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True Grit At SALTEX

September 17, 2019/in Events, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

True Grit At SALTEX: Wessex International have chosen Saltex as the venue for the launch of PolarOne, their new range of professional salt and grit spreaders for winter maintenance. Built in the UK to take on the harshest winter conditions, the spreader is constructed using stainless steel components and fixings together with powder coating […]

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

September 16, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Colin Hoskins

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA: One measure of the calibre of any sporting venue is not only the level of use of the site but also the number of favourable comments made about the quality of the playing surfaces. Cromer Lawn Tennis & Squash Club (LTA) can lay claim to both – thanks to […]

True Grit At SALTEX

September 17, 2019/in Events, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

September 16, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Colin Hoskins

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

True Grit At SALTEX

September 17, 2019/in Events, News, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

True Grit At SALTEX: Wessex International have chosen Saltex as the venue for the launch of PolarOne, their new range of professional salt and grit spreaders for winter maintenance.

Built in the UK to take on the harshest winter conditions, the spreader is constructed using stainless steel components and fixings together with powder coating for anti-corrosion longevity. Durability and weight saving are also the thinking behind the self-supporting design of the polypropylene hopper and integral liquid brine tank. PolarOne can be trailer or vehicle-mounted. There are two models, the WS-900 (900L) and WS-1200 (1200L) and each has three options.

Model ST is a manually operated machine for those who just want a basic spreader, no speed control or data logging. Model GT has all the functions of the standard machine but with the addition of GPS speed control. The system monitors changes in forward speed and spread widths to ensure precise application and minimal material wastage, for increased profitability. The Commander has all the above with the addition of full telematics to remotely monitor the salt spreader back at base. The set- up would have access to a real-time webpage and opens up a variety of additional facilities such as route logging, reporting and ring-fencing for fleet and productivity management. The PolarFlo vibration system is a patented auto vibration control to manage consistent material flow, which is totally new and unique to the industry. The spreader is suited to a wide variety of vehicles with its adjustable spinner height coupled with a convenient fold up feature. The spread direction is easily adjusted to bias from left to right by moving the feed chute position and there’s a safety emergency stop. PolarOne’s extended auger design allows better weight distribution in the host vehicle and the large diameter auger, with delivery tunnel, manages the spreading of a large range of materials without blockages or leakage.

Wessex have achieved a unique, low maintenance design with the PolarOne spreader using no engines, belts, chains or grease points. The in-cab digital controller, with GPS connectivity, will adjust material delivery according to your vehicle speeds to maintain a consistent application rate. A speed optimisation indicator will help you optimise your driving speeds to improve the accuracy of spreading and productivity of your equipment and reduce material wastage. There’s a wide range of optional extras and plans to introduce pre-wet and spray bar options. Brine will be available in 2020. Wessex will also display their ProLine range of commercial mowers and turf machinery at the show. See the PolarOne spreader and latest ProLine on the Wessex International stand number K060 at Saltex.

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Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

September 16, 2019/in News, Press Release/by Colin Hoskins

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA: One measure of the calibre of any sporting venue is not only the level of use of the site but also the number of favourable comments made about the quality of the playing surfaces.

Cromer Lawn Tennis & Squash Club (LTA) can lay claim to both – thanks to the expert court maintenance regimes instigated by head groundsman Matt Jordan and his use of a range of Rigby Taylor amenity products. These, he says, “prove indispensable in enabling us to keep our grass courts playing well and looking good all through a busy season”.

Based on the Norfolk coast, Cromer LTA is open for play on weekdays during the summer months from 9am to 10pm, and on weekends from 9am to 8pm during the summer and 9am ‘til 4pm in the winter. The facilities are heavily used throughout the year. The 10 grass courts are open from April through to September, when play switches to the two floodlit artificial courts and the pair of hard courts.

The summer schedule includes a number of major tournaments when the grass courts especially are at full stretch:

A Junior Week when 300 youngsters descend on the site and utilise all courts;
The Open Senior Week, with around 200 competitors on grass – which this year celebrates its 100^th anniversary at the long-established (1907) club; and
The County Week, when the club welcomes a host of players from around the country on its grass courts.

For such tournaments, it is not unusual for Matt and his assistant Peter Cooper to be at the site every day from 5.30am to, for example, cut the courts (at 8 mm high) “though the daily use of the mowers is more for ‘hoovering up’ any debris on the courts as it is for keeping the grass height consistent”. They also attend at night, when necessary, to water the courts.

But they utilise a well-practised pitch care regime that, says Matt, begins when the tennis season ends in September as court renovations begin.

“We will start with a concerted programme of heavy scarification when most of the sward will actually be removed,” he says. “Then we spike and apply a light covering of Kettering loam before applying Rigby Taylor’s R9 ultra fine dwarf rye seed. We’ll keep off the surfaces for two/three weeks before we start cutting – to 14 mm high – and we’ll continue to cut to this height every other week throughout the winter.

He continues: “During this time we will apply various Rigby Taylor products and we’ll spike and slit once a month in preparation for the new season, which starts in April. That said, I avoid aerating and spiking after perhaps February/March, depending on the weather, to avoid encouraging cracking on the courts.

“I’ve worked with bents and fescues in the past,” says Matt who spent eight years as a golf greenkeeper (when he gained his Level 3 accreditation) before joining Cromer LTA in 2008. “But rye is, of course, the choice for tennis courts and I find R9 (treated with Germin-8T) provides excellent wear and disease tolerance, for example.

The ‘T’ in Germin 8T identifies the content of the Trichoderma atroviride filamentous soil fungi that forms a mutual endophytic, beneficial relationship with grass plants. The symbiotic relationship delivers increased tolerance to the turf diseases leaf spot, pythium and rhizoctonia.

Pre-applied to each individual grass seed, Germin-8T contains a speciality surfactant that is activated when the seed comes into contact with rootzone moisture. This provides effective penetration of water through the seeds’ outer layer (pericorp) into the endosperm, by lowering the surface tension of the surrounding water molecules. Roots can also take advantage of the micronised mycorryhizal fungi that will deliver long-term plant benefits.

The result is that at the active germination stage, each emerging seedling has immediate access to a highly beneficial package of targeted nutrients, biostimulants and micronised mycorrhizal fungi that together aid early establishment, improved root mass development and accelerated leaf extension.

“I do trial competitor grasses against R9 but haven’t found anything to match it – for example, its germination rates are consistently 25% better than anything I’ve tried.”

Likewise, he pinpoints a number of other Rigby Taylor’s products as being ideal for his needs – and those of the courts – “including Premier HG slow-release granular and Fine Turf 6-0-18 fertilisers, SeaQuest liquid seaweed and Magnet Velocite liquid iron”, in combination with the company’s iGo line marker and its Impact XP paint “where every application consistently lasts for a week”.

The artificial courts are brushed as often as possible when the weather is dry, “and at least every other week”, while the hard courts are sprayed once/twice a year to keep the moss at bay.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

True Grit At SALTEX

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

True Grit At SALTEX

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

True Grit At SALTEX

True Grit At SALTEX: Wessex International have chosen Saltex as the venue for the launch of PolarOne, their new range of professional salt and grit spreaders for winter maintenance.

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA

Rigby Taylor Success At Cromer LTA: One measure of the calibre of any sporting venue is not only the level of use of the site but also the number of favourable comments made about the quality of the playing surfaces.

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