Kubota best in all events

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Kubota best in all events: With 200 acres of grass to care for and a packed programme of events ranging from Truckfest to the International Antiques Fair and the Festival of Motorcycling, East of England Arena and Events Centre needs reliable, productive machinery.

After a round of demonstrations aimed at updating their fleet, the grounds team has chosen a Kubota M5112 tractor, RTV-X1110 utility vehicle and ZD1211 zero turn mower, supplied by dealer Irelands Farm Machinery.

Kubota best in all events

Kubota best in all events

The main tasks for the 110hp M5112 are mowing the large expanses of grass used for exhibition space and parking, plus general haulage, head of maintenance Dean Wyers explains.

“We have also purchased a 4.6m Spearhead Multicut mower from Irelands, and the combination gives us the output we need to keep the extensive grass areas tidy. The Kubota tractor handles the mower really well, and it’s very comfortable to drive, with great visibility.”

Next on the shopping list was a ride-on mower, essential for cutting tighter areas.

“We had a front mower before but were interested in a zero turn to work around the many lamp posts, stand pipes and electricity boxes on the site. The ZD1211 is a huge improvement, so much quicker, but with a very good quality cut,” he comments. “It’s also durable enough to cope with the debris that can be hidden in the grass after an event and very easy to check and clean with its flip up deck.”

To get around the huge site and move tools and materials, the 24hp RTV-X 1110 has proved a great choice. Mr Wyers points out.

“It’s very good to drive and comfortable due to its all-round suspension – I’ve already clocked up some miles in it, and it’s proving economical on fuel. We do a lot of towing for which it gives plenty of power, and it can also be fitted with a specialist sprayer which we find very useful for weed control around fencelines.”

The RTV has a hydraulic tipping bed as standard, which he suggests will be handy for moving materials such as soil for ground repairs in the show season. The East of England Arena and Events Centre has specified a full cab with heater, for protection from the elements.

“We demonstrated one with a ROPS, but it is a very open site so we do appreciate the cab,” he comments. “It’s very roomy and easy to access.”

An onsite workshop means that most of the machinery maintenance is kept in-house, and Mr Wyers praises the ease of service access on all three machines, while Irelands are close at hand for back-up and parts should they be needed.

“The Kubota machines are robust and well made,” he says. “Reliability really is key for us as we can often have just two days turnaround to get the site looking pristine for the next event, and we’re confident that they will provide this.”

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Johnsons J Tee helps Wenvoe Castle GC

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Johnsons J Tee helps Wenvoe Castle GC: The unique blend of cultivars in Johnsons Sports Seeds J Tee mixture is delivering the magic combination of rapid establishment and high wear tolerance required at Cardiff’s Wenvoe Castle Golf Club.

Head Greenkeeper Lucy Sellick cites the small tees and the sustained high levels of play as a major maintenance challenge, overcome with this mix incorporating tetraploids and a little extra spring ‘kick-start’ with DLF’s ProNitro® seed coating.

Johnsons J Tee helps Wenvoe Castle GC

Johnsons J Tee helps Wenvoe Castle GC

A team of four assists Lucy with the maintenance of the 18-hole parkland course, labelled as ‘one of the finest challenges of golf in Wales’. “The big challenge for us is finding seed that can germinate and establish quick enough to cope with the high number of rounds! I’ve been greenkeeping for a long time, and for our site, I’m yet to find anything that can compete with the establishment and consistency we get with the Johnsons mixtures.”

Johnsons J Tee incorporates 40% tetraploid ryegrass, in the form of Fabian and Tetragame, delivering significantly improved disease tolerance, shoot density and recovery, even under close mown conditions. It also incorporates Sabrena RSMG – which germinates like a ryegrass, has the fine leaf and density of a bent grass and delivers outstanding wear tolerance, even in shady conditions. “We’ve been using J Tee for the last few years now and continue to see germination in under two weeks, even in the cooler conditions with the J Nitro Tee option.” Featuring both fast and slow-release nitrogen, ProNitro improves nutrient utilisation during the early stages of plant growth for each developing seedling.

“We sow J Nitro Tee at the start of the season, when everything is a bit slower to give the seed a bit of a head start. We then switch to the regular J Tee in the middle of the season, and have achieved fantastic results.” Lucy adds, “We also use Johnsons J All Bent on our greens which, again, is great for high wear tolerance. The high wear areas around the perimeters of the greens are predominately Poa, but the combination of Arrowtown and Manor outcompetes that and helps us to achieve faster greens with improved disease resistance.”

“Another great thing about the Johnsons range from DLF is the fact that it’s backed by science. You know that behind every formulation are years of research and trials which for me is a big advantage.” She concludes, “The team, including my Regional Technical Manager Ian Barnett, are always on hand with the latest information and findings which reassures me that I’m always making the right choice.”

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The MVS 20 Li Battery Blower/Vac Shredder

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The MVS 20 Li Battery Blower/Vac Shredder: Something very handy has just arrived at Mountfield HQ and it is available to buy online!

New for 2022, and pretty nifty even if we do say so ourselves, the MVS 20 Li Battery Blower/Vac Shredder is the ultimate garden tidy tool. Lightweight, easy to use and energy efficient it not only blows leaves and debris away but can also simply vacuum and shred them into tiny pieces which collect in the 45-litre collector.

