Tag Archive for: Hits

Green-tech Hits the Road for Key Industry Events

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Green-tech Hits the Road for Key Industry Events: Green-tech, the UK’s leading landscaping and urban greening solutions supplier, is proud to announce its attendance at four key industry events throughout summer and autumn 2025.

With a firm commitment to supporting sustainable land management, innovation in amenity landscaping, and regenerative practices, Green-tech will be out in force at the following shows:

Green-tech Hits the Road for Key Industry Events

Green-tech Hits the Road for Key Industry Events

  1. Groundswell, Hertfordshire: 2nd & 3rd July
    Focused on regenerative agriculture, Groundswell provides a forum for farmers and growers to learn about regenerative farming systems’ theory and practical applications. The Green-tech team will be on hand to showcase a range of tree planting products and its John Chambers Wildflower Seed mixes to support biodiversity and sustainable farming.
  2. GLAS (Garden Landscape Amenity Sportsturf), Dublin: 17th July
    A flagship event for Ireland’s landscape and amenity sector, GLAS offers a fantastic opportunity for Green-tech to support and connect with Irish contractors, designers, and local authorities. They will highlight practical solutions for urban redevelopment, green infrastructure, wildflower establishment, and sustainable drainage, supporting healthier, greener towns and cities.
  3. The Agroforestry Show, Hertfordshire: 10th–11th September
    As interest in agroforestry continues to grow, Green-tech is excited to attend this unique outdoor event exploring the integration of trees into farming systems. Our presence will support knowledge-sharing on tree protection, soil improvement, and rural land enhancement.
  4. Water & Environmental Management Expo, NEC Birmingham: 17th–18th September
    This specialist event brings together experts in sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), wastewater management, and environmental engineering. Green-tech will spotlight its portfolio of SuDS-compatible products, including the TreeParker and Mona Pluvia systems.

Richard Gill, Sales Director at Green-tech, comments, “These events provide great opportunities to engage with the industry, listen to challenges, and offer practical, sustainable solutions. Whether it’s enhancing biodiversity in rural landscapes or supporting green infrastructure in urban spaces, we’re committed to helping shape a more resilient future for land management and development.”

Green-tech’s technical specialists and specification team will be available at the events to offer advice and support on everything from tree planting to urban greening strategies.

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Toro Company hits ten-year landmark

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Toro Company hits ten-year landmark: The Toro Company has reinforced its commitment to helping advance sustainability in and through golf by extending its ten-year strategic global partnership with the GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation.

For many years The Toro Company has been a leader in golf’s sustainability movement – targeting research and development into new knowledge, ideas and product innovation – particularly in the advancement of water stewardship, hybrid and electric technology, lower emissions, and fuel efficiency.

Toro Company hits ten-year landmark

Toro Company hits ten-year landmark

In parallel, The Toro Company’s sustainability efforts extend to golf courses and organisations, and through The Toro Company Foundation Giving Program, The Toro Company has contributed consistently to sustainable golf advocacy, industry engagement, and development of knowledge, programs and tools.

Kelli Jerome, Executive Director of GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation, said: “The combination of The Toro Company’s leadership, support and influence has been fundamental to helping accelerate sustainability across the professional and amateur sides of golf.  Add in how The Toro Company has built sustainability into many wider partnerships and sponsorships, plus investments in innovation and technology, and we can see that the company has made a hugely significant and globally relevant contribution to golf’s progress in conserving nature and resources, delivering value to communities around the world, and helping address issues such as climate change, water pressures and energy costs.”

Marnie K. Wells, President, The Toro Company Foundation, said: “As a company with a century-long tradition of providing evolving solutions and support to the global golf sector, The Toro Company has sought to deliver genuinely cutting-edge equipment and wider knowledge to golf course managers. Our goal is to extend our values and clear responsibility to the environment and communities into solutions that lead to tangible impacts in carbon reduction, water stewardship, noise and air pollution in golf greenspaces worldwide.  Working with partners like GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation, with such a clearly aligned mission and purpose, is another way we can contribute to making golf the most sustainable of all sports.”

The Toro Company’s support for GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation over the past decade has, alongside other partners and supporters, delivered an accelerating range of tangible outcomes, including:

  • A dedicated, accredited and endorsed system for sustainable golf comprising standards; online programs; verification; certification and data-driven reporting and claims.
  • A highly accessible, easy and productive pathway for grassroots clubs to engage in – from the Sustainable Golf Pledge, to OnCourse program, to Annual Sustainable Golf Scorecards, to third party certification and promotion.
  • A Sustainable Golf Highlightsknowledge sharing hub, already with over 2000 tried and tested examples of sustainable golf in action.
  • A suite of custom-built carbon calculators for golf facilities; tournaments and organisations
  • A special ‘Sustainable Golf Champion’ program for professional golfers

At the close of 2023, sustainable golf strategies, programs and tools, certification and impact reporting were being utilised in over 70 countries – involving associations; facilities; new developments; tournaments; companies.  Over 600,000 Sustainable Golf Indicators are being tracked in the Sustainable Golf Database, stewarded with and for golf bodies.

