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Rody Kilbride Wins Award

April 16, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Rody Kilbride Wins Award: The winner of the 2018 Irish Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award, sponsored by ICL and Syngenta, has been confirmed as Rody Kilbride from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo. For a number of years, ICL and Syngenta have been proud sponsors of the Irish Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award – which is part […]

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

April 16, 2018/in Press Release/by tm-admin

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One: Okehampton Golf Club, Dartmoor National Park, trials enriched biochar to eliminate fungicide use. A new turf improver with roots in traditional green keeping is arming Course Managers with a natural alternative to ever restricted fungicides and chemical fertilisers. Carbon Gold’s Enriched Biochar Soil Improver is a horticultural form of charcoal […]

Rody Kilbride Wins Award

April 16, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

April 16, 2018/in Press Release/by tm-admin

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Rody Kilbride Wins Award

April 16, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Rody Kilbride Wins Award: The winner of the 2018 Irish Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award, sponsored by ICL and Syngenta, has been confirmed as Rody Kilbride from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.

For a number of years, ICL and Syngenta have been proud sponsors of the Irish Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award – which is part of the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board’s (KWETB) Greenkeeping Training Course.

Colman Warde, ICL Country Manager for Ireland presented Rody with his trophy and a gift voucher at Naas Golf Club, Co Kildare said: “As a company we are very proud to continue our sponsorship of this award. The training course is a fantastic opportunity which helps prepare the students for a promising future in this industry. It was great to present the award to Rody, who is a good example of enthusiastic, young greenkeepers. It’s good to see so many students interested in this course because they are the future of the industry.”

“Aisling does a tremendous job arranging the course and it’s great to see the likes of David Behan from Naas Golf Club, David Callanan from Beech Park Golf Club, Mark Kirwan from the Heritage Golf Club and Tom Carew from Craddockstown put so much time and effort into helping train these students” commented Colman.

For the duration of the 48 week course Rody was placed at Beech Park Golf Club under the watchful eye of Course Superintendent David Callanan. With the student course now complete Rody has successfully gained a full-time greenkeepers job at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Course in Co Limerick, with the newly redeveloped course, designed by Tom Fazio, due to open in April 2018.

Now in its twelfth year, the course continues to go from strength to strength, which is testament to the hard work and meticulous planning carried out by Aisling Mahon, course co-ordinator who’s commitment to nurturing the future of greenkeeping has ensured the success of the course. Aisling is delighted to have seen the course open a number of doors for aspiring greenkeepers, including full time employment, further education and oversees internships at prestigious golf courses such as Bay Hill and Pebble Beach in Ohio, USA.

Last year’s winner, Tiernan Crawford, impressed Naas Golf Club so much throughout the duration of the course that he was offered a full time greenkeeping position. He has been working in this role for the past year and is now moving to Beech Park Golf Club – a position which commences in just a couple of weeks. He intends on furthering his education and will be studying Sportsturf Science Level 6 in September 2019.

William Fitzpatrick, winner of the 2016 award, has been busy working and continuing his studies as well as becoming a first-time father. He is working full-time at Portarlington Golf Club and has just recently graduated from Teagasc College of Amenity Horticulture, National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Dublin where he studied Sportsturf Science. William has also volunteered at a number of tournaments and is working hard to progress within the industry.

To make any enquiries about the Greenkeeping Training Course please email greenkeepingcourse@gmail.com

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

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Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

April 16, 2018/in Press Release/by tm-admin

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One: Okehampton Golf Club, Dartmoor National Park, trials enriched biochar to eliminate fungicide use.

A new turf improver with roots in traditional green keeping is arming Course Managers with a natural alternative to ever restricted fungicides and chemical fertilisers.

Carbon Gold’s Enriched Biochar Soil Improver is a horticultural form of charcoal blended with optimum levels of fungi, bacteria and trace minerals, and is approved by EU certification bodies for organic growing. It was common practice a century ago to use charcoal to keep greens porous and firm, and to improve the appearance and colour of turf. Now, innovative Greenkeepers are ‘rediscovering’ the benefits of biochar – using it to eliminate fungicides completely, and reduce chemical fertiliser use significantly.