The MVS 20 Li Battery Blower/Vac Shredder

The MVS 20 Li Battery Blower/Vac Shredder

You can blow, suck or shred to your hearts content with the MVS 20 Li, because it is powered by Mountfield’s superstar STIGA 20V Lithium-Ion batteries giving an impressive air speed of 55m/s.

This machine, which has a simple mechanism to switch from blower to vacuum modes, offers up to 23 mins working time.  2 x 4Ah batteries and dual charger are included…and remember that these will fit all other tools and mowers in the Freedom100 range too!

The MVS 20 Li is available now at www.mountfieldlawnmowers.co.uk

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No better finish than a Dennis

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No better finish than a Dennis: Jay Berkhauer, Head Groundsman for Dartford FC, says that the Dennis G860 cylinder mower is hugely versatile and offers an unrivalled finish.

Jay, who is employed by Jordans Sports Ground Solutions, has been working at Dartford FC’s Princes Park Stadium for three seasons. As an experienced grounds manager, Jay has worked on many sports surfaces including football, rugby and cricket.

No better finish than a Dennis

No better finish than a Dennis

It’s safe to say that he knows his mowers and there’s one that he has used regularly throughout his career.

“I first started using Dennis G860’s when I worked at Crystal Palace FC – and I absolutely love them,” he said. “From all the mowers I have used in my career I am of the opinion that you just can’t get a better finish than a Dennis.”

Therefore, when Jay started working for Jordans Sports Grounds Solutions, he was pleased to be given a Dennis G860 to use at Dartford FC: “Everyone who works on the maintenance side for the company has a G860,” he added.

Relied upon at world class stadia and major tournaments, the Dennis G860 is one of the most renowned cylinder mowers in the grounds management industry. Lightweight at just 166kg it is incredibly easy to manoeuvre and comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for the throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive.

The mower features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish on every occasion. The Dennis G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide range of tasks such as including scarifying, verticutting, brushing, spiking, and slitting.

Jay claims that this versatility is one of the G860’s best features.

“We have the verticutting cassette, the brush and the cutting cylinder,” he said. “In the summer months when the grass needs thinning out, I’ll use the verticutting cassette. I’ll also use it during renovations, just to give it a thorough clean and to remove any thatch.

“In winter, I’ll use the brush cassette after a game to give the pitch a tidy-up and to remove any debris. If I used a small rotary mower to do this after a game, I would be doing it all night, so the brush has certainly helped me to save time.

“Then of course, we have the cutting cylinder which provides an excellent finish every time.

“For clubs at all levels, including grass roots level, there is no better machine,” continued Jay. “The G860 has everything you need in one mower. It is a 3-in-1 for me and therefore works out to be very cost-effective.

“It’s also very light and easy to operate. It never breaks down and reliability is so important for me.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK.You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay.

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic, which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it.

For context, Lee has a team of thirty. Eleven are groundsmen, with two on the college’s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking. Over the summer, the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year, and in November, Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking.

The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options. Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker, he eventually turned to Turf Tank. https://turftank.com/en/

“It was also about helping the team, so they didn’t feel under pressure all the time. With the robot, where it’s taken us six or seven weeks to mark everything, we can effectively do that in a week now. Suddenly, the pressure has gone, and if we have staff on holiday or off sick, it keeps us out of trouble.

“We’ve got some projects lined up this summer that we are going to do in-house, and suddenly, that marker frees up two people, and we can put extra staff on the projects. That’s how we’ll use it as an aid and addition to the team to help plan workload and projects.”

With the Turf Tank One in place, Lee is looking to cut his marking hours by more than half. For him, this will increase pitch quality with additional aeration, cutting and finessing taking place. But choosing a robot and company that could provide everything he needed was critical.

The support from Alex and the Turf Tank team has been exemplary, with all questions answered quickly and I know that there is a full-time service engineer if I ever need hands-on assistance.”

“I think to be fair; the Turf Tank instantly ticked a lot of boxes for us. And it wasn’t just me, my team were there, and we tried other machines a week apart on the same pitch. We looked at line quality, how much paint it was putting out, how quick it was to set up, and there were similarities.

“But then we started to think about the differences. Do we want to be tied into a paint deal? Do we want an annual subscription fee? Turf Tank gave us that bit more flexibility.

“The other factor was the base station. You read a lot about the pros and cons, but to be honest as soon as I saw how it interacted with the machine, and how much more accurate the marking was, compared to those without using a base station, the whole team were like ‘it’s a no brainer, isn’t it?’ It blew us away, to be fair, and we bought the Turf Tank, and we now have base station points installed across the site, and it has worked really, really well.

“The Turf Tank records templates for initial marking and subsequent over-marking. Being able to get those templates was a significant point for us and nothing has been out of the remit of the robot. We’ve got most of the pitches loaded up now, including where the goals are actually smaller than a football goal, but we’ve managed to get the robot between the two posts and mark. Everything we’ve asked for has happened, and it has been great

“We want to teach our staff new skills and using and understanding the latest technology is very much part of Eton College’s ethos. I’m very much won-over and very impressed with the Turf Tank One line-marking robot. And if I were to move anywhere else, it is one of the first things I’d want to have in my fleet.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK) Michael@turftank.co.uk (Scotland and Ireland)

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