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Nick takes the helm at Replay Maintenance

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Nick takes the helm at Replay Maintenance: Nick Harris has been appointed the Managing Director of synthetic sports surface specialists, Replay Maintenance.

In the nine years since he joined the East Midlands based firm, he has played a key role the company’s growth and development. It expanded the range of services its dedicated team provides, and following the addition of key personnel to its senior leadership team and the acquisition of a software partner, has developed a technologically-advanced facility and asset management platform, Passport 365.

Nick takes the helm at Replay Maintenance

Nick takes the helm at Replay Maintenance

Group CEO, Garry Martin, says Nick’s customer-focussed approach has been instrumental to the company’s recent success. “Replay is a service company and Nick is absolutely committed to the needs of our customers. That has never been more important than it is right now, with sport and recreation at all levels in our communities in high demand following the winter lockdown. Nick and his dedicated staff are working tirelessly, in collaboration with other sports industry stakeholders, to help clubs, local authorities and educational establishments bounce back. They can rely on us to keep facilities safe, professionally maintained, and ready for play.”

The company is also looking to build on its success, with recruitment underway for new skilled operatives and an investment of more than £250,000 in new machinery and equipment this year.

“It’s a demanding time to be taking the lead,” Nick acknowledges. “We have a huge role to play in helping people resume the sports and activities they’ve missed and in getting the nation active again. To ensure we meet the challenges ahead, we’re growing and developing our staff, fleet and range of services, and driving efficiencies through the creation of regional depots and the use of the Passport 365 software.

“We’re an ambitious team, and I’m excited about our future plans. Over the past 20 years, Replay has amassed a huge amount of knowledge and expertise, not only about the way surfaces are maintained but also how facilities are managed. Passport 365 has streamlined asset management, using real-time data to aid decision-making and providing operators with a constant overview. It’s a service which continues to evolve, and one that will bring significant benefits to our customers in the coming years.”

The Replay group is set to announce further developments in the UK and overseas this summer.

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New ICL research at Bangor University

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New ICL research at Bangor University: ICL is collaborating with Bangor University to carry out research on the effects and benefits of organo-mineral fertilizers for turf.

MRes (Masters by Research) student, Deniz Arslan, is carrying out the yearlong research at Bangor University, and believes that the findings could be of great benefit to several sectors.

New ICL research at Bangor University

New ICL research at Bangor University

“We will be looking at how efficient organo-minerals are comparing to mineral and organic versions and how they all effect soil health,” she said. “The outcomes of this research can be important for all fields and will provide information to help fertilizer users make informed decisions.”

Mineral fertilizers are very commonly utilized and there is plenty of research detailing their benefits and the issues which can arise from poor product selection or over-application, for example leaching of unused nutrients from the growing zone of a crop.

On the other hand, organic fertilizers offer other potential benefits, such as supporting microbes in the soil, but are often described as not performing as efficiently or productively as mineral fertilizers.

“Organo-mineral fertilizers, combining the benefits of minerals and organic sources, could be a more sustainable step for turf managers to take,” said Deniz. “I hope to prove that organo-mineral fertilizers are indeed beneficial for the soil and environment, and with no negative performance issues for turfgrass. Agricultural trials do show higher yields and performances which is promising, but of course it is different when measuring turf. You don’t necessarily want to grow more or longer grass.”

Gronamic, ICL’s organo-mineral fertilizer brand, will be used in this research project. The experimental trials will include glasshouse trials of perennial ryegrass with Gronamic Sport High N and Gronamic Golf High N, contrasting with equivalent mineral and organic fertilizers.

“This unique research project will focus on plant growth, soil health and nutrient use efficiency factors, making use of the advanced equipment and facilities available at Bangor University,” said Deniz.

The scholarship named KESS (Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship) is led by Bangor University and links companies with academic expertise and universities to collaborate in research projects for PhD and Research Master qualifications. ICL supports several research collaborations and has close ties with the universities in order to help bridge the gap between industry and academia.

For Deniz it means that she has a direct link to the industry and access to expert knowledge in high quality turf management. With all the resources at her disposal she is hopeful that this research could have a global reach.

“Finding solutions for conventional mineral fertilizers will be beneficial for all fields and industries, from agriculture and turf management to landscaping, and hopefully I can be part of that development.

