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Extensions Of Use For Herbicide

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Extensions Of Use For Herbicide: As of March 2018, the barrier acting, total herbicide, Pistol®, from Bayer, will be labelled with two new extensions of use, which will include applications by CDA (Controlled Droplet Applicator) as well as vehicle mounted sprayers, in addition to the current approval for knapsack application. 

Lewis Blois, Bayer national account manager, explains that treatments using a CDA allow for the herbicide to be applied evenly and effectively, so that contractors are not required to use a large amount of adjuvant or water.

Extensions Of Use For Herbicide

 

“This greatly reduces the overall weight of herbicide operators need to carry and saves a significant amount of working time, as they won’t need to continually stop to refill the tank.

“Vehicle mounted applications were actually removed from the Pistol® label in 2015, but the Bayer regulatory team has worked hard to bring about renewed approval. This will ensure that users can cover large permeable areas such as car parks, in a shorter space of time,” he says.

The updated label will not affect those currently using the product. However, those applying old-label products, with the extended application methods, should ensure that they have access to the updated label. This will be available from Pistol® distributors or can be downloaded from the Bayer website.

All Pistol® bottles will continue to be supplied with low drift nozzles, which allow amenity professionals to minimise chemical drift and ensure a targeted spray pattern.

“Using low drift nozzles is an essential part of pesticide stewardship, and without such practices we could see even more products removed from the market,” explains Lewis.

A key benefit of Pistol® is that it has a long lasting, systemic and residual mode of action. As well as killing weeds on contact, it continues to reside as a barrier in the upper soil profile to control and prevent germinating weeds from establishing for 3 months, post application.

“The updated label will offer all users the flexibility to apply the herbicide in the most appropriate way to suit their circumstances,” says Lewis.

To find out more about Pistol® and the label update, please contact the Bayer Turf Solutions Team on 00800 1214 9451, email turfsolutions@bayer.com or visit www.environmentalscience.bayer.co.uk

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Aer-Aid Instils Air Of Confidence

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Aer-Aid Instils Air Of Confidence: The Grounds Manager at Shrewsbury School, Andy Richards, is a strong believer that aeration is one of the most important practices carried out by groundsmen, and this is exactly why he has recently purchased a new SISIS Javelin Aer-Aid.

Shrewsbury School is one of the country’s leading co-educational independent schools for 13-18-year-olds and attracts boys and girls from all over the country. It is one of the original seven public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, and its impressive list of previous pupils boasts a certain Mr Charles Darwin. In line with the work of its most famous “Old Salopian”, the school continues to evolve in a dynamic way, achieving both outstanding academic and sporting results.

Aer-Aid Instils Air Of Confidence

“We have a good blend of academics and sports at Shrewsbury School,” says Andy. “Sport is a massive part of the School and there is a very strong house sport system – in fact the students are willing to run through a brick wall for their school and their house in sporting competitions!”

It is for this reason that Andy and his team leave no stone un-turned when it comes to preparing and maintaining sports pitches of the highest standard. In discussing his maintenance procedures, Andy pin-pointed aeration as one of the most vital.

“Speaking with other groundsmen, we have one of the highest pitch usages in the country. On each pitch we average 10-15 hours per week and we’ve got limited drainage. Therefore, one of the most important things we do is aeration and we aerate pitches all of the time. Grass lives and needs air like anyone else,” he says.

Breathing life into Andy’s grass is his newly purchased SISIS Javelin Aer-Aid tractor mounted aerator, and he had no problem in running it past the School’s bursars – as he explains.

“It was the machine I wanted because I had previously trialled it and had good results. I Clegg hammered the pitches before and after using the Aer-Aid and had noticed a massive reduction in hardness. I know that the Aer-Aid had recently undergone extensive Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) trials and it came out with excellent results – which always gives you confidence and makes it easier to explain to the bursars why you want to purchase it.”

As Andy says, the Javelin Aer-Aid recently gained rave reviews from the STRI. Over a three month period, extensive STRI trials led by Dr Christian Spring were carried out which examined how and if the Javelin Aer-Aid had an effect on the hardness of the turf, the root depth, water infiltration and disease. Christian reported that “it became obvious that the Aer-Aid improved maximum root and depth within the soil profile and also had the benefit of increasing the depth of the average rooting mass.”

