Tag Archive for: From

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

/in , /by

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®: With drought-like conditions becoming more common, turf managers can begin future-proofing their surfaces now with deep-rooting, drought-tolerant grasses such as 4turf® tetraploid perennial ryegrass from DLF.

Research conducted at DLF’s RadiMax root-screening facility has shown 4turf® to deliver deeper rooting and a better visual appearance when starved of water, compared to the performance of traditional diploid perennial ryegrasses.

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Where most plants or trees form new shoots at the top of the plant, grasses develop new shoots very close to the roots – highlighting the unique and important role that roots have in helping the grass to survive in stressful conditions. In situations of drought, soil always dries out from the top. As drought progresses down the soil, the first line of defence will be its deep root mass, which needs to be strong enough to enable the plant to continue taking up required water and nutrients.

In the trials, plants were assessed based on the root profile and above-ground tolerance. Roots were compared on their depth and how much colour the plant retained when starved of moisture. The results showed that 4turf® varieties had quicker root growth and a higher root mass in deeper soil layers, outperforming the diploids under the same trial conditions. Incorporation of the highest performing varieties into a spring overseeding mix aids in the establishment of a deeper rooting sward, better equipped to cope with spring drought – where some moisture remains in the deeper profile – and summer drought – where water is used up throughout the profile.

During prolonged periods of severe drought, the risk of restrictions or bans on drinking water being used to irrigate amenity grass becomes a real threat. That is the reason why many turf managers are looking to alternative water sources like reclaimed or recycled brown water but, in these situations, salt tolerance then becomes a major consideration. Foreseeing the issue, DLF also conducted screening of turf cultivars for salt tolerance where, again, 4turf® tetraploid perennial ryegrass came out on top.

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Choosing 4turf® also means you are assured of the highest disease resistance and quickest establishment – helping to keep weed ingress at bay.

It is also important to note that sustainable solutions don’t have to mean a compromise in quality. The latest 4turf® cultivars from DLF, like Fabian, are fine, dense and have excellent wear tolerance providing an attractive sward with fantastic environmental credentials. With the economic and climatic challenges ahead switching to 4turf® means that, come the next drought, the one thing you won’t be sweating over is your turf!

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.

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc

/in , /by

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc: The central risk with lithium-ion batteries is fire. They might be unlikely to catch fire – but they can, through faults inside the battery, or from external damage.

With this in mind Pellenc, distributed in the UK by Etesia UK has launched the Securion storage option.

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc

When they do catch fire, the consequences can be serious. The batteries are most at risk when being stored and charged, and therefore extra thought on safety features should be explored.

Lithium-ion batteries have raised increasing interest due to their high potential for providing efficient energy storage and environmental sustainability. It is no wonder that the batteries are now used in a wide range of groundscare tools and machinery.

Naturally, increasing attention is being paid to the safety performance of the batteries which has been intensified due to several reported fires. It appears that the majority of problems arise when the batteries are being charged and stored overnight. In fact, even the best batteries can suffer from knocks and drops resulting in potential damage to cells. This damage rarely comes to light until they are charged.

Securion from Pellenc is one solution which is already proving to be an extremely popular choice with councils, large contractors, schools, colleges, universities, golf clubs, and several other sports clubs.

Pellenc is considered a pioneer in the lithium-ion battery industry and Securion offers a convincing solution for the storage, charging, provision, and safety of lithium-ion batteries.

This unique charging and storage F90 rated cabinet was developed by Pellenc with one of the leading German manufacturers of security cabinets, which holds patents on key security functions.

Securion has been designed to protect employees, buildings and equipment from fire, heat and toxic fumes and smoke gases.

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc

Prevent fires with Securion from Pellenc

In the event of a fire, the doors inside or outside the Securion cabinet close automatically. This not only ensures security overnight and at the weekend, but it also protects employees or customers who are present.

In an emergency, those affected have enough time to get to safety and to alert rescue services. Fire, vapours, and fumes remain mostly inside the cabinet and can even be extracted directly via the standard ventilation connection. This gives the fire services control and allows the cabinet to be opened backdraft-safely at any time after it has been triggered – regardless of whether the source of the fire is inside the cabinet or outside the building.

While the batteries are being safely stored, they can also be charged, and, thanks to extensive internal electrification, the Securion also offers TÜV-tested fire protection for charging devices and batteries from other manufacturers.

Depending on which Securion model you choose, the cabinets can hold up to 40 lithium-ion batteries.

Pellenc is distributed exclusively in the UK by Etesia UK.

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk/pellenc

You can also follow Pellenc on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @PellencUK for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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.

Is a fine finish from a cylinder mower down to luck?

/in , /by

Is a fine finish from a cylinder mower down to luck?: Bedknives and cylinders are on par when it comes to creating a fine finish – both are equally important, and for the best results possible genuine, precision engineered parts from Toro means there’s no luck involved – a pristine finish is a sure thing.

As cutting season fast approaches, Reesink Turfcare is reminding customers why the proper set-up procedures with the proper parts is so essential in a cylinder mower’s performance.

Is a fine finish from a cylinder mower down to luck?

Is a fine finish from a cylinder mower down to luck?

Cylinder mowers are precision machines and require precision engineered parts to achieve a pristine finish, as Michael Hampton, parts manager at Reesink Turfcare, explains: “The cylinder, frame and bedknife are the three main structural members in a cylinder cutting unit. For the mower to cut with a scissor-like shearing action, the bedknife and cylinder blades need to be sharp, matched and in close relationship with each other, and the bedknife sharpened to be flat and square so the sharp edge touches the cylinder blades across their entire length.