In the long term it can even impact the low-income nations and industrializing nations as well, for instance by applying it to urban green spaces and sustainable land management whilst keeping prices low as mineral resources are slowly depleting,” she said.

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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Confidence is high at Bromsgrove

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Confidence is high at Bromsgrove: Head groundsperson Richard Hare, has reported excellent results from using a selection of Limagrain products at the outstanding Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire.

Founded in the Middle Ages, Bromsgrove is one of the country’s largest independent schools with a glowing reputation for both academic and sporting excellence. Astonishingly, given the size of it, you can drive through Bromsgrove town and not even see the School. How is this possible? Well, according to most, Bromsgrove keeps one hundred acres of secrets from a casual visitor, hidden like a vast walled garden – and this is where Richard Hare comes in.

Confidence is high at Bromsgrove

Confidence is high at Bromsgrove

Richard is responsible for the all the sports pitches and green spaces across the School’s three sites and leads a team of 15 members of staff consisting of groundspersons and gardeners. Depending on the term, the team maintains an array of pitches, which includes rugby, football, hockey and cricket. However, with such a busy schedule it leaves a tight window for renovations.

“The winter renovation work takes place during the school Easter holidays,” said Richard. “As part of this renovation, we will over-seed all the grass areas with a Limagrain winter sports mix. We carry out the cricket renovations after the cricket festivals which finish the second week of August. The rugby pre-season training starts the last week of August.”

It is during this period that Richard relies on a range of Limagrain UK’s grass seed which includes the headline mixture MM50 for his cricket wickets. Over recent years, Limagrain’s MM50 has been the number one choice for cricket groundsmen. Those representing grass roots, schools, local clubs and international test venues have all benefited from using MM50. This hard-wearing mix has rapid germination, very fine leaved appearance, high shoot density and is tolerant to very close mowing, along with high disease resistance. All these attributes together produce a fantastic sward that has great colour all year round.

“I buy seed from Limagrain UK which covers all the grass areas for cricket and rugby,” continued Richard. “Grass seed, as anyone will tell you, is a massive investment and I can’t afford to apply that amount of grass seed and just hope that it will work. I need to have the confidence that it will germinate especially as we have such a small renovation window. I have that confidence with Limagrain and that is why I have used the seed for so long.

“We don’t have irrigation on all the pitches, and we don’t get a lot of rain in August and it still germinates. We always get great coverage.”

Grass seed aside, Richard also revealed that some of the School’s most aesthetically pleasing areas are thanks to Limagrain UK’s Colour Splash mixtures.  Over the past few years, these flower mixtures have been used in a broad range of landscape and amenity areas throughout the UK. The range has a floral arrangement for every requirement – whether it be a golf course, a local authority green space or any other establishment that has an area which needs brightening up.

The Colour Splash range of mixtures are extremely easy to sow and the resulting vigorous plants are more than capable of competing with weeds. Their vigour is equally matched by robustness; resisting long periods of drought. They are also fast flowering and cost effective.

Confidence is high at Bromsgrove

Confidence is high at Bromsgrove

“We use the Colour Splash mixtures in eight different areas around the School,” said Richard. “The main reason for applying these mixtures was because I wanted to create some wildlife friendly areas. The School and the students have really bought into it and the areas look absolutely stunning – we are always getting nice comments from teachers, pupils and parents.

“Also, we find that these areas are helping us to save on fuel and man hours too because previously they needed cutting and looking after regularly. Now, we just cut the areas and reseed once a year – that is all they need. We just seem to be adding more and more of these Colour Splash areas all the time.”

Richard was also quick to praise the support from both Limagrain and Agrovista Amenity – the company he purchases the seed from.

“I always have good conversations with Mark Allen (Agrovista Amenity) and Matt Gresty (Limagrain UK) and they will come in and help us in any way they can. The advice has been invaluable at times.”

For further information, please contact Limagrain UK on 01472 371471 or visit the company’s website www.lgseeds.co.uk/amenity – you can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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Capillary Bunkers at Newnan CC

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Capillary Bunkers at Newnan CC: It’s only two weeks since Newnan CC, about thirty five miles southwest of metro Atlanta in Georgia, completed the installation of the Capillary Bunkers liner product on its golf course. But superintendent Andy Scott already is already seeing major benefits.

