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NEWS ARTICLES

GreenMech appoints Neal Hussey

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GreenMech appoints Neal Hussey: A familiar face in the groundcare and arboricultural industries has joined GreenMech as their new Direct Sales Manager. Bringing with him over 30 years of industry experience, Neal Hussey will be working with customers and aftermarket dealers across large swathes of the Midlands, while his East-Anglian roots will also see him supporting dealer TNS in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.  

Neal boasts a well-rounded sales and technical background, starting his career in the groundcare industry as an apprentice technician in 1982. He progressed to service manager before moving into sales roles from the turn of the millennium – working for Ben Burgess & Co for 19 years and playing an instrumental role in building and establishing their dedicated Arb department. After a short period working for Fuelwood selling a range of arb and forestry products, his most recent sales position was at Tallis Amos Group (TAG).

GreenMech appoints Neal Hussey

GreenMech appoints Neal Hussey

He joined leading woodchipper manufacturers GreenMech in August 2023 as their new Direct Sales Manager, offering dedicated support to customers in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. Neal will also be working with established dealer Thurlow Nunn Standen (TNS) across East Anglia.

GreenMech Sales Director Martin Lucas comments “I am delighted that Neal has joined the GreenMech team.  His strong foundation of knowledge and industry experience will no doubt help him succeed in this new role within the company”.

“With such a strong portfolio of British-designed and built woodchippers, including the popular EVO series, it feels like a very exciting time to be coming on-board” Neal adds. “I look forward to familiarizing myself with the range and customers old and new over the coming months.”

Born and bred in Norfolk, Neal’s spare time will be taken up either by spending time with family in the area or taking his seat at Carrow Road to watch his beloved Norwich City Football Club!

Neal can be contacted via mobile on 07788 411619 or email; neal@greenmech.co.uk

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OAS Double Up At SALTEX

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OAS Double Up At SALTEX: Origin Amenity Solutions (OAS) will be making their presence felt at SALTEX with two stands this year.

Leading the way in the amenity and grounds management market, the OAS technical team will be available on stands G060 and G057, offering turf management solutions for all grounds managers and greenkeepers alike.

OAS Double Up At SALTEX

OAS Double Up At SALTEX

Visitors to G060 will get a flavour of the comprehensive OAS product portfolio which will include its range of brand leading, tried and tested seeds, fertilisers, and biologicals, plus the addition of water management and digital solutions for your grounds management programmes.

Several of the latest OAS technology-led solutions will be profiled.  These include a new generation of tetraploid grass seed mixtures which deliver enhanced root growth and germination along with superior stress tolerance in temperatures as low as 4oc.

Carbon4Grass is a range of grass seed mixes that have been developed to support the industry’s awareness of carbon mitigation in amenity and landscaped areas. The Carbon4Grass mixes contain cultivars that sequester relatively more carbon than typical grass seed mixes, offsetting carbon gas production by machinery and equipment used on-site. Visitors can also learn about the latest biological developments in soil and plant science health and how they can be incorporated into traditional turf management programmes.

Live demonstrations of the digital Turfkeeper platform will be happening on the stand, highlighting the sought after integrated operations and management solution which gives Turf managers insight and control over staff management, task planning, machinery management, inventory control, chemical applications planning and recording, budgeting, and expense management.

Our OAS Irrigation Specialists will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest water management solutions and how they can enhance your turf health and performance whilst saving you time and money. The new 164-page catalogue, featuring a comprehensive range of Rain Bird products will be available to take away.

All products and services are underpinned by an industry-leading Turf, Science and Technology Centre which is tasked with implementing turf trials that consider future climate and legislative pressures, whilst researching product development for the turf industry as a whole. Research & Development Director Geoff Fenn will be sharing information from past and present trials in the SALTEX seminar area.

For the first time at SALTEX the OAS Line Marking team will have their own dedicated stand (G057) to showcase their robust and unrivalled line marking offering. A range of line marking machines, from pedestrian spray markers to the latest technology in GPS guided robot line markers; alongside industry-leading line marking ready-to-use IMPACT paint range will be on show. Their new line marking brochure will be unveiled at the show and will be available for visitors to take.

The famed OAS Barista will be present once again, along with a number of show offers and competitions which are sure to ensure that stands G060 and G057 are amongst the busiest in the exhibition hall.

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Pinewood Scout Centre lake reopened

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Pinewood Scout Centre lake reopened: Otterbine’s Air Flo 3 underwater ‘bubbler’ diffused aeration system is the safe solution for Pinewood Scout Centre in Croydon, bringing its lake back to life and reopening it for water sports after a period of closure due to poor water quality.

When Jim Clements, site manager and scout leader, took on Pinewood Scout Centre last year he made it his mission to reform the site’s grounds, and fixing the lake that hosts the centre’s watersport activities was the first step. With the water quality of the lake being key to keeping the scouts safe, the Otterbine Air Flo 3 aerator was the ideal choice to get the lake back into action.

Pinewood Scout Centre lake reopened

Pinewood Scout Centre lake reopened

When it came time to find an aeration solution, Jim was after two key things: a system that is safe and can access the bottom of the lake to increase circulation and oxygenation. Otterbine ticked both boxes.

“The lake doesn’t have a natural river feed so is dependent on rainfall and groundwater,” Jim says. “Getting oxygen into the bottom of the lake is critical and the thing I like with the Air Flo is that all the electrics are on the bank. There’s absolutely nothing in the water that could pose a risk to people using the lake.”

Otterbine’s Air Flo 3 is an underwater ‘bubbler’ diffused aeration system that is designed to aerate and circulate the water without disturbing its natural surroundings. But best of all for Jim and the scouts at Pinewood, is that the diffuser requires no electricity or moving parts near the water which makes the system entirely safe for swimming and for all of the centre’s water based activities.

