INFINICUT® & TMSystem™ the perfect match

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INFINICUT® & TMSystem™ the perfect match: Having played the sport from the age of 10, in 2012 Dean Gibbons combined his passion for bowls with his interest in turf maintenance, becoming Greenkeeper at Wantage Bowling Club.

At just 28, Dean brings youthful enthusiasm to improve standards whilst exploring new, greener alternatives for the club. On Dean’s recommendation, the club purchased a 22” INFINICUT® FX and a selection of TMSystem™ cassettes last year, meaning he can now mow, aerate and verti-cut the green, all with one battery-powered unit.

INFINICUT® & TMSystem™ the perfect match

INFINICUT® & TMSystem™ the perfect match

“I’d always had an interest in gardening at home so used that to assist the former greenkeeper at the bowls club, where I gained knowledge and invaluable hands-on experience. After taking over and familiarising myself with the programme, I then began to look at new machinery to make the tasks easier.” Over the last few years Dean has gradually taken on all of the maintenance work, meaning the club no longer require the service of external contractors – the savings from which went towards purchasing the INFINICUT® in July 2019.

“I’d had my eye on the INFINICUT® for a few years. The fact it is battery powered makes it greener, cleaner and quieter to operate and in addition, the versatile range of cassette options available meant we only needed to fund, and subsequently store, a single machine. When they introduced the Fixed Head model it offered all of the above benefits, wrapped up in a more affordable package for us.”

During a regular season, Dean and his team of volunteers would mow the green up to four times a week, adding that the “simplicity of use and well-balanced manoeuvrability of the INFINICUT® has taken the strain off the maintenance.” Their TMSystem™ cassettes – the SarelRoller and UltraGroomer – are then passed over the green on a bi-weekly basis. Preventing surface sealing, the SarelRoller helps to improve filtration rates and gaseous exchange into the upper rootzone, while the 80+ tungsten carbide tipped blades of the UltraGroomer minimise puffiness and effectively remove thatch and lateral growth.

“The multi-functionality of the INFINICUT® is excellent – the flexibility I have to conduct those three tasks, exactly when we need to means our green is now in better shape than ever. Not only that, but the quality and cleanliness of cut has helped to boost overall plant health, helping me to fulfil my organic approach to greenkeeping.” Enjoying the fruits of his labour, Dean remains a keen player and hopes that the quality of the bowling surface may encourage new, and perhaps younger, players to the club.

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Symbio appoints new business development manager

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Symbio appoints new business development manager: Jeremy Hughes has been appointed by Symbio as its new International Business Development Manager.

He has taken the reins from Martin Ward in providing advisory services, product support and training to the company’s growing number of distributorships serving an expanding customer base in overseas markets. Jeremy also provides direct support to a number of golf resorts and football clubs in Europe and the Nordics.

Symbio appoints new business development manager

Symbio appoints new business development manager

Jeremy has been with the Surrey-based company for five years as Technical Sales Manager for the Midlands, north west England and west Wales. He was previously Course Manager at the Vale of Llangollen Golf Club where he adopted and advocated a biological approach to turf management.

Jeremy says that interest in the company’s products has never been greater. “Over the past 30 years, we’ve worked with customers to restore a healthy balance to their soil. As the market-leader, we’ve experienced year-on-year growth in recent years, spurred on by wider access to education, the withdrawal of active ingredients in chemical applications, and greater environmental awareness.

A growing understanding of soil biology is resulting in an increasing number of sports turf managers changing their approach to problem solving and the improvement of their playing surfaces, whether that’s thatch reduction, grass species conversion, disease prevention, maintaining firmer, drier greens, or increasing the holding capacity of sand-based sports pitches. Club owners are increasing seeking advice at the construction stage, starting as they mean to go on in ensuring soil and turf health is optimised from the outset. We continue to improve and develop the company and our product range, building on our excellent results and customer satisfaction.”

Jeremy can be contacted on Tel: 07554 668423 and by email at jeremy@symbio.co.uk.

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Fleet paint VE Day rainbow

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Fleet paint VE Day rainbow: About 4 weeks ago, we were asked by Julie Wills, the Head Teacher of Upton Upon Severn Primary School, if we could paint a large rainbow on their playing field in support of all the Key Workers. We of course said “Yes, it’ll be a pleasure!”.  So my colleague, Chris Bridges, and I set about creating a beautiful rainbow on their playing field.

The end result was amazing and was reported by BBC Hereford & Worcester and appeared on BBC Midlands Today TV at tea time.

Fleet paint VE Day rainbow

Fleet paint VE Day rainbow

A couple of weeks later, Malvern Community Hospital asked if we could paint another outside the reception of the Hospital, on grass. So again Chris and I set about creating a smaller rainbow outside the Hospital. This is still bringing smiles to the faces of staff as they enter and leave the hospital.

Whilst being interviewed by Justyn Surrall of BBC Hereford & Worcester after the second rainbow, Justyn jokingly said to me “maybe we’ll have a competition to see who can do the biggest rainbow”. This stuck in my mind for a couple of weeks. I then called Malvern Rugby Club to check they would be ok with us (Fleet) painting a rainbow, the full length of the 1st XV PITCH from try line to try line …. 100 metres in length! The Club were extremely excited about the whole idea.

