Control the future today

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Control the future today: Poa annua, also known as annual meadow grass, is a notorious problem for UK turf managers and greenkeepers who are looking to create perfect conditions for sporting or leisure activities. This is, in part, due to it being a grass, rather than a broadleaf weed, which means that it can be difficult to find the right chemical to control it, whilst not damaging the turfgrass. If Poa is not successfully treated, seedheads will emerge, and the problem will increase for the following year as it rapidly proliferates.

BASF offers highly innovative turf management solutions for amenity and sports turf sectors, and it has an effective solution for Poa management.

Control the future today

Control the future today

Attraxor® is a plant growth regulator that contains prohexadione calcium, a new active ingredient for turf care in the UK that reduces turf height by up to 30% and clippings by up to 70% following one application. By reducing longitudinal turf growth, Attraxor® reduces the frequency of mowing, increases sward density and root formation, and greens up the turf.

Attraxor® produces a consistent effect for up to four weeks after application, so there is no need to adjust the dose rate, regardless of the cutting height. It is effective on all cool season grass species, such as Agrostis spp., Festuca spp., Lolium perenne, Holcus lanatus and Poa pratensis.

Ideally applied early in the year, Attraxor® limits the spread of Poa annua by reducing seedhead production by up to 38% and physiologically weakening but not killing the plant. Using an innovative formulation for fast leaf absorption, the product provides almost instant results, as it is activated once diluted in water at low pH. Contrary to other plant growth regulators that need to be activated by the plant enzymes, Attraxor® can be used earlier or later in the season during cooler weather (optimal temperature between 7-20 oC).

Attraxor® can be tank mixed with liquid fertilisers, adjuvants, biostimulants and crop protection products.

For further information about Attraxor® and BASF’s turf management solutions, please visit agriculture.basf.com

BASF experts are available for interviews, features and expert comment on pest control management.

For media enquiries, contact Fay Clarkson at fay@honestcommunications.co.uk

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Kubota maintains standards for staycation boom

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Kubota maintains standards for staycation boom: Dubbed the ‘year of the staycation’, the last 12 months have seen families embrace the delights of camping and caravanning with many becoming hooked by the simple pleasures of alfresco holidays. And that means campsites have never been more in demand.

The Camping and Caravanning Club is expecting similar levels of demand next year and its Kingsbury Water Park campsite, near Tamworth in the West Midlands is one that has remained busy even into winter.

Kubota maintains standards for staycation boom

Kubota maintains standards for staycation boom

Earlier this year, the club invested in a new Kubota ZD1211 for the site to help keep the 162 pitches pristine.

“We’ve used mower collectors in the past, but were keen to try a mulching mower to avoid the costs of disposing of clippings,” explains site manager Rob Lawler, one of a team of six charged with taking care of the site and its visitors.

“I was also impressed with the output of the mower when I tried it. We have a range of duties here on site, so we can’t spend all day cutting. Using the ZD1211 with its 1.52m (60in) deck I can get the mowing done and move on to something else; we can also easily keep on top of the growth by cutting regularly as it’s so productive.”

With the site set in leafy glades, it offers a verdant oasis for holidaymakers, so cut quality is important to give that lawn-like appearance, Rob points out.

“We do need a high standard of presentation, so I set the deck at the lowest cut height and it gives an excellent finish. The mulching kit chops the clippings so finely there is hardly any residue, and what there is goes back into the turf to encourage healthy growth. A colleague who uses a collector mower came to look at ours and couldn’t believe how clean the result is!”

He adds that the enclosed 140mm deep deck also contains any stones or debris that may be in the grass, avoiding risk of damage to nearby vehicles.

With its twin HST levers, the ZD1211 turns neatly within its own length, negotiating obstacles such as electric pillars and working round hard standings with ease.

“The levers do take a bit of getting used to,” Rob admits. “It’s a bit like being a pilot! But it’s a very comfortable machine to drive with a great suspension seat and you feel very stable and secure.”

He also praises the deck lift system which gives easy access for maintenance and cleaning, and says that the mower has proved very reliable.

“We get excellent back-up from dealer Hughie Willett, but know from experience how well built these machines are. Our old G21 which has been on the site for more than 15 years is still going strong and comes in handy for clearing leaves or tackling long growth.”

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Support for “Ultimate Golf Internship”

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Support for “Ultimate Golf Internship”: Origin Amenity Solutions with their group member Rigby Taylor have agreed to support the Machrie Golf Internship programme launched by the club this month.