Since installing the Air Flo 3 system, Jim says: “The circulation and improved oxygenation of the water has massively improved the quality in terms of clarity. I think it’s the best it’s potentially ever been.”

Getting the lake back into a safe and working condition is a relief all round after Jim was forced to cancel the scout’s water activity programme last summer: “We had an exceptional drought so water temperature was high, water levels were dropping and conditions were perfect for an algae bloom. It went toxic very quickly and I had to shut the lake. We couldn’t do any activities until I was able to get it back under control,” Jim recounts.

The best way to prevent algal blooms is to increase oxygen levels in the water, and Otterbine has the highest Oxygen Transfer Rates on the market – a key factor in Jim’s choice.

“When I took the site on last year, I had no background in lake management, so it’s been a great learning experience. Sometimes you’re presented with a problem and you have to find the best solution. Reesink has been fantastic. Any technical advice or any questions that I had on parts or suitability, they were just a phone call away.”

Thanks to this Otterbine solution, the Pinewood lake is ready to be used for a summer programme of activities, but it’s not just the scouts that are benefitting from the new system. Jim says: “We’re seeing a lot more fish and amphibians in the lake, and the marginal plants are all really thriving too.”

Cleaning up the lake area is just the first step in Jim’s grand plan: “Now the lake is in a stable condition the next stage is the surrounding woodland and making it far more accessible. Where previously it was overgrown, we’re removing a lot of the Rhododendron and replacing it with indigenous broadleaf species, making the whole site far more ecologically viable.”

To find out more about how the Otterbine range of aerators and fountains can help your lakes and ponds, contact Reesink on 01480 226800, email info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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Getting lawn care ready in September

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Getting lawn care ready in September: We know the summer feels like it has only just begun, but the Lawn Association team would like to share some September lawn care tips to keep your sea of green as healthy as it can possibly be!

Keep your eye on thatch!

After the last few months of ridiculous growing weather, the thatch in your lawn would have increased a lot. We only normally produce thatch for say, April, May some of June and possibly September but we have had the whole of June and July and August as well so have literally increased thatch production by 100% extra.

Getting lawn care ready in September

Getting lawn care ready in September

This is not something that many gardeners think about, but of course, when planning good sensible lawn care you should. Do we hit it hard in autumn to compensate or split between two light ones, autumn and spring?

So what can we do about excess thatch?

Scarification is the key and September is the perfect time to do this, and it will enable you to control thatch levels. Does anyone think that moss may be an issue this autumn and winter? No, of course not, moss will only be thought about when it appears. But have no doubt, it will, because soils have been saturated and air space will have decreased. This happens when the fine soil particles move around and will have consolidated. This means water will move slower through the soils meaning the surface remains wetter for longer.

Thatch is a spongy-like material that sits above the lawn soils. It comprises all the clippings, shoots, and dead organic matter that have accumulated. When this remains wet during winter, moss spores will have a greater chance to germinate, so by regularly scarifying your lawn, this will allow rainwater to run down into the soil and away from the surface, giving the moss spores less chance to germinate (extra aeration will also be required this autumn too)

David Hedges Gower, Chairman of the Lawn Association states “Good lawn care is all about working with nature, not against it. Through dealing with excess thatch sustainably via scarification and other good practices such as sensible mowing and regular aeration, biodiversity and a healthy lawn can be maintained.”

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GKB Sandspreader SP300 doubles productivity

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GKB Sandspreader SP300 doubles productivity: Productivity and efficiency from topdressing operations has more than doubled for the team at Cutting Edge Grounds Maintenance following their purchase of a SP300 Sandspreader from GKB Machines.

Director Josh Blackburn cites that the exceptional build quality of the high-capacity disc dresser allows them to spread up to 240 tonnes of material each day on a variety of sports pitch and amenity surface renovations.

GKB Sandspreader SP300 doubles productivity

GKB Sandspreader SP300 doubles productivity

Having worked in the groundcare industry for close to 15 years, Josh established Cutting Edge two and a half years ago and leads a team of eight operatives on contracts in and around Teesside, North Yorkshire & County Durham. “We’d been using a second-hand spreader for some time so, with the number of pitch renovation jobs increasing, we were due an upgrade” he explains.

“We had demonstrations of a couple of different brands, but the GKB Sandspreader was head and shoulders above the competition – not just from the user-friendly set-up and accuracy of distribution but the impeccable build quality.” Delivered by local dealers Lloyds of Bishop Auckland in the summer of 2022, Josh goes on to emphasise, “You too frequently find that with the machines at the bigger end of the ranges, you lose build quality, but with GKB that is not the case. You can be assured that everything that comes out of their factory is going to last, and work to a high standard.”

The GKB SP300 is the ultimate tool for sports facilities and contractors, looking for a versatile solution to large area topdressing. The 3m3 capacity and ability to quickly and simply adjust the spreading discs makes the Sandspreader suitable for use on a wide variety of applications, from football pitches and cricket outfields to school grounds and golf fairways. “Being hydraulically-driven rather than PTO, it’s really simple to adjust belt speed, disc speed, angle, and thickness. You can tell GKB have designed the machine with the way the operator will use it in mind.”

“The Sandspreader is primarily used seasonally, but we have had it out working as late as October which it can do thanks to the four large balloon tyres which effectively spread the weight making it highly adaptable.” He continues, “It’s not only the quality of machine but the support you have with GKB which we really like. The one issue we had was resolved with a phone call in a matter of minutes. It’s the whole package.”

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