David Chammings, Amenity Specialist for Sherriff Amenity, a division of Agrovista UK, has been the Chairman of Greens at Okehampton Golf Club for the past 3 years. His position and experience allow him to trial innovative techniques on different areas of the course, and he approached Carbon Gold, keen to be the first to trial biochar on golf course greens.

The club, established in 1913, has been through significant changes in the last 5 years, adapting to an ever-evolving industry and stricter demands, such as the revocation of insecticides and the withdrawal of many fungicides under ever tighter EU regulations. In 2016, Stuart Entwhistle joined as Course Manager, and together he and David devised a trial outline to test how Carbon Gold’s enriched biochar would perform on specific areas of the course, in the hope of finding a new solution to old problems.

The Okehampton trials

Locations and issues:

The 5^th green – a very sandy newly-extended area of the green, which leaches nutrient heavily.

The 12^th green – the ‘disease indicator’ green, placed in the Ockment Valley. It is surrounded by trees and receives very little winter sunlight.

Application:

Enriched Biochar Soil Improver was applied in March 2017. Both greens were 13mm hollow tined to a depth of 100mm. 1kg per m2 of Carbon Gold’s Enriched Biochar Soil Improver was brushed in – in the same way sand is commonly brushed into turf – over an area of 100m2 per green.

Outcomes

20% fertiliser reduction

Okehampton currently fertilise the greens five times a year.

They continued to fertilise the trial areas, at the same rate as the rest of the greens, but found that in the summer the 5th green looked healthier and was holding nutrient a lot more efficiently so decided to miss an application on this area. Three weeks later it was not evident that a feed application had been missed, and the trial area looked as healthy as the rest of the green. There is a definite increase in nutrient holding capacity in the sandy rootzones, and a 20% reduction in fertiliser use overall.

100% fungicide reduction

The fungal disease being treated in the Okehampton Carbon Gold trials is fusarium patch (Microdochium nivale) – common to golf courses across the world. They currently apply fungicide to all of the greens on the course twice a year, sometimes up to four times a year. To treat the whole 7000m2 course costs £700 per application – Okehampton’s annual fungicide bill alone can reach £2800.

No fungicide was required on either of the trial areas for the whole of the year, meaning Carbon Gold’s enriched biochar delivered an impressive 100% reduction in fungicide use.

Water retention & drainage

Water retention and drainage was another factor that David and Stuart were keen to address. Summer 2017 was relatively wet, however the treated greens performed well. The trial areas drain better and faster than before when needed, but also hold on to the moisture in prolonged hotter weather.

The trial greens were more resilient over the course of the year – whatever the seasons threw at them – during the hot dry periods they held onto the moisture better and were visibly healthier. In wetter periods they did not flood, were firmer, dryer and remained playable. This is a great advantage for the club during the wet months – if there is too much rain the course can flood and the greens become un-playable, which leads to closure and loss of revenue. With the use of Carbon Gold’s enriched biochar, this can now be avoided.

Next steps

David is keen to step up his trials to cover two entire greens which they will monitor throughout 2018. Application of the product would normally take place during the maintenance times of spring and autumn. Due to significantly reduced requirements of fungicides, fertilisers and irrigation, he believes they would soon see a return on investment.

These enlightening trials show an optimum application rate of 1kg/m2, which equates to £1 per m2. As enriched biochar is a one-off application that remains in the soil indefinitely, and has proven to deliver up to 100% reduction in fungicide and 20% reduction in fertiliser inputs, it’s a hole in one for any discerning Course Manager.

David’s has great confidence in his new discovery – he says he would “highly recommend the use of Carbon Gold’s enriched biochar to all Greenkeepers & Groundsmen for the wider benefits of the product.” He even goes so far as to say, “I believe that biochar will be used throughout this industry in the not too distant future.”

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Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Rody Kilbride Wins Award

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

Rody Kilbride Wins Award

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

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Rody Kilbride Wins Award

Biochar Trials Hit Hole In One

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