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NEWS ARTICLES

Barrus to launch new products at Glee

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Barrus to launch new products at Glee: Barrus will be unveiling a range of over 60 new and exciting products under brands Town & Country, Wilkinson Sword, WOLF-Garten, and Velcro® at this year’s Glee (28-30 June, NEC Birmingham) on stand 20D40-E41.

The Barrus stand will showcase the product innovation and development that continues to take place across the brands, as it enters new areas of the industry and develops engaging customer solutions.

Barrus to launch new products at Glee

Barrus to launch new products at Glee

The unique and interactive stand will invite visitors to explore the vast range through a variety of different zones, including a greenhouse which takes centre stage on the stand, a planting and propagation area, and a Christmas section, to help promote its innovative products and displays, and support the ongoing movement towards sustainable living.

To meet this growing interest in grow your own, and following the successful launch of its Tiered Planters, Town & Country will be showcasing a new variety of products to aid growing and contemporary planting displays. These include a range of planters and troughs that are made from 100% recycled plastic and are 100% recyclable. They are available in both contemporary and beehive shapes and sizes ranging from 6L to 66L, to appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Buyers interested in propagation will be spoilt for choice, with new Grow Bag & Utility Trays, Potting Trays, a Garden Sieve and Electric Greenhouse Heaters on display – a first for the brand. Also new for Town & Country is a range of brooms, brushes, and indoor and outdoor matts. Alongside this will be a new innovative grab rake that helps to clear and collect with one tool for ease and efficiency.

Town & Country will also be showcasing an eye-catching display of the exciting Pluma range, which takes inspiration from feathers to decorate Cloggies, the Lux-Fit Gloves and the Memory Foam Kneeler and a new addition to the range, the Double-Wide Kneeler.

The stand will also be an opportunity for buyers to see first-hand the ever-popular Ultralight range from Wilkinson Sword. Its newly developed long reach pruner will be a highlight, allowing longer productivity and making pruning those awkward areas easier by using a rotating body and cutting head. Also on the stand will be a new collection of pruner gift sets.

WOLF-Garten will be showcasing its multi-change range as it celebrates its 100th year, and two new hedge shears – Box Tree Shears for shaping and Traditional Hedge Shears.

The Velcro® brand will be showing off its new range of garage and storage solutions, including ties, straps and fasteners, to keep these often cluttered areas neat, tidy and organised.

Mark Hewett, divisional sales manager, commented: ‘We’re excited to speak to visitors to Glee about these exciting innovations and developments for the Barrus brands. Following the success of our Tiered Planters, we’re looking forward to further exploring this new sector of the gardening world with Town & Country, having long been established in the footwear and gloves segment.’

Full details of all new product ranges will be available on the stand (20D40-E41).

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DMC sales & plant hire choose Wiedenmann

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DMC sales & plant hire choose Wiedenmann: Limerick business owner, Darragh McCormack, Director of DMC sales and plant hire, has purchased a Wiedenmann Maredo STrac 700 system with four interchangeable heads

Based in Ardagh, in the south west, his recently launched business has gone from strength to strength also including a ground care division which carries out turf projects.

DMC sales & plant hire choose Wiedenmann

DMC sales & plant hire choose Wiedenmann

“Initially, I discovered the kit online and watched You Tube footage. Then I found out Michael Weldon at local Wiedenmann dealer, Seamus Weldon in Kerry was able to supply and it all took off from there,” commented Darragh.

The new Wiedenmann Maredo STrac 700 system is ideal for turf renovations to bowling greens, sports pitches, landscaped areas and, especially, to turf surfaces where tractors cannot access.

Brought to you via your local Wiedenmann UK dealer, the pedestrian Maredo unit has a powerful guiding handle and a set of inter-changeable heads which all come with a working width of 65 cm. A noticeably short turning radius means the rear wheels can adopt a variety of operating positions, while the tools connect effortlessly, cassette style.