“We’ve had three big rainstorms – three inches overnight – since we finished the installation, and we have come in the following morning and found little or no washouts in our new bunkers,” says Scott. “Member reaction has been great. I’m getting compliments every single day about how they look and play. It’s probably too early to say this is the best decision of my life, but I’m pretty close to it.”

Capillary Bunkers at Newnan CC

Capillary Bunkers at Newnan CC

Newnan was founded in 1919, though the golf course dates from later, but Scott says it was showing its age. “This project was a long time in the making,” he explains. “I have been here ten years, and I have been asking to do a bunker renovation ever since I joined the club! We are a fairly typical small town country club, so for us it was a significant long term investment. As such I was determined that when we did the bunkers, we were going to do them properly – not a half job. I wanted to go all-in.”

This determination to do the job properly, combined with Scott’s pre-existing relationship with business development manager Cory Blair, led him to select the Capillary Bunkers product. “I did look at other liners, but I felt certain I was making the right choice,” Scott says.

Lining the bunkers wasn’t the only component of Scott’s project. Decades of wear and tear had left many of them misshapen, and with surface water draining into them. Newnan hired contractor David Johnson of Florida-based JGCC Golf N Sports Turf to deliver the job. “We gave him a lot of input, but broadly we let David guide us in the right direction,” says Scott. “If he proposed something that we thought over the top, we discussed it between us, and reached agreement.”

Johnson broke ground late in January and finished construction in early May. “We kept the course open, closing holes as needed,” says Scott. “Our membership is quite small and close-knit, so communicating which holes were closing when was not too difficult.”

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Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

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Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest: Since their Turf Tank One arrived at the Nigel Doughty Academy, Nottingham Forest Football Club has marked every pitch and grid they have with the GPS line marking robot.

The club’s interest in the Turf Tank One began at the end of a hectic 2019/20 Championship season when a high volume of games were played before a short renovation window led straight into the 2020/21 season. With initially marking the pitches taking two or three days, the Turf Tank was brought in to mark everything comfortably within one. And after seeing it in action, it was difficult for Grounds Manager Ewan Hunter and Academy Head Groundsman Matt Tietjen to let it leave the site.

Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

“I was very, very impressed. Obviously, I had never seen it before, and as soon as it started marking out, I was like, wow, this is brilliant,” Matt begins. “It’s very, very accurate, and every time it goes out, it’s spot on.

“It saves us a hell of a lot of time. To mark one pitch, it would take myself or two of my staff an hour, an hour and a half to two hours. But obviously, with the Turf Tank to mark one pitch alone, it takes 20 to 25 minutes. Another factor for us is it allows our staff to carry on with the other jobs that need to be done, and the machine can basically look after itself. Generally, we’d use five to six litres of paint to mark a pitch, but with the Turf Tank, we probably use four litres.

“If you are able to use a tablet or are reasonably good with technology, it’s very, very simple to use, and the programme is very straight forward. I’m not particularly brilliant with technology, but it takes five minutes to set it up, and then you can go and do other jobs while it marks out.

Adding the Turf Tank One to their team initially relieved pressure during a busy time, but the benefits of saving time, being able to work while the robot marks and the accuracy of the lines have all been vital during another packed season.

Using the Turf Tank tablet, custom grids are regularly overmarked within pitches, as well as custom goalkeeping areas and other pitch markings. This is just another reason why the robot has worked so well at Forest, but for Ewan, it’s the accuracy that really impresses.

“We have got some really good staff, and they can do some really good marking. And the lines looked straight, and they looked to be in the right place,” Ewan explains.

“It wasn’t until we used the GPS machine that it highlighted the fact that when you come to mark a line freehand, they creep a bit. And then they creep a little bit more. And then they creep a little bit more, and you don’t really notice the little bit of creeping until you get a GPS line marker overmarking the pitches that were already there. You realise that they’ve moved a considerable amount of distance, and it kind of highlights that the lines were actually in the wrong place.

“They managed to plot it with all of the additional markings on top of the pitches. So we’ve got dashes and little grids and five-a-side pitches and full-size pitches, and it can basically do whatever you plot it to do, and it takes care of all the markings on the whole site now.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK).

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