Tag Archive for: Boxes

Combination ticks all the boxes for Eastleigh

Combination ticks all the boxes for Eastleigh: Managing a high wear pitch, on a relatively tight budget is probably a story with which most non and lower league club grounds managers can relate.

For Eastleigh FC Head Groundsman Dan Barnes, the task is made slightly easier by getting the right seed in the ground first and foremost – and for this, he turns to Johnsons J Premier Pitch. Along with delivering superior wear tolerance, its resistance to disease has meant Dan has only applied fungicide once in the last four years.

Combination ticks all the boxes for Eastleigh

Combination ticks all the boxes for Eastleigh

Eastleigh FC moved to their home at the Silverlake Stadium in the 1950’s and limited investment since then has resulted in a pitch that struggles with drainage and requires thoughtful management – a challenge Dan picked up four years ago, despite having no previous Groundsmanship experience! “In those first few months I spent a lot of time undertaking qualifications and networking with other groundsmen as I sought to build a bank of suppliers” explains Dan, who is assisted only by a team of volunteers. “When it came to seed, after I tried Johnsons J Premier Pitch mixture, I’ve never wanted to use anything else.”

“Despite our challenging ground conditions, this mixture delivers on all of the key performance characteristics – it’s hard-wearing, gives us fantastic visual merit and has demonstrated fantastic tolerance to disease. In four years, we’ve had just one Fusarium outbreak which we could attribute to the use of pitch covers.” Due to budget constraints, Dan has to be creative when it comes to seeding, usually applying 50g per m2 during summer renovations and then overseeding at 25-30g per m2 in the autumn and again in the spring to see them through to the end of the season.

Last winter, Dan supplemented Premier Pitch with Johnsons J 4Turf to benefit from the lower temperature germination of DLF’s tetraploid ryegrass. “This gave the pitch a real boost through the winter and undoubtedly helped us get through a fixture pile-up we had in February 2021 where we hosted five games in a 19-day period. The increased root length we get with the J 4Turf mixture provides great additional strength and, along with J Premier Pitch, recovers brilliantly.”

“There is nothing more satisfying than being proud of the surface you present” Dan concludes. “This combination of Johnsons mixtures gives us a pitch that is always fit and ready for play which, in turn, satisfies the following of fans we are really fortunate to have here at the club.”

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GKB Ticks Boxes For Artificial Turf

GKB Ticks Boxes For Artificial Turf: Launching his dedicated artificial sports turf maintenance business this month, Sports and Courts Maintenance Ltd, Jon Lawson was looking for something that would decompact and assist in the deep cleaning and rejuvenating of artificial sports turf and was impressed with the robustness of GKB’s Renovator and the size of the double heads of the Rotobrush.

Owner and Managing Director at Sports and Courts Line Marking Ltd, Jon Lawson explains, “GKB is known for reliability and from Tom’s demo, I was so impressed with the rotary brush. I needed something that was going to do the job and that was robust and reliable. We have a lot of tennis clubs complain that they’ve got very compacted baselines and the Renovator and Rotobrush tick all the boxes. For us it was the answer to going forwards with the new business, offering this additional service on top of the deep cleans and everything else we already do”.

GKB Ticks Boxes For Artificial Turf

On the GKB Renovator’s first job rejuvenating a bespoke short pile sand filled artificial sports turf it far exceeded expectation for Jon, he adds, “We feel it increased the amount of contaminated sand infill removed by 15 – 20% working in conjunction with our existing system. It also reduced the overall job by one day which means the client gets the sports surface back in to use a day early. This has given me complete reassurance it was worth the investment, outstanding!”

The GKB Renovator’s five rotating brushes form the foundation of the machine and because the brushes interlock into each other, you will not miss a single inch when you are operating on your pitch. Whilst the GKB Rotobrush enables you to brush deeper and more effectively as the rotating brush disc is provided with extra rigid bristles which are pressed into the synthetic turf. Where the functioning of normal brushing and cleaning stops, the Rotobrush will continue.

GKB Ticks Boxes For Artificial Turf

For more on GKB Machines and their reliable and robust range of machinery for natural, hybrid and synthetic turf, please visit www.gkbmachines.com or contact Tom Shinkins on 07495 883617.

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Arb150 Ticks All The Boxes

Arb150 Ticks All The Boxes: Wiltshire Countryside Services have become the latest company to purchase an Arb 150p from GreenMech. For Owner Adam Lonsdale, his decision was made easier not only by the build quality and back-up service that GreenMech provides compared to the alternatives available in the current market, but also by the superior performance of this petrol version.

Founded in 2014, Wiltshire Countryside Services provide a variety of arboricultural and forestry services to domestic and commercial customers alike. “We were getting more and more problems with our previous chipper and ended up spending out more than what the machine was worth!” explains Adam. When his local dealer GA Groundcare took on the GreenMech franchise last year, Adam went with his wish-list and was excited to see what was available. “I told Ashley at GA Groundcare what I wanted, and the budget, and was pleased to see that the GreenMech machines satisfied more of my needs and wants than other manufacturers could.”

Arb150 Ticks All The Boxes

“We’d had a demo of both the diesel and petrol Arborist 130 machines, when Ashley mentioned that a 38hp petrol model was then about to launch. After seeing the Arborist 150p at the Arb Show I knew that was the one I wanted and bought it without even having a demo.” In addition to the significant cost saving over the diesel equivalent, Adam was particularly impressed with the output performance achieved whilst still keeping the unit under 750kg. “The sub 750kg weight means my colleague or anyone else can tow it without a special license. Also, because the majority of our work is domestic tree surgery, it can be towed by a Land Rover, quadbike or alternative right to the spot where it’s required, leaving a minimal footprint on lawns and gardens.”

The superior build quality was another box ticked for Adam. “Some chippers we’ve looked at have fibreglass bonnets – in this industry things get bumped and dropped and a fibreglass bonnet is asking for trouble. The GreenMech machines seem to consist of more strong, hardwearing metal components. It’s easy to use, simple to maintain and all backed up with reliable back up support from GreenMech and their dealer network.”

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