Darragh chose four of the six cassettes that make up the system; the Flex- Verticutter which scarifies to 25 mm; a Vibe-Spike aerator which relieves compaction down to 60 mm; the FlexFrase Mower which strips the top layer to 20 mm, which also removes bumps and undulations on goal mouths; the VibeDisc-Seeder, a slit seeder which can dose seed from 0 to -15 mm at as low as 2 g/m ² to 15 g / m²

At delivery, Darragh received full installation training from Andy Kerr, Wiedenmann’ s lead demonstrator and started putting it use on his own grounds.

“It’s really impressive,” commented Darragh. “The seeder in particular reaches 10-15 mm below the surface and is very precise. The scarifier and aerator cassettes will contribute hugely towards plant health removing thatch and organic matter. It‘s a really great solution when a tractor just can’t get access.

“The versatility of the STrac will be enormously helpful for our projects. The heads are easy to change and the way the wheels configure on the pull along unit means it can work close to hedges, walls etc and gives access to areas you would have previously considered unreachable. I can see enormous potential, too, for golf courses and those who have transitions and levels to manage.

“We’ve got lots of uses for it locally, but it will be available for hire across Ireland very shortly. Anyone interested can contact me at DMC on 086 360 6420.

Michael Weldon, Director at Seamus Weldon said: “The clever engineering where you can just add another cartridge to the guiding unit is genius. I know that a new HighSpeed-Corer head is about to be launched, bringing the choice of cassettes to six. For some turf professionals and landscapers, the STrac might be the only system they ever need for surface conditioning.”

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Technical Managers join Headland Amenity

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Technical Managers join Headland Amenity: To support continued growth and development as part of Origin Amenity Solutions, Headland Amenity have announced the appointment of two new Technical Managers in the form of Laurence McCrory and Jack Hawkes.

Both will be responsible for delivering Headland’s sound and scientific advice and guidance on product selection, Laurence to customers in the South of England, and Jack to Sports Turf Managers in the South and Central regions.

Technical Managers join Headland Amenity

Technical Managers join Headland Amenity

Laurence has been in the turf care industry for 26 years, holding various positions at a number of golf courses including his most recent role as Course Manager at Castle Royle Golf Club in Reading. Having been an avid user of Headland products throughout his career, Laurence relished the opportunity to combine his knowledge and passion for the industry with a change of direction in his career with this new role – providing additional support to customers from the Bedfordshire area and below.

He commented, “I had fantastic first-hand support from Headland throughout my career and it is a brilliant opportunity to now use this confidence and knowledge of their product range to advise and plan programmes for others working in greenkeeping. Since I joined in October, I have already learnt so much and have met some really dedicated turf professionals who I look forward to working with more in the future.”

Also a user of Headland products during his time at Leamington & County Golf Club, Jack Hawkes joins in the role of Regional Technical Manager for Sports Turf – seeing him support customers from football, rugby, cricket, educational facilities and private estates. A keen sportsman himself, Jack is also an FTMI graduate and was selected as an R&A scholar which provided excellent networking opportunities and the chance to work at the French Open, hosted at Le Golf National.

Technical Managers join Headland Amenity

Technical Managers join Headland Amenity

“In the short time I have been at Headland I have broadened my knowledge and have enjoyed working with customers to understand their unique needs and expectations, whether that’s a Premier League football club or local village sports facility!” adds Jack. “With Headland now a member of OAS, it’s an exciting project to be a part of, with an industry-leading range of tools and opportunities at our disposal to help our customers in achieving their goals.”

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Create pitch perfect sports fields with Attraxor®

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Create pitch perfect sports fields with Attraxor®: High quality, well-maintained sports pitches are essential to pupils’ sporting successes and achievements. The BASF product Attraxor® is a plant growth regulator containing the active substance prohexadione, that can be used to regulate growth of all managed sports turf, helping to create fields and pitches that are easier to maintain and have improved playability.

Prohexadione inhibits the Gibberellic acid pathway, which results in a reduction of turf height and turf biomass by up to 70%. Turf root formation and sward density is enhanced, with positive effects on the play, while turf colour and quality are maintained, promoting turf that doesn’t just look healthy, but is healthy.

