Soil Scout head to SALTEX

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Soil Scout head to SALTEX: Leading soil monitoring solution provider Soil Scout is pleased to announce that we will once again be exhibiting at Europe’s largest free sports turf, amenities, and landscaping trade show, SALTEX on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 November at Birmingham’s NEC. 

Following a very successful first appearance at the 2021 show we have once again teamed up with our partner Turf Lighting Solutions (TLS) to share a much larger open stand space, you can find us in a central location on stand H081.

Soil Scout head to SALTEX

Soil Scout head to SALTEX

You will be guaranteed a warm welcome with team members from Soil Scout headquarters in Finland including CEO Jalmari Talola on-hand to answer any questions you have beside our UK-based Sales & Sports Turf Specialist, Nick Durkin. Having previously worked in the professional football turf industry at Chelsea FC, Wembley Stadium and Derby County, Nick has a wealth of practical experience and technical knowledge.

SALTEX attendees are also encouraged not to miss out on our exclusive special offer! For the duration of the show you can purchase one of our Soil Scout Starter Kits with a very generous 20% discount. With only 25 kits available it’s a deal that is not to be missed! The Starter Kit is the ideal soil monitoring package for first-time stadium, training ground or golf course installations. The kit comprises six sensors, one base station and all necessary antennas and cables. But that’s not all, this special offer package will also include one year’s subscription to the Soil Scout Hub and free online training from our expert technical team.

Visitors to the stand will also be able to have a first-look at our newly developed dual-depth sensor (DDS) and pick up a copy of our packed Sensor magazine. The ground-breaking DDS gives the well-known Hydra sensor an additional sensing head – interconnected with a cable. The main sensor will continue to perform the radio communication, it can be buried in shallow ground to give an improved range, whilst the second-sensor can deliver measurement data from very deep. All from the same hole and with an excellent battery life of over ten years.

Pete Ashworth is the Head Groundsman at Preston North End and has been at the club for 17 years. Preston has recently installed Soil Scout and Pete told us; “It’s almost like a comfort blanket, knowing you’re not overdoing it or letting it get too dry.

“I’m always looking at the dashboard and it gives us that extra bit of belief that everything we are doing on the pitch is right.”

John McLoughlin is the Course Manager at Wallasey Golf Club and another user of the Soil Scout solution. “What drew me to Soil Scout is the live data you get every 20 minutes. Having that at your fingertips is unique in the industry. I also think it’s quite nice to feel like you’re in control. So when you’re at home and going through a dry spell, for peace of mind, it’s great.”

John continued; “There can be times when the greens are drying out or getting too wet, and being able to check that takes a lot of pressure off you, it gives you peace of mind.”

Soil Scout provides the most advanced fully buried underground wireless soil sensor and monitoring solution for professionals in sports turf maintenance, golf courses and agriculture giving real-time data measuring soil moisture, temperature and salinity. To find out more visit – www.soilscout.com

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Green-tech cast iron grilles add finishing touch

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Green-tech cast iron grilles add finishing touch: Scape are well known for providing exemplary student accommodation, with locations throughout the UK, Ireland and Australia. The new canal side accommodation at Mile End in London is situated on the Queen Mary University campus. Comprising 412 studio rooms and flats over two main blocks, it also offers communal and study areas, as well as a gym and spacious bike storage, an often-overlooked necessity in London.

HG Construction have worked on nine previous Scape buildings, with a tenth at Leeds under construction. The emphasis on aesthetics and quality runs through the outside areas too, with a cool palette of soft greys, white and dark bronze cladding offset by stylish columnar silver birch trees, providing a clean, inviting look.

Green-tech cast iron grilles add finishing touch

Green-tech cast iron grilles add finishing touch

Green-tech involvement:
Green-tech was asked to supply 14 heavy-duty tree grilles that would not only look good but stand the test of time. Our Coverdale cast iron grilles offer protection from both pedestrian and vehicular traffic and are made in the UK from 100% recycled material. Should the need arise, they are also 100% recyclable.