With 10mm diameter ‘tipped’ tines working at 75mm (3ins) spacing, air is introduced from the Aer-Aid at a rate of 88 litres (3cu.ft.) per minute. These air injection tines are specially designed to use the maximum air available from the compressor and produces clean, fresh air, while also ensuring that surface disturbance is kept to a minimum. The cam trigger mechanism ensures that the air is always expelled at the bottom of the tine penetration, enabling treatment to be targeted precisely and consistently.

“We do all the normal types of aeration but to actually be able to inject air into the surface as opposed to just a mechanical operation of it is a massive bonus,” says Andy.

“It’s a really good machine, easy to use and we can see significant improvements since using the Aer-Aid.”

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

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Kubota Top Of The Class

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Kubota Top Of The Class: Kubota UK’s partnership with Merchant Taylors’, one of the ‘Great Nine’ schools of England, is going from strength to strength after the school recently replaced 13 of its machines for 13 new machines through George Browns, who are the UK’s largest Kubota groundcare dealer.

With 285 acres of pitches, lakes and woodland to maintain, and a campus that boasts first class facilities, it is vital that Merchant Taylors’ ground maintenance team have the most reliable, hard working and best performing equipment on the market.

Kubota Top Of The Class

The responsibility of the maintenance and upkeep of this vast rural estate is led by grounds manager Richard Ayling, who has been working at the school for almost 23 years. To support the continuous maintenance of the grounds, Richard required a range of new groundcare machinery to update the schools existing Kubota inventory.

Richard said: “This school has developed an outstanding reputation as one of the best boys schools in the UK, both academically and through sporting achievements.  In order for our students to perform to the best of their ability, ensuring the sports surfaces are in perfect condition all year round is critical.

“We also host a number of top-tier sporting teams Including Middlesex County Cricket Club, Saracens rugby academy and a regional centre for England hockey. With such a vast range of pitches, this is by no means an easy task, so having the right machines that can help you do your job productively is key.

“The purchasing of the machines was straightforward after taking different factors into consideration. We need machines that can perform to the highest standards. Reliability is also important to avoid any costly downtime and the machines we use need to be comfy and simple to operate so my team can carry out their work efficiently.  That’s exactly why we chose Kubota.

“We have had a relationship with George Browns and Kubota for decades now and have never been let down.  This new machinery will significantly assist our team of ten groundcare staff, helping to increase productivity of our operations even further across a wide range of applications.”

As a testament to the reliability of Kubota machinery, the school has only just parted ways with their very first Kubota machine. The L225 had been used at the school for over 35 years, being one of the first compact tractors ever to be introduced by Kubota into the UK market by in the early 80s.

Fast forward to today, the school’s recent order includes two of Kubota’s market-leading diesel-powered RTV-X900 utility vehicles, three petrol-powered RTV-500s and two commercial mowers, the Kubota G21 ride-on and out front F3090.  Richard also purchased a number of Kubota’s popular L Series mid-sized tractors, including two L5040s and an L5740. The STW34, B2050 and M60 Series tractors completed Richard’s fleet replacement programme.

Due to the expanse and diversity of the estate at Merchant Taylors’ School, the addition of five new Kubota RTVs enables the efficient transportation of both personnel and equipment around the vast site. For example, the two RTV-X900’s are specifically used to tackle some of the more difficult terrain located outside the school site, such as the woodland and lake areas that cannot be accessed easily by foot or other vehicles.

The STW34 compact tractor is primarily used to undertake the majority of cricket renovations, ensuring pitches are kept in optimum condition. The ability to use a wide range of implements on this tractor allows for significant adaptability and flexibility across a multitude of tasks.

The powerful L5040 tractors are being used by the team to cater for heavier workloads as their extra lifting capacity of up to 1750KG makes them much more versatile. The range is an ideal choice for carrying out such tasks as scarifying, fertiliser spreading and seeding, plus verti-draining the land.

Richard continued: “It’s testament to the quality of the pitches we produce and maintain here at Merchant Taylors’ that other top sports teams use our facilities.  I am extremely proud of the work we do and the professionalism of my groundcare team.  We take real pride in making sure we can work towards and keep the school facilities to the high standard that independent schools demand. The very high standards of facilities in this sector are being set across the country by Grounds Managers and it is my responsibility to make sure Taylors’ is the same.

