FM48 Flail Mower redesigned

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FM48 Flail Mower redesigned: Managing fields and meadows can be a difficult task once the growth hits a certain height. It doesn’t take long before grass, nettles, brambles, and all sorts of nasties make it impossible for a lawnmower or strimmer to bring it back under control.

A flail mower is ideal for maintaining rough grassed areas where a conventional mower would get clogged up and struggle to cut.

FM48 Flail Mower redesigned

The FM48 is a powerful, towed, long grass cutter with a working width of 1220mm (48″). A reliable 13Hp Honda engine with an electric start drives two ‘V’ belts and 42 cutting flails. These sharpened flails are easily replaceable to extend the lifetime of the machine.

As of 2020, the FM48s transport wheels situate at the rear of the machine, instead of the side. By mounting the transport wheels in the new position, the mower cuts closer to the edge and can squeeze through narrow pathways.

Mounted at the rear of the cutter is a one-piece roller. This roller is easily adjusted to fine-tune the cutting height and alleviates scalping by ensuring the flails lift above the highest peaks on uneven ground.

A screw jack effortlessly raises or lowers the transport wheels, allowing you to travel two and from storage on pneumatic wheels, before dropping the mower onto its steel roller. This steel roller flattens and neatens the ground behind it, it protects the user from the rear of the flail mower, and it is invulnerable to punctures, unlike rival mowers which operate on wheels.

The tow bar is typically mounted central to the mower, and it can be offset to the side of the vehicle when it’s desirable not to flatten the grass by running it over.

The safety of the operator is very much in mind when designing this type of machine. The throttle control and engine emergency stop switch are reached easily from the tractor seat. Full skirt guards are provided to stop the operator’s feet from being accidentally offered to the flails.

A jockey wheel is mounted onto the tow bar to help manually move the 245kg machine in and out of storage.

The SCH FM42 Flail Mower is identical in many ways to the FM48, however instead of having a width of 48″, its width is (you’ve guessed it) 42″. This compact machine is ideal for towing vehicles with less pulling power and smaller areas to manage.

For a free 80 page brochure featuring over 200 British built machines, contact SCH on 01473 328272, email sales@schsupplies.co.uk, or visit the website www.schsupplies.co.uk

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Campey set to exhibit at STMA

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Campey set to exhibit at STMA: Campey Turf Care Systems is exhibiting at the 31st annual STMA conference and exhibition on the 15th and 16th January 2020.

This year’s event is taking place at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre, Florida. It will feature the Campey’s latest synthetic, hybrid and natural turf grooming products the Campey Uni-Scratch and UNIRAKE. The Uni-Scratch is the ideal solution for those looking for professional and effective maintenance of natural and synthetic grass surface.

Campey set to exhibit at STMA

The machine has been developed to infill or refill when installing or looking after synthetic grass carpets. It can also be used for the final organic matter removal on natural grass hybrid carpet pitches when carrying out annual renovations. The Uni-Scratch moves on four supporting rollers which are adjustable in height to allow the most appropriate working depth. The rotors can be equipped with springs or linear brushes in PPL, with rear linkage to tractors of at least 30hp.

The UNIRAKE serves a similar purpose by removing organic matter. Still, users can adjust the severity of grooming to remove a varying amount of organic matter or simply stand the sward up to encourage growth. Altering the severity of grooming is quick and easy and can be done in no less than 30-seconds.

As always, the weeklong STMA event, starting on 13th January, will provide a number of invaluable seminars, training opportunities and networking events. Throughout the week, Campey product specialists will be available to give advice on machinery and answer any turf related questions.

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Insight into the Emirates

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Insight into the Emirates: In conjunction with DLF Seeds, over 40 Grounds Professionals from schools, colleges and sports clubs across the country were recently invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium.

Visitors gained an insight into the grounds programme that keeps the surfaces performing at elite levels, and how new technologies are playing an ever-increasing role in monitoring and maintaining these professional standards.

Insight into the Emirates

Head Groundsman Alan Russell, assisted by Deputy Lee Blythe and Assistant Jack Bayford, led the day which included a pitch walk, a tour of the machinery workshop, as well as a look around some of the off-pitch highlights including the Home Dressing Room and Managers Office. The Arsenal Grounds Team took questions throughout the day, with DLF Technical Manager David Rhodes and Regional Support Manager Craig Spooner on hand to provide advice on the topics of turf and seed.

Daniel Negus, Head Groundsman at Devonshire Park Tennis Club, was one of those in attendance. He said, “The day was a fantastic opportunity to see how one of the leading Premier League stadiums operates both on, and off, the pitch. It was hugely beneficial to hear the first-hand experiences of Alan and his team, meaning we all came away with an understanding of the knowledge and practices that they employ.”

Craig added, “The dedication, professionalism and knowledge of the Emirates grounds team is a real credit to the Club. A big thank you must go to Paul Ashcroft, Grounds Manager at the Emirates Stadium and Hale End Academy for hosting us and making it such a successful and informative day for all of those that attended.”

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School groundsman talks about role

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School groundsman talks about role: Lewis Pattinson, the head groundsman at Bradford Grammar School, has spoken of his pride at looking after the grounds at the school.

He said: “It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life.”

