Tag Archive for: Excellent

Reliable G860’s are excellent for Hartpury

Reliable G860’s are excellent for Hartpury: Matthew Newman, Grounds and Sports Turf Manager at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucester, claims that his fleet of Dennis G860 mowers are reliable, robust, and ergonomically excellent.

Matthew was once a student at Hartpury University and College completing a National Diploma in Horticulture before being offered a position on the grounds team in 2002. He now oversees three divisions which consists of a grounds team, a sports turf team, and a construction team.

Reliable G860’s are excellent for Hartpury

Reliable G860’s are excellent for Hartpury

The eight sports pitches, which are split equally between rugby and football, require a lot of attention as Matthew explained.

“They are arguably the most demanding surfaces because of the amount they are used,” he said. “During the week we find ourselves preparing the pitches for university and college teams, which still must be high spec because they are in the top divisions, but then it gets to the weekend, and we have premiership fixtures for the women’s teams or championship rugby games for men. In these situations, we are very much aware that we are preparing pitches for the paying public and that the games will be streamed online around the world for all to see. It is a lot of work, and we need reliable machinery.”

It is for this reason that Matthew decided to upgrade his previous cylinder mowers to four Dennis G860’s.

Relied upon at world class stadia and major tournaments, the Dennis G860 is one of the most renowned cylinder mowers in the grounds management industry. Lightweight at just 166kg it is incredibly easy to manoeuvre and comfortable to operate. The handlebar console houses the controls for the throttle, parking brake, roller drive and cutting cylinder drive.

The mower features a large diameter front roller with an adjustable scraper which has been designed for a precise height of cut control, giving an excellent finish on every occasion. The Dennis G860 also features an interchangeable cassette system to assist with a wide range of tasks such as including scarifying, verticutting, brushing, spiking, and slitting.

“Once we trialled the Dennis G860’s, we just had to have them,” continued Matthew. “They are lot more robust, more sturdy, easier to use and more manageable. For me the usability is one of its best features – they are ergonomically excellent, and everything is in the right place in terms of controls. It does a brilliant job every time and it isn’t complicated. I think there are quite a few machines out there that are perhaps over engineered. Dennis keeps it simple and straight to the point.

“The G860’s present the pitch brilliantly and they provide a more defined stripe than other mowers we have used.”

Matthew and his team use the Dennis G860’s on both the rugby and football pitches approximately three times a week. With such a busy schedule, time is of the essence and Matthew has noticed that the Dennis G860’s have helped in this respect.

“We seem to cover the same area more quickly with the Dennis G860’s. Previously we were only able to single cut and would never have enough time in the day to double cut, whereas we can do that now.

“We’ve had the Dennis G860’s for a couple of years now and nothing ever goes wrong with them. They are incredibly reliable.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact Dennis 01332 824 777 or visit www.dennisuk.com

For more news, reviews and insightful views, you can follow Dennis on Twitter and Instagram @DennisMowers and like the company’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/DennisMowersUK.You can also view the latest Dennis videos by visiting www.youtube.com/DennisMowers

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ShockWave delivers excellent surfaces at Repton School

ShockWave delivers excellent surfaces at Repton School: Repton School in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside has an educational history spanning over 1000 years. Although outstanding on so many levels the school encourages pupils to adopt a healthy balance between their studies and sporting activities.

Parents and pupils seek out Repton because they know the school invests both in terms of pre-eminent coaches and world-class facilities to realise ability and sporting ambition.

ShockWave delivers excellent surfaces at Repton School

ShockWave delivers excellent surfaces at Repton School

Sports facilities at Repton School are of a superb standard and significant investments in recent years give pupils and the wider community access to state-of-the-art facilities including two floodlit water-based Astroturf hockey pitches and a sand-based Astroturf.

Alongside the 25m indoor swimming pool, fully equipped gym and fitness suite, are two multi-purpose indoor sports hall and tennis courts run activities such as tennis, netball, squash, and of course football, rugby, cricket and athletics.

It is these sports surfaces that Andy Butler, Head of Grounds and Gardens, is responsible for, covering an area of 66 acres at Repton and a further 44 acres at the preparatory school.

Already an experienced groundsman at Repton for 14 years, Andy took over 18 months ago as the man in charge. His priority was to review and re-structure the working days of the entire grounds team.

“We have a very experienced, and enthusiastic team of gardeners and grounds staff all willing to look at ways to improve our maintenance practices.” Explained Andy “Although in the past we have relied on outside contractors, our current objective is to bring as much as we can in-house and use our expertise to its full potential.

“When I considered how much equipment we already had available in the sheds, it was obvious that we could utilise them much more effectively with better organisation. I consulted all our suppliers regarding the timings of applying fertilisers, seeds, spraying, researching the available weather data and soil analysis, and organised a timetable for a new structured, planned approach to our grounds maintenance.”

Andy cited an example of the Imants ShockWave decompactor, supplied through Campey Turf Care Product Specialist Simon Holland.

“We have had the Imants ShockWave on-site now for over six years, using it intermittently for areas with excessive compaction or standing water issues. Now, in the new system, we schedule the ShockWave treatment for all turf pitches over the Autumn period when the conditions are perfect for this process, neither too cold nor too dry.”