To ensure a long life, our Coverdale grilles are manufactured using Engineering grade 250 cast iron, with an expected lifespan in excess of 100 years, even with minimal maintenance or repainting. This impressive durability is down to the fact that 250 Grade cast iron does not rust in the traditional sense. Even if left unpainted, over 100 years, Green-tech cast iron grilles will only lose a few microns to oxidisation.

The standard finish is one coat metal primer followed by a Weathershield rust resistant paint system available in most RAL or BS colours. The grilles are all made to order in a variety of styles and can be supplied with irrigation or uplighter holes.
Alasdair Innes – Green-tech Specification Advisor comments, “This really is a fantastic looking project, and it was great to visit the site and see our grilles looking so good in their surroundings, with the trees establishing so well. If required, we also offer a range of steel tree guards to compliment the grilles and give protection to the trees from vehicular damage or vandalism.”

For any further product information or to request a CPD in person or remotely on any of our urban or rural modules please email Alasdair Innes at alasdairi@green-tech.co.uk or call on
01423 332 100.

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Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

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Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes: When players are asked to describe their ideal putting conditions, the top two words likely to be mentioned on most occasions will be ‘firm and fast’.

For greenkeeping teams, trying to achieve firm, fast surfaces alongside consistency over all 18 holes is tough – but for Chris Brook, Group Course Manager at The Club Company this challenge is multiplied across 15 individual courses! Assisting Chris is the technical team from Origin Amenity Solutions who, from conducting in-depth soil-sampling, have helped in the tailoring of the renovation and nutritional requirements of the groups 270 greens.

Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

Chris has been in charge of the group for 25 years, working with the individual green’s teams at the championship golf courses which are dotted up and down the country. “As a group” Chris explains, “we’re always looking for new ways to further course condition but to move things forward, you need an accurate understanding of exactly where you’re starting from. I got in touch with Laurence McCrory, who joined the Headland brand within OAS last year but who I knew from his time as Course Manager at Castle Royle and asked if he could help with some in-depth soil analysis.”

Laurence and his OAS colleagues nationwide visited the 15 venues, sampling all greens to take away and analyse multiple variables including moisture content, minerals and organic matter (OM) levels, and assess the loss on ignition (LOI). LOI analysis will reveal the percentage of OM in a green and the depth – be it the top inch, or two inches – to which OM is present. “With this data, we can then plan down to each individual green what we need to do, or not do, in terms of mechanical maintenance and nutritional inputs to get the best results from every operation and bring each green up to a certain standard. It’s a worthwhile expenditure, which will then give every team all the information they need to tailor the severity of renovations and put a programme into place which they can map out and action around the unique requirements and demands of their course.”

“All sites have different feeding programmes, worked out between the independent greens teams and myself, with Headland Amenity’s 20-20-30 enhanced plant health tank-mix a key part of many clubs plans at this time of year. We’ll then be looking at feeds such as C-Complex® in various formulations for a response at lower temperatures and post-renovation recovery.”

Chris adds, “Having this data at our disposal means we can ensure we are using the right tools and techniques, that we know will work, and using them in the right places at the right time to deliver the surfaces the members want. We can then re-conduct the sampling and review the results on an annual basis to help us monitor progress and ultimately reach the goal of presenting our courses in the very best condition we can.”

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Ransomes at SALTEX

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Ransomes at SALTEX: The world’s first mower manufacturer, Ransomes, is cutting a path to electric-powered commercial and municipal mowing under its Any Less Costs More campaign using our largest research and development investment this century.

Ransomes’ new mission and vision are focused on providing long-term benefits to customers, consumers and the environment. The investment in electrification, unabated by covid, firmly sets the target of electric lithium powered commercial mowing for launch at SALTEX 2022.

Ransomes at SALTEX

Ransomes at SALTEX

For everyone involved in the process, including Ransomes Vice President of Turf, Simon Rainger, this has been an opportunity to speak to customers about what matters most to them and deliver value under the Any Less Costs More banner.