Looking forward The Toro Company and GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation will be continuing to develop and provide these non-profit programs, tools and guidance to the sport, plus will pull through more case studies and examples of how The Toro Company solutions are driving a more efficient, popular and sustainable future for facilities.

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Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge

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Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge: After trialling various tractor mounted scarifiers, Steven Harvey, Head Greenkeeper at Stourbridge Golf Course, concluded that the SISIS Veemo MK 2 was by far the most suitable for his fairways.

Stourbridge Golf Club in the West Midlands was formed in 1892 progressing from the original 9 holes laid out on the former Pedmore racecourse to 18 holes in 1909. The basic outline of that course remains today, and marks somewhat of a divide according to Steven.

Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge

Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge

“There are essentially two halves to the course,” he said. “The old common ground at the bottom where the racecourse used to be and then you have more of a parkland course at the top. It really is chalk and cheese.

“It is also a small course; in fact, it was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as being the course with the ‘longest yardage over the smallest acreage’. Being a small plot of land to look after, it comes with both positives and benefits.”

Steve oversees a team of four members of staff and full credit must be given to the team for achieving a course which is highly praised by members and visitors alike.

With a humble budget and unfavourable weather conditions to work with, Steve claims that he is always looking at new methods to achieve best results and over recent years, he has largely focussed on the fairways.

“Historically our non-irrigated surfaces such as the fairways do tend to struggle and fail to hold on to moisture. No work has ever really taken place on the fairways other than slitting so they are heavy on organic matter. When it is hot, they really do bake and we have lost a lot of grasses, particularly the fescues.

“A couple of years ago, knowing that we wanted to scarify the fairways, we begged, and borrowed machines just to get the ball rolling,” he continued. “However, the problem always came on the undulating common land and whichever machine we used, it basically scalped them, didn’t hit the low spots and was very hit and miss. But we knew that if we had the right one then it would help us achieve exactly what we wanted to.

“Then we came across the SISIS Veemo.”

The SISIS Veemo MK 2 is a tractor-mounted scarifier used for removing thatch from large areas of turf, such as golf course fairways. The Veemo’s strong cutting blades are designed for minimum surface disturbance and maximum thatch removal via three floating heads which are independent from the main frame. The heads each move in all degrees of motion and follow any undulations of the ground on a fairway without any danger of damaging / scalping the turf, whilst the tungsten tipped hook blades with variable spacing cut effectively through the thatch layer.

Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge

Veemo hits the spot at Stourbridge

“The Veemo simply stood out from all the others – mainly for its durability and the way it hugs the ground, particularly on the fairways on the bottom half of the course.” said Steve. “It is fantastic the way it hits every part of the surface we want it to hit, due to the floating heads. The way it connects to the back of the tractor is also so simple.

“It is well built, and I can’t envisage any issues with damage or maintenance. The Veemo basically does everything we want it to do.

“We use the Veemo anytime between March and November, and the beauty of it is that not only can I use it on the fairways, but I can get it onto our tees and the approaches as well. I’m also going to be looking to use it on the greens very soon, and I think it will do a great job. I want to use it to its maximum capability.

“Overall, I’m very impressed with the Veemo and we are seeing the improvements from using it already.”

For further information or a no obligation demonstration, please contact SISIS on 01332 824 777 or visit www.sisis.com

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

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ISEKI hits the mark for Exeter Rugby Club

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ISEKI hits the mark for Exeter Rugby Club: Max Sandford has been working at Exeter Rugby Club for over 11 years with full responsibility as the Head Groundsman for the last four years. 

Working as part of a team of three with one first year apprentice they carefully maintain the premiership rugby pitch, alongside the two Desso rugby training pitches, the grounds and car parks. With over 100 players training three to four times a week it can be quite the challenge with the small team to keep everything in top condition.

ISEKI hits the mark for Exeter Rugby Club

ISEKI hits the mark for Exeter Rugby Club

Following the recent multi-million pound investment and a new East Stand built, the stadium now has capacity for over 15,000 fans and with the new hotel development it offers the opportunity to hold numerous events throughout the year.

When the pitches were built a couple of years ago the consultant helped specify the equipment required, this included a 35hp tractor, Wiedenmann Spiker, sprayer and zero turn mower.  Since moving up from a championship to a premiership side there comes an increase in expectations, so 18 months on the club needed to upsize their equipment to cope with the increase in demand.

