Volunteer groundsman praises ICL iTurf programme

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Volunteer groundsman praises ICL iTurf programme – Adrian Cutliffe, Head Groundsman at Maginn Park in Buncrana, Ireland, has reported that a tailor-made ICL iTurf programme has provided him with fantastic results and excellent value for money.

Volunteer groundsman praises ICL iTurf programme

Adrian, who works for Pitch Dimensions – specialists in pitch construction and maintenance, has been voluntarily maintaining the surface at Maginn Park for the past 15 years. It is the official headquarters of the Inishowen Football League (IOFL) – an amateur league for football clubs in the Inishowen peninsula of Ireland, and is widely regarded as one of the most important pitches in the league.

As well as hosting cup finals and other tournaments, Maginn Park is also the current residence for Ireland Premier Division side Derry City FC while their pitch is undergoing renovation. With approximately 72 games per season and just a three week renovation period each year, Adrian has his work cut out to keep the pitch in good shape, whilst managing on a very limited budget.

At the start of every season Adrian and Colman Warde, Ireland Country Manager for ICL, will sit down to design a tailor made iTurf programme specifically for Maginn Park. By taking the iTurf approach, Colman and Adrian plan season-long effective programmes and solutions for establishing and maintaining healthy, resilient turf.

The programme sees Adrian start the year in early March with an application of ProTurf 20.0.7 to get the grass plant up and running.. This is followed in late April by the first of a monthly foliar application which Adrian applies from March to September. The foliar application combines ICL’s Ultimate Package 1 (consisting of Greenmaster Liquid Spring & Summer and Primo Maxx) which is mixed with Sportsmaster WSF SeaMax and Sportsmaster Liquid Fe. This combination is applied to promote denser growth, better rooting and also to build-up a tolerance to heavy wear, which is much needed for a pitch with such heavy usage.

In early May, SierrablenPlus Spring Starter is applied as a base feed, which gives Adrian long lasting results for three months.

During Adrian’s short renovation period he uses ProSelect Premium Pitch and Sportsmaster Spring & Summer to promote seed strike. Three weeks later, in early August, he will apply SierrablenPlus Active 19.5.18 + 2MgO as a base feed which will see him through until the end of the growing season. An application of ProTurf 12.5.20 is also made to help aid recovery through the autumn and winter period. This is supplemented with a tank-mix of Sportsmaster Liquid Iron Fe, Sportsmaster WSF SeaMax and Sportsmaster WSF Hi K.

As a volunteer with a limited budget, it is essential that every product works for Adrian and he believes that the ICL iTurf programme provides him with the perfect solution.

“As a premium brand, most would expect the ICL iTurf programme to be out of reach for a volunteer with a very limited budget. I would strongly argue otherwise because it has been an very cost-effective solution for me. When you sit down and do the maths, you work out that the ICL products are actually cheaper than others over a long-term period because they work so well and last significantly longer than most other products.

“The results have been outstanding and the pitch at Maginn Park has been in its best ever condition. The other thing to consider is that, as a volunteer I can’t always be here every day, so with the iTurf programme in place I know exactly where I am with everything at all times.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

GoGreen Energy Shines for the Owls

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GoGreen Energy Shines for the Owls – Andy Thompson, head groundsman at Sheffield Wednesday FC, has reported excellent results since using Sherriff Amenity’s GoGreen Energy bio-stimulant.

GoGreen Energy Shines for the Owls

Having started his career in groundsmanship with Doncaster Rovers FC back in 1998, Andy progressed through the ranks and landed the head groundsman’s role at Sheffield Wednesday FC in 2014.

A year later the club had a Desso Grassmaster pitch installed and Andy along with his team work around the clock in order to keep it in excellent condition. This is mainly due to heavy usage and the construction of Hillsborough Stadium.

The Stadium plays host to the first team, Under-18 cup matches and Under-23 league matches and throughout the 2016/17 season an incredible 154.5 hours of pitch usage was recorded. Along with such heavy usage Andy reports that the pitch suffers from shade issues due to the stands being high and constructed with old style structures complete with pitched roofs.

With this in mind, Andy, who has been working with Sherriff Amenity since his days at Doncaster Rovers, wanted a product that would help take some stress out of the grass sward and give the pitch a shine in the lead up to televised games. Upon a recommendation from Sherriff’s Amenity Specialists Joe Kinder and Tom Wood, Andy turned to GoGreen Energy.

GoGreen Energy is a concentrated bio-stimulant, formulated to assist plant health and relieve stress symptoms in a wide variety of amenity turf situations. Containing seaweed, plant sugars, simple carbohydrates and a specially selected full package of trace elements, GoGreen Energy provides optimum results when grass is stressed. The low NPK analysis, complemented by suitable wetting and spreading agents, makes this an ideal component of any turf maintenance programme.

Andy applies 60 litres of GoGreen Energy on a fortnightly basis or when using it the day before a match he applies 40 litres.

“GoGreen Energy has performed incredibly well and has given us a shine on the surface that is aesthetically pleasing – especially for a night time kick-off,” says Andy. “It has taken away some of the stresses the plant gets from a football match, the pitch has played better with a lot less scars forming and the rooting seems to have significantly improved.”

In addition to the great results from GoGreen Energy, Andy was quick to praise the customer service he receives from Sherriff Amenity.