This rainbow needed to be different to the other two, which it certainly would be due to its size! My colleague Chris reminded me about VE DAY on the 08th May, so with this is mind, we thought we’d make it a tribute to all the Key Workers as well as remembering VE DAY.  The end result has been particularly well received. It has made the National News channels, as well as Regional News. It has appeared as far afield as New Zealand on their National News as well as many countries across Europe. As well as being 100 metres from one end to the other, below the net arc of the rainbow, we painted the VE DAY logo set on top of a Union Jack Flag. Our MAQA GNSS system was used to plot the Flag, our BeamRider Laser System was used for the VE DAY logo and it was back to basics using a tape measure and straight edges to do the lettering etc. The 7 & 5 on the VE DAY logo were 6 metres in height, the VE DAY letters were 4 metres high and the rest of the text at about 1.3 metres. Each colour of the rainbow was 2.5 metres in width. If you walked around  the red arc of the rainbow, the distance would be around 157 metres!  It took about 2.5/3 days for Chris, Ali S, Adam and myself to get this “small project“ painted in ( plus I roped in my son for half a day and Ali M who flew the drone for videos and pics was roped in for a few hours as well! All socially distancing of course) A massive thanks and pat on the back to everyone involved.

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Green set on fire by vandals

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Green set on fire by vandals: A golf club has been left in dismay after being the victim of “pure vandalism” in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown.

Thousands of pounds of damage was caused to various elements of the course at Knighton Heath Golf Club in Bournemouth.

The spate of damage across the 90-acre site, which sits beside Canford Heath, included areas on two greens being set alight.

Various tee signs, 150-yard markers, ball washers and trees were also destroyed, broken, uprooted or stolen by vandals.

Reunert Bauser, Knighton Heath Golf Club general manager, told the Daily Echo: “We have a couple of groups of members who patrol our course.

“They left on the Friday evening at 8pm and all the signs were fine. When we arrived the next morning six of the signs had been damaged beyond repair.

“It was just pure vandalism that happened and it is depressing.

“We also had two of the greens targeted by someone who poured a flammable substance over them and set them alight.

“The signs had been up for around five years and nothing had ever happened to them before. It took us a long time and a big cost to put them up in the first place. They cost around £600 each.”

During the coronavirus lockdown, the club has had to manage its resources carefully. As of yesterday the site had reopened following the slight easing of lockdown restrictions imposed by the government.

Mr Bauser said the vandalism had created an additional financial burden and an unexpected cost to address.

“The greenkeeper was not happy,” he added. “Greens cost a lot of money to put in and manage.

“You have people trying to set the greens alight and you are left with no idea why they are doing this.

“It is disheartening for the greenkeeper as he puts a lot of work into the course. It is taking shape and it is one of the better courses around at the moment.

“To fix the greens will mostly take time.”

The golf club has reported the damage to Dorset Police and officers are investigating.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “We received a report at 6.05pm on Saturday 2 May 2020 of criminal damage at the Knighton Heath Golf Club.

“It was reported that the damage had been caused sometime between 3pm on Friday, May 1, and 11am on Saturday. May 2, with posts and yard markers ripped out of the ground. Enquiries have been carried out into the incident but no arrests have been made.”

Anyone with information relating to the vandalism, should contact police on 101 quoting reference number 55200062020.

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New irrigation controller from Rain Bird

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New irrigation controller from Rain Bird: Rain Bird has introduced the new smart ESP- LXIVM two wire irrigation controller with a smart solenoid Integrated Valve Module (IVM).

This innovation represents a major step forward in landscape and sports turf irrigation control through real-time communication and providing the user with immediate feedback and diagnostics as well as highly reliabile, closely controlled irrigation.

New irrigation controller from Rain Bird

New irrigation controller from Rain Bird

Installers and their customers can take advantage of ESP-LXIVM’s powerful features including the fact that the controller and the irrigation valve speak the same language. It can be used for a spectrum of irrigation control application from landscaped housing developments, schools and sports training grounds to public parks and larger industrial or commercial sites.The Standard version has a 60 station capability whilst the Pro offers 240 stations which can be split across 10 flow zones.16 stations can be run simultaneously and up to 40 irrigation programs can be set.

With the integrated IVM-SOL control station the need for a decoder is eliminated and 50% fewer connectors are required in the field. This means simplified installation, saving time and money, as well as lowering future maintenance requirements and potential field repairs.

The ESP- LXIVM can communicate wirelessly and be used in conjunction with the Rain Bird’s IQ Platform, including the new IQ4 100% browser based irrigation management system. This gives users convenient remote internet control from a smartphone, tablet or desktop PC. The controller’s display panel has a simple user interface with a large backlit screen, an easy to operate programming dial and additional buttons for extra functions. In conjunction with the real-time diagnostics feature, users can access historical electrical data and other operational information through the screen and react quickly to any potential problems in the field.

The controller’s IVM-SEN interface allows real-time flow management tools such as Rain Bird’s FloWatch and FlowManager to be employed and guard against high or low flow conditions. Water can also be conserved and total watering times reduced by interfacing with weather sensors.

For more information, contact Peter Longman, Northern Landscape Area Manager, Rain Bird Europe. plongman@rainbird.eu  www.rainbird.eu

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