The minimal surface disturbance of the ShockWave, results in no disruption or cancelled games following treatment and all of Repton School training sessions went ahead as planned. The timing allowed the turf to then lay dormant over the cold winter spell, while creating the perfect soil and root structure to encourage excellent turf growth in the Spring. This in turn created natural turf sports surfaces that were strong and resistant to the amount of wear and tear played out throughout the sporting fixtures.

Andy continued “Other practices such as spreading, seeding, fertilising, all follow a strict but not rigid pattern, as the weather plays a huge part in any professional groundsman’s day.

“We plan a complete renovation of our sports turf surfaces at Easter, using the Vredo Seeder and Dakota spreader to top dress after renovating, and the turf is back in full swing after three weeks.”

“There is no doubt that this approach has led to a huge improvement in our productivity without compromising on standards or requirements, and I would recommend that any establishment that is able to bring some if not all of their routine practices back under their own control, would benefit.”

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College Reports Excellent Results From ICL

College Reports Excellent Results From ICL: Radley College in Abingdon, Oxfordshire has reported excellent results from ICL, with Grounds Manager Adam King saying the ProTurf and Vitalnova Stressbuster have helped him improve the health and presentation of the school’s range of sports pitches.

Adam has been at Radley for 17 years, and is responsible for the maintenance of the huge 800 acre site which includes a tenanted farm and a 9-hole golf course as well as the numerous natural and synthetic pitches. Sports played at the College include rugby in the Michaelmas Term, hockey, rowing and football in the Lent Term and cricket, rowing, lawn tennis and athletics in the Summer Term.

College Reports Excellent Results From ICL

“We have 694 boys at Radley and sport is a major part of their life,” says Adam. “The campus is incredibly busy and the pitches are in use all-year round. We host 26 rugby teams, 16 football teams, 22 hockey teams and 24 cricket teams each year.”

Adam has a large team to help him with the mammoth work required to keep the facilities to the impeccable standards expected by Radley College. There is a total of 18 grounds staff including Adam, which consists of eight groundsmen, two greenkeepers and seven gardeners.

The team has strict maintenance procedures in place and, according to Adam, ICL products play an integral role.

“I have a long history with ICL and I have always found the products to provide consistent results.

“What I like about ICL is that, as a company, they are always looking ahead, always developing new products and adding to the stable of quality products. For what we need to do and what we need to achieve at Radley, no matter what the time of year – whether it is relieving turf stress or making grass grow, whatever you need ICL has, and you know that the products perform as you would expect.”

Adam applies ProTurf 15-5-15+2CaO+2MgO in readiness for a busy period of winter sports in which the potassium element can help pre-condition the turf for intensive play and the inevitable harsh weather.

“ProTurf is applied in early August so the grass surfaces are actively growing for the start of the season. The one thing we work on really hard here is recovery – for as long as we can. As long as the soil temperatures are there and the moisture levels are there, we want the grass to keep growing because we have 14 weeks of rugby followed by 12 weeks of football. We all know that by the time we get to January or February the recovery rates are minimal so if we can keep it growing up until Christmas then we will and this is where ProTurf really helps.”

College Reports Excellent Results From ICL

ProTurf contains a combination of Poly-S controlled-release fertilizer technology, readily available urea Nitrogen, and Polyhalite, a naturally occurring mineral sourced from ICL’s Cleveland Potash mine.

The Poly-S technology gives consistent, regular growth over a 2-3 month period without growth peaks while the uncoated Nitrogen portion provides an immediate turf response, even in cooler conditions. Polyhalite contains four macro-nutrients – Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium and Sulphur. Potassium is required for the process of energy transfer, especially photosynthesis and the breakdown of carbohydrates.

“We base feed with ProTurf,” Adam continues, “and then top up with liquid irons and Sportsmaster WSF SeaMax (a soluble seaweed concentrate) along with Vitalnova Stressbuster – which is a product I would use absolutely everywhere if I could.”

Vitalnova Stressbuster is a unique liquid formulation which pre-conditions turf against stress and helps generate a quick recovery. Featuring iron which provides an instant colour, Stressbuster also contains a unique combination of macro and micro nutrients, wetting agents, bio-stimulants and amino acids.

“Stressbuster is a lovely cocktail of everything you require which gives you a superb result. It contains iron, bio-stimulants, a little bit of sugar, some nitrogen – all of which encourage recovery. Colour-wise I would say we get about 21 days out of it and you get an instant colour-up overnight which is perfect when we apply before a game. It can also be complimented with some Primo Maxx II growth regulator.

“Ultimately Stressbuster is helping us to produce a tightly knit sward that keeps its colour and sends as many roots down as possible. That’s what it is all about in winter sports – with rugby and football it is all about traction so it is important that you have the right products in place.”

It’s not just the products that Adam and his team get great results from: “Emma Kilby (ICLTechnical Area Sales Manager), who I’ve known for many years, is an invaluable person to talk to ensuring that we have the best possible nutritional programme in place,” says Adam.

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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