Tempest in a Toro

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Tempest in a Toro: Reesink Turfcare is extending its Toro genuine parts range to include Tempest flail blades to keep the UK’s flail mowers in the ultimate condition.

While suited to all flail mowers, Tempest blades are certainly a match made in heaven for Toro’s LT-F3000 triple flail mower.

Tempest in a Toro

Since its arrival in the UK the LT-F3000 has been widely viewed as a game changer for meeting the increasing demands of maintaining short and long grass in the face of restricted budgets for groundscare customers. And making sure this workhorse delivers consistently and constantly are Toro’s exclusive Tempest blades.

The independent, dedicated flail cutter units of the LT-F3000 are complex with numerous benefits. They have 48 unique blades to enable a variable cutting width from 75cm (30ins) to 212cm (83.5ins) to be as productive in wide open areas as on narrow verges or in tight spaces. The blades fold away with ease on impact of foreign objects and are easily and safely sharpened without needing to be removed, but should they need to be replaced or removed that’s easy to do too.

The fine cut it delivers produces very little debris blow-out and post-cut clean-up operations with strimmers and blowers is reduced which is surely music to any groundsperson’s ears, resulting in far less grass clipping ‘clumping’ and hence their reputation for unrivalled performance in all types of grass and in all types of weather.

But Toro’s Tempest blades are a match for all of that, ensuring a flail’s advanced cutting system never fails says Michael Hampton, parts manager at Reesink Turfcare: “It’s clear in the design of Tempest blades that Toro completely understands the needs for grounds customers to have the parts to match the machine. All Toro’s flail machines and the LT-F3000 in particular are built to always deliver even in the most challenging of environments, so it makes sense that the blade designed to suit the specific needs of a hard-working, heavy-duty flail is the uniquely crafted strong, durable and ergonomic Tempest.”

Quite frankly it had to be something pretty impressive to be paired up with the unmatched LT-F3000 and in long and short grass the advanced blade design of Tempest leaves a clean cut and even clippings dispersal for a great after-cut finish each and every time.

Michael concludes: “Ironically, Tempest blades do anything but create a tempest in a Toro. With these blades in your flail everything is calm, reliable, dependable delivering time after time and never letting the side down.”

To find out more or place an order, contact Reesink’s parts department on 01480 226870.

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ICL’s quadruple success

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ICL’s quadruple success: ICL Turf & Landscape is celebrating the success of four members of staff after two became FACTS Qualified Advisers and two were awarded their Full BASIS Amenity Advisor Awards.

BASIS is an independent standards-setting and auditing organisation for the pesticide, fertilizer and allied industries. It offers a range of recognised qualifications for people working in those sectors, including the BASIS and FACTS schemes, and manages the Professional Register for qualified advisers.

ICL’s quadruple success

The BASIS Award is the national qualification for all those advising on the use, selling or supplying of plant protection products in the amenity industry. It is designed to enhance the understanding of turfgrass management, pest, weed and disease control, environmental issues and legislation. Those who gain the certificate become members of the BASIS

Professional Register; and newly added to that list are Matt Nutter and Andrew Pledger, ICL Technical Area Sales Managers operating in South Central and South East England.

Barry Browne, ICL’s Landscape & Industrial National Sales Manager, and Craig Lalley, Technical Area Sales Manager for North/East successfully completed the Fertilizer Advisers Certification and Training Scheme (FACTS).

FACTS is available to those who have already qualified for the BASIS Professional Register and want to gain Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. The course builds on an individual’s prior level of agronomic knowledge and candidates must have at least one year’s experience of fertilizer and nutrient management planning in the UK.

Successful FACTS participants demonstrate a full understanding of the role of fertilizers on the main crop groups in the UK and are able to make recommendations that are agronomically, economically and environmentally sound.

ICL strive to provide high quality products that perform, where all claims are based on extensive research and to be progressive and responsible with their advice and in order to achieve this, the company is committed to the ongoing education of its staff and distributors. By becoming BASIS and FACTS qualified and by joining the Professional Register, staff commit to a Code of Professional Ethics and a programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which requires them to continue their training to keep up-to-date with the latest developments and to enhance and broaden their knowledge and skills. This ensures that turf managers receive the very best advice from ICL’s dedicated turf and amenity team.

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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Amenity Standard a game changer

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Amenity Standard a game changer: At the 2019 Amenity Forum conference and exhibition, the new Amenity Standard was introduced, prior to its full formal launch in 2020. This Standard is akin to the Red Tractor in food and agriculture.

Those operating to the Standard and displaying its logo will demonstrate their adherence to recognised assured standards in all tasks undertaken.

Amenity Standard a game changer

There is much greater public and political interest related to weed, pest and disease management, especially linked to chemical use. The reasons why chemicals need to be used, as part of a fully integrated approach, in seeking to provide safe, healthy amenity spaces and sports surfaces, is not always clear to the public and stakeholders.

The wider public users of amenity spaces need to have clear assurances that all those involved in creating and maintaining safe, healthy sports grounds and other amenity spaces, operate at the highest professional standards; and whether using chemical or non-chemical methods, such operations are undertaken by competent, trained personnel following well designed and managed plans.

The introduction of the Standard has already generated widespread support including from the national governments of the UK. It will be formally launched in Scotland by a senior government minister at a conference in early February and a similar event is planned for Wales with on-going discussions in England and Northern Ireland on how best to promote and support.