Commenting on the equipment Max explained; “In order to cope with the larger aerators required we needed a larger tractor so we went out to the market to obtain three demonstrations and quotes.  This is where we came across the ISEKI TG6507IQ.  Scott Struthers, from our local dealer MST Group in Tiverton, brought this machine to us so we could test it out on our site.  Its high lift capacity of 1,580kg, tight turning circle, auto pick up hitch and of course the highly specified cab made our decision easy.”

“Another brilliant feature of the TG6507 IQ is the headland management system that can be set to automatically disengage the PTO on lifting and re-engage when lowering, making turning at the end of runs so simple.  This makes such a difference when aerating large areas and numerous runs. All these features and then, most importantly, the comfortable air con cab means the staff have no problems working with this machine for long periods of time!”

The TG6507 IQ was supplied by Scott Struthers at MST Group, based in Tiverton, Devon.   Max added; “We have been working with MST for a number of years, the back-up and servicing from them is faultless, they have a good, experienced workshop team ensuring our machines are kept in top condition and very competitive pricing.  With this excellent service it meant the purchase of our ISEKI TG6507 IQ was an obvious choice.”

“The TG6507 IQ is a top quality, well-built, sturdy tractor with many high specifications that make our lives so much easier when maintaining the pitches and other areas around the club.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend ISEKI.”

Watch the video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irP8kI8HlM4

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Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium

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Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium: Last year a Hunter Industries irrigation system, supplied by KAR UK, was installed at the iconic London Stadium. After seeing a number of benefits, Head Groundsman James Williams wanted to extend the Hunter system to other areas of the stadium.

The former Swansea and Liberty Stadium groundsman has certainly made an impression in London since he took the job in 2016. James’ work has been widely praised by his peers, and also by players and managers. By his own admission he is addicted to his profession.

Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium

Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium

“I think every head groundsman has a bit of an obsession with their pitch,” he said. “The lads are always asking why I’m messaging them even when I’m on holiday but I have cameras all around the pitch which I view on my phone and I’m forever spotting things. It’s difficult to switch off.”

James now has even greater control over the pitch when it comes to irrigation – so much so that he can even manage it from his own home or wherever he may be.

“We’ve got probes in the pitch which give me a lot of readings such as moisture, the humidity in the stadium, the temperature and a lot more. Every morning I get an email with a report telling me what the moisture levels are from three different depths. If I see that the moisture has dropped below 10% then I’ll turn the irrigation system on through my phone.”

This advantage has all been made possible thanks to a newly installed Hunter Industries irrigation system. Last year James felt that he was not getting the best out of the previous irrigation system and the pitch wasn’t getting the water it needed. After getting in touch with KAR UK, the UK’s leading wholesaler of irrigation equipment, a new Hunter system was installed. The system included eight of the most technologically advanced commercial rotors on the market – the all-new I-80’s.

Engineered for sports turf, the I-80 is built with a robust, dirt-tolerant gear drive that offers the highest torque output of any rotor in the commercial sphere, and extends a radius range from 11.3 to 29.6 meters. The I-80 features a wide range of highly efficient, dual-trajectory, wind-fighting nozzles for highly efficient performance in a range of applications. It also provides total top serviceability (TTS) via its integrated, surface-mounted snap-ring for no-dig easy maintenance.

Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium

Hunter hits the mark at the London Stadium

“I was instantly impressed with how good they were,” said James. “The service from KAR UK was also excellent and was part of the reason why I decided to go ahead and replace the outfield and pitch surrounds with the new Hunter TTS-885’s with no-bounce covers and turf cups.”

The new Hunter TTS-800 rotors provide maximum uniformity and longevity as they use the same gear drive and nozzles as the I-80’s. The high-torque gear drives are the strongest in the industry, so the challenges of reclaimed water use or poor water quality are mitigated. An extra-large, fast-access flange compartment comfortably accommodates wire connections and other components.

James and his team are now able to control the system both to the pitch and the outfields through the mobile-friendly Centralus irrigation management platform. This provides highly secure, comprehensive cloud-based control and monitoring features to the new ACC2 controller at the stadium. The connectivity allows users to view a controller’s status, change settings, view forecasts, save water, and receive instant notification of important system alarms — all without costly and time-consuming travel and site visits.

It is a technologically advanced system, yet incredibly user friendly – something which James felt was important.

“The one thing that stands out the most for me is that this system is very simple to use and that was essential. I needed something that the whole team could use – not just myself.

“I’m very impressed with the whole system. There is a reason that more and more stadiums are switching over to Hunter.

“The service and support from KAR UK has again been fantastic.”

For more information, please visit www.karuk.com

You can also follow KAR UK on Twitter @KARUK_LTD for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

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