has been designed to help groundsmen achieve an aesthetically pleasing appearance and desired playing surface. It is ideal for sports pitches and lawns producing the enviable ‘Dennis Stripes’ while a powerful vacuum flow collects debris quickly and efficiently.

Many operators of the PRO 34R have praised the size and speed of the machines, claiming that they save a huge amount of time and resources.

“The time saving efficiency was a huge part of the decision to get these mowers,” said Michael. “They cut mowing hours down from 7 individual hours to between 2.5 and 3 hours so we therefore now save about 4 individual hours when using these mowers.

“Everything just works so well together on the PRO 34R. Starting at the front with the brush, through to the two rotary blades and the smooth rear roller.

“With the huge amount and wide range of events experienced on the Forsyth Barr Stadium field, having a machine to pick up debris quickly and effectively while maintaining a visually appealing pitch was crucial. Due to the busy events calendar with sports training sessions/events most weeks throughout the year and televised games from February until October, keeping the pitch clean from organic material with this machinery is a significant bonus.

“The ability to use them on game days shows how good these mowers are, considering the cut is from a rotary blade instead of your typical cylinder cut. The roller on the back also leaves a nice visual appearance on the turf.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK. You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers