Tag Archive for: Health

New analysis unlocks soil health

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New analysis unlocks soil health: New soil testing from Eurofins Agro will help farmers and agronomists understand soil in a more detailed way than ever before. The tests have been launched in the UK and Ireland to provide chemical, physical, and biological insight, offering farmers a better way to monitor, manage and improve the health and fertility of their soil.

“Three new products are now available to UK and Irish agriculture. Fertilisation Manager®, Soil Crop Monitor® and Soil Life Monitor® offer the most comprehensive way to analyse and improve soil health,” explains Dan Robinson, Managing Director, Eurofins Agro UK.

New analysis unlocks soil health

New analysis unlocks soil health

Fertilisation Manager measures soil fertility. “This includes the chemical values of macro and micronutrients,” says Mr Robinson. “Soil pH and the overall structure of the soil is also analysed in conjunction with biological components such as fungi and bacteria,” he adds.

The microbial biomass from the sample will help farmers to understand the sensitivity of the soil to conventional farming methods such as ploughing. The number and nature of the bacteria present in a soil sample will also facilitate the accurate calculation of what nutrients need to be added to the soil to optimise plant health and growth.

Soil Crop Monitor will provide the most accurate means of testing soil during a growing season. “Unlike some tests, Soil Crop Monitor analyses both the soil and the plant. This measures the plant available nutrients and the nutrients absorbed by the crop,” says Mr Robinson.

Soil Life Monitor determines the total microbial biomass, fungi, bacteria and protozoa. It also identifies some physical characteristics such as pH and the quality of organic matter. “PLFA (phospholipid fatty acids) found in soil can be measured to provide a fingerprint of the soil content. PLFAs are degraded quickly in the soil, so the analysis gives an indication of the amount of living biomass,” says Mr Robinson. “This is the most detailed routine analysis of soil life available and has countless applications for agriculture. We are therefore excited to make all of these tests available to farmers and growers across the UK and Ireland” he adds.

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Headland enhances plant health

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Headland enhances plant health: After its launch at the tail end of 2019, early adopters of Headland Amenity’s new Enhanced Plant Health product, PPT114, are already reaping the rewards.

One such club is Mill Green Golf Club in Hertfordshire, where Course Manager Andy Copeland has successfully trialled PPT114 as part of his EPH tank-mix and has reported significantly reduced levels of disease activity.

Headland enhances plant health

Headland enhances plant health

Andy joined Mill Green in July 2019 but has been using Headland Amenity products for much longer. “When I first took charge of a club 10 years ago, I very much sought the guidance and advice of those trusted suppliers around me – one of those being Headland. Some of those products that were incorporated into my programmes back then, still play a major part of my regime now here at Mill Green – including C-Complex and the 20/20/30 tank-mix. We’re not in a position where we can afford to take too many risks, so when you find products that give you guaranteed results, I tend to stick with them.”

Saying that, when new products or adaptations to mixes become available, the trust that Andy has in the advice of his Regional Headland Technical Manager Peter Blackaby means he’s up for giving them a try. “When Mantle was introduced and incorporated with the 20/20/30 mix we trialled that and noticed the improvements straight away. Following discussions with Pete at BTME, for the remainder of the winter we’ve now doubled the Mantle application rate with great results. He also showed me the trial results of the PPT114 formulation back in October, and I was confident that it would work well for us.”

PPT114 is a soluble, micronutrient formulation featuring Manganese, Zinc and Copper, alongside Harpin Protein Elicitor. It has been developed to increase the efficacy of plant-health applications, helping to minimise Microdochium nivale infection. Andy combined PPT114 with his monthly fungicide strategy, followed up with 20/20/30+Mantle mix two weeks later. “We first trialled it on our Par 3 on its own and it was evident just seven days after the first application that the greens looked good and clean, so we rolled it out course-wide. This proactive strategy gives me better control over the health of our greens and, compared to other sites, the results we’re achieving, and the reduction in levels of disease we’re seeing, are much better.”

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New Biostimulants For Turf Health Management

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New Biostimulants For Turf Health Management: From establishment to recovery, a full season approach to turf health management is now on offer, following the launch of two new biostimulant products by Arysta LifeScience.

Tonivit® and Double Edge® join existing product Goemar Turf® to form a triple pronged approach to turf management, offering bespoke solutions for three different stages of sward development.

New Biostimulants For Turf Health Management

Technical Support for Arysta LifeScience UK & Ireland, Stephen Olive, said: “Together, these three products complement each other as a programme, but also individually offer solutions for specific uses through the season, whether that’s establishing newly seed turf, improving overall health status, or boosting recovery following high traffic activity.

“Manufactured to the same standard as our traditional crop protection products, our biostimulants are highly concentrated thanks to the development of a refined cold-press extraction process at our manufacturing plant in St. Malo, France. This means the application rate for all three products is between just 1 and 3L/ha.”

Aimed at the establishment of turf is Tonivit – a new biostimulant formulated from natural GA142 seaweed extract with added P & K. It activates root growth, root activity & tillering to quickly establish a stronger sward for newly seeded or re-seeded areas.

The effect of Tonivit on emergence speed is demonstrated through trials, which have shown that newly sown leys treated with the product reach 70% sward density three weeks earlier than those untreated.

Central to the range is existing product Goemar Turf, formulated from GA142 with added MgO, Cu & N. Goemar Turf improves the overall health and maintenance of turf, particularly for areas of aesthetic value such as golf courses. It can also help to prepare grasses for environmental stresses such as drier conditions throughout summer.

Completing the set is Double Edge. Double Edge is aimed at turf recovery, and uniquely combines two complementary biostimulants to further boost root growth and improve stress relief. Double Edge features 18 different vegetable amino acids along with GA142, N, P & K.

Stephen added: “We recognise that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not necessarily best for biostimulant products in the amenity turf sector.

“Following the success of Goemar Turf, which is used at some of the top golf courses in the world, we wanted to develop our portfolio further to create targeted solutions that address some of the main problems that greenkeepers and groundsmen face.

“Biostimulants are an important part of an integrated approach to turf protection, demonstrating a commitment to the sustainability agenda. We are proud to offer these three innovative products to the amenity turf sector.”

All three products were showcased at BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition in Harrogate last month.

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Greenkeeper Sets Up Mental Health Support Page

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Greenkeeper Sets Up Mental Health Support Page: The head greenkeeper of Hazel Grove Golf Club in Cheshire has set up a successful Facebook page that offers mental health support to greenkeepers in the industry.

Mike Davie created the page after observing “the increase of expectations of the golfer with increased personal abuse aimed at, and stress among, the greenkeeping community”.

He added that he’s known greenkeepers who have left the industry due to this, and therefore set up the page ‘Greenkeepers mental health support group’ earlier this year.

It already has more than 250 members.

“Mental health issues are more apparent nowadays as more seek medical help,” he said.

“Yet little support is offered from many golf clubs and duty of care is apparently not seen as a necessity.

“One of the problems is that clubs are run by well-meaning volunteers, which means when they need to discipline members for acts against the club’s staff, they don’t want a confrontation with their ‘friends‘ and would rather brush the matter under the table and resolve the issue by providing a polite pat on the head of the greenkeeper. This all creates a feeling of isolation within the industry.

“Any sign of acknowledging a problem by oneself is deemed as thought of being weak, so we tend to bottle it up, causing greater problems.

“In late 2017 I attended a stress awareness seminar by BIGGA at Sale Golf Club and realised that, by the number who had attended, and the fact that many are highly respected within the industry, we had a problem with mental welfare.

“I started a local support group in south Manchester for greenkeepers who wished to attend and talk out their problems. The realisation that we are not alone made a huge difference. The feedback I got was positive so the Facebook page was started in late July.

“This group does not always need people to comment but, as I have been told, the fact there is a page that can be accessed gives strength to someone feeling down.

“A big problem with our industry is that it is a high percentage negative industry. For example, you lie in bed listening to the rain, wondering how the course is affected. Will there be breakdowns, will all the staff turn up? The first thought of seeing a committee member is ‘what’s their complaint?’ and so on.

“These sites help to promote the fact we are not alone and in fact are a strong community we just need to tap in to, build bridges and connect more.

“In the long term I hope that the governing bodies will take on the challenge of promoting, supporting and giving help to the welfare of greenkeepers.”

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Scarify Your Lawn To Good Health

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Scarify Your Lawn To Good Health: The simplest way to ensure that your garden lawn is sufficiently healthy to withstand the rigours of winter and be in good condition for the 2019 growing season, is to scarify the surface this autumn.

Mechanical scarifying using either a mains electric or petrol machine will remove the ‘thatch’ from the roots of the grass plants.  Thatch is dead material or rubbish and moss which builds up forming a spongy surface that prevents air, light, nutrients and, most importantly, moisture from reaching the roots to generate healthy new growth. It is amazing just how much thatch can be lifted from even a small lawn!

Scarify Your Lawn To Good Health

Cobra is the UK’s largest range of powered garden machinery and has four specialist scarifiers; two mains electric and two petrol powered machines.  All four have all been expertly designed in the UK to cater specifically for the changing conditions of the British lawn.

“With our rapidly changing weather, the need to scarify regularly is more important than ever,” says Peter Chaloner, managing director of Cobra.  “As we seem to swing from virtual drought to almost flood conditions throughout the year, the need for lawns to absorb rain and slowly release it to the sub-ground water courses helps reduce the risk of flash flooding.  Lawns that are not regularly scarified tend to hold water, forming more moss and further slowing down this vital role of absorbing rain and slowly releasing it back to nature.”

The two electric options are the SA32E and the S36E. The SA32E has a 1300W motor with a 13” working width, and can work depths from -9mm to +4mm. The S36E is slightly wider at 14” and has a 1800W motor, it offers 2mm more depth too. Both electric models have a 40-litre grass bag capacity.

There are also two petrol models, both with a 15” working width, 16 steel blades and 45 litre grass bag capacity. These models have the choice of a 127cc Briggs & Stratton 550 series engine (the S390B), or a 135 cc Honda GP160 engine (the S390H).

The recommended retail prices for the Cobra scarifiers are £119.99 (SA32E), £159.99 (S36E), £529.99 (S390B) and £579.99 (S390H).

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