Simon explains: “We want people to be confident when they are sat on a Ransomes mower that they are sitting on the benchmark for commercial and municipal mowing. It’s very important for people to understand the value of incredibly specialist machinery, and we certainly are that. So, the Any Less Costs More campaign is really about the lifetime value of our products and how it pays to invest in us. It’s worth investing in the 250 UK-based specialists on-site at our factory, it’s worth investing in UK manufacturing, and it’s worth investing in machinery that is compliant with clean and green power.

“You know exactly where your products are coming from, and you also know that you’re going to get superior support from a dealer network that has sold our products in some cases for half a century or more.

“Getting that message out is important, but listening is even more important. We spent the last year engaging with consumers, dealer customers and colleagues to understand what Ransomes means to them and what great will look like for the next five and ten years for the brand.”

Throughout early 2021 Textron focused all mower manufacturing on Ipswich, and that has created a space where the sole focus is on building fine turf machinery. For Ransomes, this year provided the opportunity for 15 million test hours of lithium battery technology to be integrated into their commercial mower range.

“We’re excited about developing new technologies, and Ransomes will borrow a lot of the expertise from other brands within Textron,” Simon explains.

“As a result, we will be able to safely put technology that will be good for the environment, good for people and most importantly, gets the work done into our Ransomes products.

“We’re also celebrating the fact that all of our products are Stage V compliant, and moreover, we will be able to offer electrified alternatives in the future. We feel those clean, green powertrains are worth shouting about and are important as we look forward to launching electric lithium technology and implementing it safely into the municipal and commercial market in 2023.

“You’ll have seen at our shows, events and launches throughout 2022 that we are going to be expanding our range into lithium technology, and in other parts of the business, we have already got turf machinery out cutting in environments that are a commercial or municipal setting. It’s very exciting to be a part of leading the charge as founders of the industry.”

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Johnsons proves tough enough at Boreham Wood

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Johnsons proves tough enough at Boreham Wood: Hosting upwards of 70 fixtures in a season, it’s fair to say that the grounds staff at Boreham Wood Football Club have their work cut out when it comes to creating a pitch able to withstand the pressure of sustained levels of play.

Add to that a lack of under soil heating and lighting rigs which means it’s down to mother nature to assist Head Groundsperson Ben Howell in the establishment and germination of seed – which for the last five years has been Johnsons J Premier Pitch, with fantastic results!

Johnsons proves tough enough at Boreham Wood

Johnsons proves tough enough at Boreham Wood

The pitch is home to National League Boreham Wood FC, alongside Arsenal Women and Arsenal Men’s Under 21 home fixtures which was the reason a replica of the Emirates Stadium pitch was installed at Meadow Park in 2017. Ben, part of the Arsenal grounds team, is assisted by Jack Reed and contractors Premiership Lawncare in the maintenance of the ground. “The play schedule is seemingly never-ending but our budget and resources are not, so we have to be sure that every operation we carry out is going to give us the desired result” explains Ben.

“When it comes to seed, wear tolerance is undoubtedly the key for us, but we also need something that recovers well and demonstrates strong resistance to disease.” For this, Ben uses J Premier Pitch from Johnsons Sports Seed. This 100% perennial ryegrass mixture features a proven combination of cultivars that provide high shoot density, rapid recovery and a camera-friendly finish even under intense wear.

“With this mixture, I just know it works! We’ll use it during our full renovation in the summer and then we will overseed again in the spring to repair any damage sustained over the winter which normally sees us through to the end of the season. It gives us the strength we need and holds up well against any disease, even this year which has been a challenging summer with very high disease pressure over an extended period. With the help of our preventative disease management programme, we have been able to deliver a high-quality playing surface.”

Ben adds, “Our local DLF Technical Advisor Craig Spooner comes in regularly to check how the seed is performing and has always been fantastic at helping and advising us should we be looking to make any changes to the programme. He appreciates that with our calendar there is no margin for error, but with J Premier Pitch we always have a surface that is fit and ready for play.”

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