“If the bedknife is not perfectly flat, it is impossible to get the bedknife to touch the entire length of the cylinder. This is an essential part of the construction, making cylinder mowers precision cutting tools. Adjust any part of the construction process with, for example, ‘will-fit’ parts and the fit, form and function can be affected to leave a less attractive and less consistent after-cut appearance.”

It’s not luck that keeps turf looking fresh, rather bedknives made of high carbon steel that can retain that important edge for longer and Toro bedknives are superior in both durability and longevity meaning greenkeepers can get reliable cuts for longer without the need for frequent adjustment or replacement.

Only Toro cylinders are available in 5, 7, 8, 11, and 14 configurations to fit all mowers including the popular Greensmaster and Reelmaster ranges, and with 24-hour delivery across the UK, or 72 hours delivery from US factories at no extra cost, Reesink can ensure minimum downtime and maximum productivity.

There’s nothing lucky about achieving a superior quality of cut, it’s down to Toro and that’s a fact.

To continue the conversation, get in touch via reesinkturfcare.co.uk, by phone on 01480 226800 or by email at info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk.

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.

Saving money from day one

/in , /by

Saving money from day one: Kyle Swart, superintendent of the Oakwing club in Louisiana, estimates he will save up to $85,000 a year from his new Capillary Bunkers.

“When we had a tournament, before we redid the bunkers, our biggest fear was rain in the days before the event,” says Kyle Swart, superintendent at the semi-private Oakwing course in Louisiana. “If it rained on a Friday and the tournament was on a Saturday, the bunkers would be ground under repair. If the rain came a few days before, my crew would have to spend all their time putting the bunkers back toghether when they should have been preparing the course.”

Saving money from day one

Saving money from day one

Located on Heritage Park in Alexandria, central Lousiana, the former England Airforce Basem, the home of the 23rd Fighter Wing, Oakwing was designed by Jim Lipe and opened in 2001. “There isn’t any real military installation here any more, but the England Air Authority owns the land and manages the property,” says Swart. “About 75 per cent of our play is from members.”

The course’s bunkers – which are large, with steep faces – had never been properly renovated since opening. “We tried to do our own bunker liner, using concrete, about ten years ago, but it failed,” says Swart. “There were fabric liners installed originally, but they were never going to last twenty years, and before we renovated, we would pull some up with the Sand Pro every now and again.”

Swart researched the options available to him and settled on the Capillary Bunkers product from Capillary Flow. “I didn’t know when there might be another renovation, so decided I had to go for the best long-term option,” he says. “What I like about the Capillary Bunker product is that the entire bunker bottom is covered. It doesn’t matter where water enters the bunker, you know it will always flow down to the drain at the bottom.”

Architect Nathan Crace handled the renovation, and Swart is ecstatic at the results. “Before we started, around fifty per cent of our bunkers simply didn’t drain,” he says. “In the first three months after we renovated, we had 22 inches of rain – we went from an incredibly dry summer to an incredibly wet winter. There is not a bunker out there that has held water or washed out, or retained any silt. They have been the best addition to this golf course.”

He says the benefits to Oakwing will be enormous. “All year long, we were trying to keep sand in the bunkers to a decent depth and now we don’t have to,” he explains. “I have a crew of ten, and it used to take three or four days to get the bunkers back into condition after heavy rain. Now one guy goes out with a rake and in a couple of hours they’re fine. My guys love them! The look on their faces when they come into work after rain has transformed. They used to come in and know they were going to spend the next three or four days in the bunkers. Now, they know they don’t have to.”

But the most dramatic change is to the bottom line. Swart says the savings from his new bunkers will be substantial. “We are going to save $50-70,000 a year just on labour from the new bunkers, and there will be another $12-15,000 from not having to replace sand,” he says. “For us, that is a big, big difference.”

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.

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

/in , /by

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches: New golf business podcast, Syngenta Growing Golf, launches today across all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple and Google.

In episode 1, social intelligence experts Jacques de Guigné and Claire Martin from Ipsos join Mark Birchmore from Syngenta to discuss the findings of a pioneering social media listening project analyzing 16.1 million mentions of golf.

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

With a huge influx of players over the past three years, matched by the inexorable rise of social media, what are existing customers saying about golf, what do new participants think and how can clubs and courses engage prospective players?

The panel discuss key insights from the report, including golf’s negative reputation generated on Twitter by controversial figures and topics such as Donald Trump and LIV Golf, comparing it with the positive sentiment and interactivity around the sharing of golf experiences on Instagram.

Mark Birchmore, Head of Global Marketing for Syngenta Turf and Landscape, said: “Our latest golf market study, ‘Golf & Social Media: The Great Divide’, has just been published in conjunction with Ipsos and the expert analysis and commentary from Ipsos’ Social Intelligence team makes for insightful listening.

“This report is a first for the golf industry and to have access to Ipsos’ AI-enabled tools to analyze millions of posts about golf gives us valuable new insights and learnings on the golf market, helping the industry understand diverse customers’ perceptions and motivations.

“The first episode of our podcast series is designed to complement the report and we hope clubs and courses, as well as the wider golf industry, find it relevant and useful in strategic decision making.”

Episode 1 of the podcast, ‘Golf & Social Media: The Great Divide’ is available to listen to now:

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts 

To download the report, receive market insights and success stories of individuals and businesses transforming golf, visit Syngenta Growing Golf: http://www.syngentagolf.com

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.