This exciting initiative is a, once-in-a-lifetime, paid internship programme that will provides hands-on insight into the golf and leisure industry and a unique learning experience for young talent considering this career path.

Support for "Ultimate Golf Internship”

Support for “Ultimate Golf Internship”

Working across various departments the successful interns will cover the Golf and Hotel Operations and Championship Links Maintenance. But it is not all work. The internship programme students will spend days playing casual and competitive golf on the renowned golf course ranked in the Top 100 courses by Golf World Magazine.

Applicants are encouraged to sign up via: www.campbellgrayhotels.com/machrie-islay-scotland/offers/the-ultimate-golf-internship.

The deadline for submissions is 12pm on 9 January 2022, with internships running from April 2022 to October 2022.

As part of their support for this Internship programme, Rigby Taylor will make available through theory and practice many of the group resources to help ensure the success of this exciting Internship programme. Internees will be invited to visit the OAS Turf Science and Technology Centre in Essex, England where they will view and be informed upon the trials programmes being conducted and given insights into the technologies that may be available for golf course maintenance in the future.

Commenting on behalf of Machrie Golf Club Dean Muir, Golf Manager stated:

“We are delighted to have Origin Amenity Solutions and Rigby Taylor’s support for The Machrie’s Golf Internship Programme. Their involvement will be invaluable to our interns learning experience and we look forward to working with their expert team.”

Responding, Richard Fry Marketing Director for OAS stated, “This is a truly exciting and innovative industry initiative and a perfect ‘fit’ for the company in that it encompasses many of its own values and ethics. The future of the industry relies on new entrants; ones that can combine practical skills with advancing technology and the understanding of the need for a dual track, mutually inclusive approach to individual career and personal development.

OAS is a group of businesses that comprises of some highly regarded commercial entities including, Rigby Taylor, Headland Amenity, Symbio and TurfKeeper. These businesses are supported by a Turf Science and Technology Centre that has the overriding aim of achieving through research, development, education and training, advances for the benefit of the turf care industry.

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TLM robot saves time and money

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TLM robot saves time and money: The Lilywhites’ home ground, Deepdale, holds the title of the ‘world’s oldest professional footballing site in continuous use’ with Preston North End FC (PNE) remaining loyal to the plot of land that [former cricket] club members leased in 1875.

Today, PNE Head Groundsman Pete Ashworth and his team of six, are ensuring that the site continues to remain ‘fit for purpose’ by maintaining excellent pitch standards at Deepdale – as well as those at the club’s Springfields academy site and newly acquired first-team training ground in Euxton.

TLM robot saves time and money

TLM robot saves time and money

Both sites feature four, natural turf and fibresand pitches and are located a few miles apart, which can cause a time-management issue for Pete, although he’s now able to reduce pitch-marking man hours – thanks to Rigby Taylor’s robot line-marking technology.

Team work

Pete’s team includes Sam Newton who oversees the Deepdale stadium, 19-year-old Luke MacDonald looks after the Springfields site, while Dean Ash and Dan Mahoney manage the new Euxton site – assisted by two willing apprentices, Harry Duckworth and John Paul Mcavoy, who are given work experience across all sites, as and when required.

When the club took over the Euxton pitches in September last year [it was previously owned by Bolton Wanders and more recently Wigan Athletic FC] Pete says the site hadn’t been renovated, there was a high population of meadow grass and no fertiliser had been applied since February that year.

Dan, a former Wigan Athletic FC groundsman joined the grounds team around the same time and Pete says his knowledge of the site helped to get the pitches back on track with an agreed well-balanced fertiliser programme that mirrored the one used at the Springfields site – before raking out and lightly top dressing the pitches ready for use.

This programme included Rigby Taylor’s Activate biostimulent, ConVert and ConVert Gold, Apex and Nutri-Link liquid fertiliser – and this, plus other turf-related issues are discussed on a regular basis by Pete and former Preston Golf Club Course Manager, Andy Merry, who is now Pete’s local Rigby Taylor Sales Technician.

“I’ve worked with Rigby Taylor for most of my time at Preston and trust the products because they have always performed,” Pete says. “Andy and I have a great relationship. We have regular sit-down chats and plan what we think the pitches need the month ahead. We look at the weather forecast, compare it with the year before, and decide which products to use.”

Pete uses Rigby Taylor R14 grass seed on the Deepdale pitch and likes to mix up the grass seed on training ground pitches to “see what works best” – using Rigby Taylor’s R140 grass seed on half of the natural turf and fibresand pitches. Andy is also working with Pete to get the best product colour and longevity by conducting trial plots on the Springfields and Euxton sites.