Create pitch perfect sports fields with Attraxor®

Create pitch perfect sports fields with Attraxor®

In addition, due to its unique effects on seed head production, Attraxor® is also used as a Poa annua management tool.

Acting within four hours of application, Attraxor® delivers great turf quality and appearance, improves sward density and playability and enables better labour efficiency – all essential for the maintenance of high-quality pitches. Another labour and time-saving benefit is that Attraxor® can be mixed with fertilisers, adjuvants and stimulants, depending upon the need, and even contains a water conditioner for easier application.

Recent trials in Germany indicated another exciting Attraxor® feature. Functional areas treated in winter showed significantly less Microdochium nivale infection (-78%), compared to untreated areas thanks to a physiological processes described as the Apogee effect. Prohexadione causes a change of plant cell structures including thickening of plant cell walls, therefore, turf plants which are susceptible to M. nivale in winter, create a physical barrier which helps to withstand fungal infections. The broad temperature range of Attraxor® activity (starting at 7°C) is a perfect fit for late applications to optimise the IPM potential of this powerful active ingredient. This is hugely beneficial to help avoid a costly spring refurbishment programme.

For further product information including warning phrases and symbols refer to https://www.pestcontrol.basf.co.uk/en/Products/Product-innovation/Turf/

Attraxor® contains prohexadione calcium. Attraxor is a registered trademark of BASF. © BASF 2022. All rights reserved.

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Jack Nicklaus courses benefit from Ventrac

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Jack Nicklaus courses benefit from Ventrac: London Golf Club has taken delivery of the new Ventrac 4520 all-terrain compact tractor and selection of attachments to assist in the maintenance of their two Jack Nicklaus-designed courses near Brands Hatch in Kent.

Lee Sayers is the Golf Courses and Estate Manager and heads a team of 27 full-time staff and 15 part-time including two head greenkeepers, a workshop mechanic, irrigation technician and a gardener with 21 members of the team working on the golf course.

Jack Nicklaus courses benefit from Ventrac

Jack Nicklaus courses benefit from Ventrac

“That might seem a very large team to most people, but we have 500 acres of estate including two championship golf courses to manage and large areas of woodland; it’s an intensive job”, he says.

Lee began his career in 1991 at Cottesloe Golf Club in the suburbs of Perth in Western Australia, before returning to the UK in 1994 to take the position of assistant greenkeeper at London Golf Club. Four years later he joined Hempstead Forest Golf Club near Cranbrook and in 2000 returned to London Golf Club as No. 2 to Peter Todd. In 2003 he joined Mid Kent Golf Club near Gravesend, where he spent 14 years until returning to take up his current role in 2017.

“Our members and guests expect a high level of presentation and we try to maintain a manicured ‘look’ across the entire estate, so the Ventrac was an obvious choice, he added. “I’d seen lots of ‘noise’ about Ventrac in the press and on social media together with good feedback from my peer group across the county, especially Mark Todd at the Wildernesse. We had a really good demo and that just reinforced my opinion, so we purchased the tractor unit and four attachments; the Contour deck, Tough Cut deck, Turbine Blower and Power Brush.

“The Tough Cut deck is great for maintaining the woodland margins. The out-front position of the Tough Cut deck combined with the low profile and agility of the tractor unit, means we can get in and under the trees. Without doubt, it has lifted the presentation of the course. The Contour deck does a superb job on the Nicklaus-designed bunker surrounds, where we previously used ‘Flymo’ mowers on the steep sides. This has saved numerous hours and has increased efficiency.

“We have significant woodland and spend too many hours using backpack blowers removing leaves and other debris, not just in the autumn, but all-year round. This is so time-intensive, but the Turbine blower is brilliant; we can also use it to remove debris after scarifying and even blow cores from the greens after aeration.

“Changing between the different attachments is quick and easy. There’s no three-point linkage to worry about or adjustments to make, you simply drive out of the current implement and drive into the next one. The mounting system is ingenious; it’s so quick that it encourages you to use it to its full potential.”

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