He tell us what his job is like and how he loves being a groundsman:

“I’ve worked here for five months and I manage the daily work activities of the Estates Department to ensure that the grounds, pitches and gardens are maintained and kept in good condition. I’m an award-winning Groundsman having won the Institute of Groundsmanship Young Groundsman of the Year in 2016. Before joining BGS, I worked as Deputy Head Groundsman at London Stadium for two years which is home to West Ham United Football Club.

“When I first saw the school grounds, I thought ‘what a fantastic challenge!’ They were good, but I wanted the standard to be excellent – just like the ethos of BGS. This value was instilled in me from a young age when I set up my own gardening company at 14 years old. I only got paid £5 a week pocket money, so I wanted to feel more independent.

“I cut everyone’s garden on the street and my next-door neighbour asked if I’d like to go and work for him as an apprentice Greenkeeper on his private golf course. He could see how passionate and interested I was. I suppose I already embodied BGS’s ‘Hoc Age – Get on and do it’ attitude from an early age, an attitude I see reflected everyday in our pupils and staff across 28 beautiful acres.

“One of my biggest achievements so far has been to put in place a new fertiliser programme using feedback from an Agronomist, who’s knowledgeable in turf grasses and their management. They provided useful practical advice as well as an overall assessment of the condition of the current BGS sport grounds. Going back to basics in this way allows us to track, maintain and achieve better results for our outstanding new £4m sport facilities that includes new cricket lanes, netball and tennis courts and astro-turfed hockey pitches as well as our all-weather sports barn.

“The sports barn and hockey pitches are world class, so I’ve invested in new machinery to maintain these and all the new pitches, inside and out. It’s all about continuous, top-level maintenance and care, to provide the best experience for pupils, staff and the wider community. Small details also have a big impact. For example, I’ve changed all the rugby posts. These used to be pulled out of the ground using a lorry, which over time can cause wear and tear on the turf. These have been replaced with new aluminium hinged rugby posts which are much better for long term use and the wider environment.

“I’ve worked professionally on many sports, ranging from Rugby League, Rugby Union, Football, Athletics and Major League Baseball. It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life. Nobody really goes to school and says: ‘I want to be a Groundsman’. People tend to naturally fall into it through other passions, myself included. I’ve spoken to many top Groundsmen who were professional footballers coming through the ranks. When they didn’t get taken on, they realised they still wanted to be involved in the sporting environment and ended up working in stadiums.

“I absolutely love working in a school after a large stadium. The environment is warm, intimate and I feel extremely valued and looked after here. From 14 years of age I knew this was my calling and now I can concentrate all my efforts on this fabulous school.”

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SISIS success at Colliers Park

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SISIS success at Colliers Park: Two SISIS machines are helping to keep the natural grass pitches clean and healthy at Colliers Park according to Dylan Thompson, grounds maintenance manager.

Colliers Park in Gresford, Wales has recently benefitted from a major renovation following the FAW’s acquisition of the site. It has now transformed into an elite training facility which boasts two full-size training pitches and a synthetic pitch.

SISIS success at Colliers Park

Dylan embarked on his new role in March 2019 and found himself with an arsenal of brand-new turf maintenance equipment at his disposal. The new equipment was based on what the grounds staff use at Dragon Park (the FAW’s other football development centre) and there were two machines which particularly caught Dylan’s eye.

“After using them for the first time I could immediately see why both the SISIS Quadraplay and the SISIS Multitiner were high priority,” said Dylan. “They are both superbly built and can carry out a wide range of tasks.”

As Dylan says, the multi-functional SISIS Quadraplay single pass maintenance system is perfect for busy groundsmen as it incorporates a mounted frame for up to four implements such as grooming rakes, spikers, slitters, rollers and brushes. The implements can be fitted to the mainframe in any order and can be independently adjusted to achieve the desired effect. Compact, robust, versatile and with the ability to carry out up to four operations simultaneously – the Quadraplay makes life a lot easier for many groundsmen as Dylan explains.

“We’ve got the four implements and we mainly use it for brushing and raking. When we are brushing, we will have the slitter down and go as low as we can go just to provide a little aeration – it is great at breaking up the surface algae if we have any. The roller is used to give the pitch a light roll, rather than compacting and is perfect for a nice presentation. With regards to raking we will vary the depth depending on how aggressive we want to be. We’ve done a lot of raking this summer because there was a lot of thinning out required. It has kept the pitch nice and clean so that it is not suffocating.

“I would say that we use the Quadraplay at least once a month – it’s nice and easy to use and changing the depth of the implements is incredibly simple. It is one of those machines which you can get on and complete a number of tasks within a short timeframe.

“Likewise, the Multitiner has 3-point linkage, no hydraulics and there is no messing about – it is quick, simple to set-up and effective.”

For further aeration requirements Dylan relies on the SISIS Multitiner 1.8m – a tractor mounted drum-type aerator. It has three drums with independent rotation and its interchangeable tines with a maximum depth of 100mm ensure excellent turf care when the time comes to aerate.

“The amount we use it all depends on the amount of pitch usage and the weather conditions but we have a general rule of trying to use it on a fortnightly basis,” said Dylan. “On the fibresand pitches we try and keep the structure firm so we will use the Multitiner just to give us a bit of surface aeration.

“Ultimately it keeps the turf healthy and clean and that is exactly what I want.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

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

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