Time efficiency

Regarding grounds team time management across the extended training ground sites, Pete says available man hours can be a problem – particularly when marking pitches in the height of the summer when the grass growth meant cutting the lines out every day.

He saw a potential solution when he was introduced to Rigby Taylor’s robotic Tiny Line Marker (TLM) at SALTEX 2019 and after subsequent demonstrations, advised the club that it would be a cost-effective time saver for the grounds team.

“Getting the robot is quite innovative for us and we’re pleased the club supported us,” Pete says. “We now take the TLM to mark out twice a week at each site – it’s used on the first team training ground on a Monday and Thursday, and the academy on a Tuesday and Friday. If there’s only one lad at the academy site, he can just set it off while he gets on with the cutting or vertidraining – it’s definitely helping us a lot.”

When the TLM Sport arrived, Pete and his team had a ‘hands-on’ TLM Sport training day at Euxton. Andrew showed the team how to use the accompanying tablet, access the football pitch templates and how to plot bespoke pitch markings. “We literally turn on the tablet, click on the required pitch template and press start – it’s so easy,” Pete says, adding that he also uses Rigby Taylor’s IMPACT paint for vibrant lines.

“Now all the pitch templates are stored in the tablet for each site, if we ever lose one – for example, if we were cutting and didn’t mark it, we know we can put the robot back out and it will mark it up from scratch within half an hour.”

The grounds team’s hard work doesn’t go unnoticed either. West Ham FC’s first team recently trained at the Springfields site before their mid-week game against Man United FC and their Saturday fixture with Leeds FC and as well as some of the players, West Ham manager David Moyes remarked on how good the pitch was – compared to when he was managing the club 20 years ago.

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Toro fleet matches scale

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Toro fleet matches scale: With two 18-hole championship golf courses set in 500 acres of beautiful Northumberland countryside, Longhirst Hall Golf Club, near Newcastle, required a robust fleet of greenkeeping machinery which was powerful enough to maintain the entire site.

The club was keen to find a market-leading manufacturer which could offer local support and reliable back-up care, and after test-driving a number of machines the decision was made to invest in a nine-strong fleet from Toro.

Toro fleet matches scale

Toro fleet matches scale

Graham Chambers, director of golf at Longhirst Hall Golf Club, comments: “I had spoken to a number of industry friends who were dedicated Toro customers and once we had a chance to trial the products ourselves, it was obvious why that was; the machines were second to none.

“The machines function as an extension of our greenkeeping team and we like the fact that they are easy to operate, robust and produce an impeccable quality of cut. Plus, with our guys operating these machines for up to eight hours a day, we need them to offer comfort too.”

With an experienced full-time mechanic on site, the club knew that working with a dependable brand like Toro would bring about less repairs, breakdowns and complications. Not only does it save money for the club, but it enables the mechanic to focus on bringing out the best in the machines by servicing them regularly and keeping on top of routine maintenance such as sharpening blades.

Having purchased the machines from approved Toro dealer, Lloyd Ltd, based in Newcastle, the club and its mechanic also have access to high-level back-up care and support, whether it’s to troubleshoot an issue or discuss ways to enhance the fleet.

Graham continues: “The Toro machines suit us so well. We are a club which offers a Florida lakeland feel across two different courses. Our Lakes Course challenges players with lots of water, while the Dawson Course has wider fairways and large greens. We need adaptable machinery that will not only work with our varying landscapes, but most importantly keep up with the sheer size of the club. It’s vast and working with Toro gives us enormous peace of mind.”

As part of the deal, Longhirst Hall Golf Club welcomed two Toro Greensmaster Triflex 3400 ride-on greensmowers, two Groundsmaster 4500-D mowers with free-floating Contour Plus cutting decks, two Reelmaster 5610-D mowers, which are powered by four-cylinder Kubota turbo diesel engines, and one Groundsmaster 360, famed for its unmatched manoeuvrability.

Graham concludes: “We are a busy club with over 1,300 members and a full schedule of hosting big events from the PGA Europro Tour to prestigious corporate away-days.

“Add to that the renewed interest in golf due to the pandemic and we need the club to look in fantastic condition all-year round. We know we can rely on our Toro fleet to deliver great results every day, maintaining the high standards that our club and members expect.”

To find out more about the Toro range or the finance options available, call Reesink Turfcare on 01480 226800, email info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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