“I meet regularly with my representative Tom Wood when we discuss pitch issues and how to raise the standards of the playing surface. We bounce ideas off each other and try to get the pitch rooting as healthy as possible in a short space of time. Joe Kinder (Sherriff Amenity’s Technical Manager) also comes to visit me twice a year, or more if required, to go through any technical improvements we can implement.

“Products always arrive in a swift manner and I know I can rely on Sherriff to be competitive on price and excellent on service.”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visitwww.sherriffamenity.com

DLF Help Youngsters On ‘Their Best School Trip Ever’

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DLF help youngsters get to hear of environmental issues, turf management and golf on ‘their best school trip ever’ – Kingsdown Golf Club in Wiltshire recently took the initiative to show children from a local primary school how environmental stewardship, sports turf management and the game of golf are positively linked.

DLF Help Youngsters On ‘Their Best School Trip Ever’

Tom Freeman, Deputy Course Manager, coordinated the event and was supported by DLF Seeds who donated wildflower seed for the children to sow around the course.

Plots were prepared on the club’s academy course for groups of children to sow the wildflower seeds.  During the activity they were told about ecology, pollinating species and the benefits wildflowers can bring to the course and its maintenance.  During this, other groups were also treated to chipping and putting tutorials from the Assistant Pro Michael Reeves and the Club Captain Leigh McCarron.

Following the event Tom said, “The day was a great success, the children were engaged and asked lots of questions about greenkeeping, golf and the planting of the wildflowers. Hopefully events such as this will inspire the next generations of sports turf managers, golfers and ecologists and signals the start of a mutually beneficial community relationship between the club and the community around us. We’d also like to say thanks to DLF and Ian Barnett for supplying us with the seed for the day.  Many of the children said it was the best school trip they’d ever been on – and we can’t ask for more than that!”

Evo-Stik NPL unveils GreenFields as official Pitch Partner

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Evo-Stik Northern Premier League unveils GreenFields as official Pitch Partner – Sports turf specialist GreenFields was today unveiled as the new official pitch partner to the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League (NPL).

Evo-Stik NPL unveils GreenFields as official Pitch Partner

The deal, initially for the 2017/18 football season, was announced at a meeting of the league’s 68 clubs, with an introductory presentation from GreenFields.

GreenFields will provide NPL clubs with surface solutions to meet the growing demand for 3G and hybrid turf pitches, as well as advice on maintaining grass surfaces. As a result, the league hopes to reduce the number of fixture postponements, especially during the winter months.

NPL club Hyde United have already been working with GreenFields for a year having laid a 3G woven pitch. The club is delighted with their choice of surface as Pete Ainger, General Manager, explains. “The feedback has been excellent. Players and officials alike have commented that it is amongst the best surfaces they have experienced. The technology is massively different from other 3Gs, it performs like a grass pitch with increased durability. The woven technology enables the grass to stay upright and it’s an obvious difference to standard 3G pitches.”

Mark Harris, Chairman of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League is delighted to have GreenFields on-board. “We’ve been looking for a pitch partner for some time to meet the information needs and growing demand from clubs looking to artificial turf pitches to generate additional revenues as well as providing a surface to play good football on. GreenFields’ philosophy matches our own so this agreement makes total sense for the league.”

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Over the coming season the Evo-Stik NPL will be working with GreenFields to provide clubs with exclusive pitch installation and maintenance information and advice with a presence from the company at NPL events including the launch of a new ‘Pitch of the Year Award’ selected and presented by GreenFields at the annual awards event next June.

Paul Milton, Director of GreenFields commented: “We are excited by this new partnership and look forward to supporting and advising member clubs on their current and potential sports pitches. With over a decade’s experience, we have the expertise in house to be able to provide clubs with the best possible solution to meet their requirements.”

More information on GreenFields can be found at www.greenfieldsturf.co.uk

Man Mowed Lawn With Tornado Behind

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Man who mowed lawn with tornado behind him says he ‘was keeping an eye on it.’  – Cecilia Wessels snapped the picture of her husband, Theunis, on Friday evening as the twister passed near their home in Three Hills.

She said cutting the grass was on her husband’s to-do list, and as he started the task, she went for a nap. Wessels said she was woken by her nine-year-old daughter who was upset that there was something like a tornado in the sky, but her father wouldn’t come inside.

Theunis Wessels said the tornado was actually much further away than it appears in the photo, and that it was moving away from them. There have been no reports of injuries from the tornado, although some other photos show downed trees and a barn with its roof ripped off.

“I literally took the picture to show my mum and dad in South Africa, ‘Look there’s a tornado,’ and now everyone is like, ‘Why is your husband mowing the lawn?’” Cecilia Wessels said Saturday.

“Our whole street, everyone was on their back patios taking pictures,” she said.

Theunis Wessels said he was keeping watch of his surroundings and saw the twister form as the swirling connected from the sky and the ground to form the funnel.

Both said tornadoes are not common in South Africa, but Theunis said he watched a TV program about storm chasers, so he’s familiar with them.

The tornado moved away to the east, he said.

“It looks much closer if you look in the photo, but it was really far away. Well, not really far, far away, but it was far away from us,” he said.

“I was keeping an eye on it.”

To read the original article from Times Colonist, click here