Speaking about the Standard, Professor John Moverley, Chairman of the Amenity Forum, said ‘’We feel this to be exactly the right time to introduce this Standard which we hope will be sought and demanded from all who operate in amenity management. It will give assurance that work undertaken is of the highest professional standards by those committed to best practice in every aspect of operations. Those who work in amenity management undertake important and essential operations seeking to create safe and healthy amenity and sports spaces fit for purpose. Introduction of the Standard is we believe a major step and demonstrates once again the high levels of professionalism to be found in our sector’’

“This initiative from The Amenity Forum has been set up by the industry for the responsible use of chemicals. Endorsed by regulatory trade bodies and completely voluntary, we are delighted to be one of the first foundation partners to join. PCA members can also use the new Amenity Standard logo to demonstrate their adherence to recognised assured standards in the use of chemicals.”Steve Hodgson, CEO, PCA.

The Amenity Standard is a bespoke quality management standard that has been developed, as a partnership, by all sides of the amenity sector. Those operating to the Standard will be committed to an integrated approach to amenity management and to the highest professional standards. They will be members of an approved assurance scheme recognised by the Standard. The cost of operating the Standard is covered by fees from providers of these recognised assurance schemes and there will be no extra cost to individual organisations.

The Amenity Standard is designed to:

• Provide an industry benchmark
• Provide a basis for continuous improvement
• Focus on quality as an objective
• Provide assurances about the quality of the approved organisation and maintenance of the amenity space
• Ensure that quality assurance scheme operators recognised under this Standard use auditors with technical knowledge and experience of the sector concerned
• Promote confidence in organisations operating and providing resources in the amenity sector by provision of a robust and transparent standard

The Amenity Standard will be operated by the Amenity Forum who will maintain, review and regularly update matters as required. They will audit each scheme operator to quality assure that they are operating to agreed standards. In turn, the scheme operators audit their members and approved organisations to assure that they are meeting the requirements of the Amenity Standard. At its launch, three Assurance Schemes are to be recognised by the Standard – the Property Care Association Scheme for Invasive Weed Management and two schemes offered by BASIS Registration, Lawn Assured and Amenity Assured. The aim is for more schemes to be recognised as the Standard develops so that all sectors of amenity are covered.

The need to move quickly on this is recognised by the sector. Clearly embedding the Amenity Standard will need time; it is not a quick fix. Its introduction will need to be accompanied by a communication strategy both externally and internally. However, if this step is not taken, the great progress made to date in increasing the recognition of the professionalism within the amenity sector may be threatened. It will not always be easy, but it is the right step, at the right time.

Hopefully the logo will soon appear on amenity areas across the UK and be upheld with pride by operators. For more information contact Admin@amenityforum.net

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QuadChip a hit for Tai Tarian

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QuadChip a hit for Tai Tarian: Tai Tarian are one of the largest social landlords in Wales, responsible for over 9000 properties across the Neath Port Talbot County Borough.

A dedicated Arb team make up one of seven in-house grounds maintenance teams, looking after the borough’s green spaces. With over 7000 trees under their remit, a QuadChip 160 from GreenMech is keeping the team on track, providing ultimate flexibility for kerbside working.

QuadChip a hit for Tai Tarian

Martyn Davies, Senior Neighbourhood Coordinator, spearheads the team which was set up in 2012. “The very first job was to source the machinery we were going to need to cope with the variety of tasks of materials we were going to be handling. Access when turning up to narrow car-lined streets is one of our biggest headaches but having seen the full 360o turntable on the QuadChip 160, we quickly decided it was the right chipper for us.”

With the majority of domestic tree works taking place in restricted-access and/or kerb-side locations, the manoeuvrability and flexibility of the QuadChip sees it in use five days a week. “With the QuadChip, we can turn the chipper 90o to the road and bring brash from the gardens of properties and feed it straight into the chipper, with the chips going straight into the back of the tipper – it’s brilliant! We then recycle this material around trees and put it to community use, creating pathways and borders.”

So impressed with the versatility it delivers, Martyn has exchanged the chipper like-for-like three times, taking delivery of his newest model in January 2020 from their local dealer, Powercut (Wales) Ltd. “The back-up support we get from them is fantastic and was another crucial factor in why we chose this machine.” Final word from Martyn, “As we now embark on a new tree planting programme, the workload for the team is only going to increase, but we’re safe in the knowledge that with the QuadChip we’ve got a robust and reliable chipper at our disposal to tackle the tasks at hand.”

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Greenkeepers keen to maintain course

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Greenkeepers keen to maintain course: Parkview Golf Club’s green-keeping team has completed a five-day project to mow about three kilometres of the verges along the golf course perimeter.

The project, at an estimated cost of R15 000 is part of the club’s embracing programme to secure the environmental integrity of the course, according to club director, James Searson.

“We are proud to contribute to the enhancement of Parkview, Greenside and Emmarentia where we can,” he said, “and work hard to ensure that the club is kept in top condition not just for golfers’ enjoyment but to add value to the surrounding neighbourhood.”

Searson said the club employs a cleaner whose sole task is to continually remove litter, especially plastic, from the ‘sluit’ through the course, to prevent as much as possible of the litter fouling the watercourse downstream. The process removes tonnes of rubbish each year.

To assist municipal engineers to combat the erosion of the sides of the sluit, the club has opened the property to them and their contractors to set up a site office to store their equipment and gain easier access to affected areas. To limit water usage on the course, the club draws non-potable ‘grey’ water (unfit for human use) directly from the Braamfontein Spruit in terms of its riparian rites, pumps into a dam and then filters and sprays it onto the course. To combat invasive polyphagous shot-hole-borer (PSHB) that has infected some trees and threatens many trees throughout South Africa, the club has engaged an arborist to assist it to control the pest through spraying.

Searson added, “Because we see our club as an integral part of the local community, we offer residents walking and social memberships and welcome casual visitors to a round of golf or a drink or meal on our ever-popular balcony.”

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