“There’s no doubt that partnerships like the one with have with George Browns and Kubota also play a substantial role in enabling us to carry out our work to the highest standards.  We are using high performance and quality machines from a trusted brand and have the first class back-up and support from George Browns when required.  We look forward to continuing this relationship in the future.”

For more information on Kubota and its extensive range of solutions for the groundcare sectors, or to find your local dealer, visit www.kubota.co.uk or call 01844 268000.

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Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Announcement At BTME

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Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Announcement At BTME: The overall winner of the Amenity Forum Sprayer Operator of the Year Awards, which is sponsored by ICL and Syngenta, and supported by BASIS, will be announced at the 2018 BTME event in Harrogate.

The awards, in their third year, seek to recognise and reward the industry’s best sprayer operators. Its aim is to improve overall standards by identifying the best practice of individuals to enhance results – and sharing their experiences across the industry.

Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Announcement AT BTME

Over the past year, sprayer operators from all over the UK have been entering one of three categories and the winners were announced at the recent Amenity Forum conference, held at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent.

The category winners were:

Sports turf: Using a knapsack/boom sprayer: Chris Phillips – Complete Weed Control

Chris joined Complete Weed Control, South Wales in 2001 as an operator and soon became proficient in the skill of street pavements herbicide application before excelling in the fine turf side of the business. Since acquiring the CWC franchise in south and central Wales, his business has gone from strength to strength and in particular his work on golf courses has been widely praised.

Chris feels extremely proud to have won this category and believes it is a major achievement in his highly successful career so far.

Landscape & Industrial: Using a knapsack sprayer: Nathan Hume – SH Goss Ltd

Nathan, Contracts Manager and Ecologist for SH Gross Ltd, primarily specialises in the prevention of invasive non-native plants and also operates in a wide variety of sites including airports, railways, cemeteries, rivers, forests, nature reserves, construction sites and golf courses.

“It was an honour to receive the award. Myself and the company have always followed best practice so awards like this are a nice justification that we are doing things right,” he said.

Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Announcement AT BTME

Landscape & Industrial: Using a vehicle sprayer: Lee Harrison – Complete Weed Control

Lee joined Complete Weed Control South Wales five years ago and is regarded as a very intelligent operator, who is highly motivated and anxious to do a good job every day. He is extremely knowledgeable with all aspects of pesticide applications and especially when it comes to calibration. His precision is said to be ‘legendary’ within the company.

The three category winners have now been invited by ICL and Syngenta to attend the BTME Welcome Reception where the overall winner will be announced. Not only will the winner receive the Amenity Forum Shield but they will also have a number of fantastic prizes to choose from which include.

  1. Flights, accommodation and entry to GCSAA 2018 San Antonio, Texas – or
  2. Flights, accommodation and entry to GIE Expo 2018 Louisville, Kentucky – or
  3. ICL / Syngenta products to the value of £2,000

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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Launch Of ISEKI UK & Ireland

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Launch Of ISEKI UK & Ireland: ISEKI UK & Ireland has been launched as part of a huge investment in UK and Ireland markets by the Japanese tractor manufacturer.

The launch of ISEKI UK & Ireland is an exciting development showing great investment and commitment by ISEKI in these key markets. ISEKI UK ltd is a company formed with investment from ISEKI for the sole purpose of distributing the ISEKI range of products and growing market share and sales in the UK & Ireland Markets.

Launch Of ISEKI UK & Ireland

For the last many years, the ISEKI product line has been distributed in the UK and Ireland by Ransomes Jacobsen operating out of their facilities in Ipswich Suffolk. ISEKI would like to sincerely thank Ransomes Jacobsen for all their hard work and dedication over this period and look forward to building on this foundation.

The new ISEKI company will also be based in the Ipswich area and joining ISEKI UK in the new year as Managing Director will be ex-President of Jacobsen, David Withers.

Withers is well known in the industry having served for many years at Ransomes and Jacobsen and more recently working as a business consultant in the golf industry.

“I started working with Iseki when the product line came to Jacobsen in 1996 and have always enjoyed being involved with such an exciting and reliable product line. When ISEKI outlined their strategic vision of getting closer to the customers by investing in their own distribution in the UK it made sense to me” said Withers, who went on to say “I am really looking forward to joining Iseki UK in the New Year to head up this exciting new venture”

Kazuya Tani the European Managing Director of ISEKI  said “This is an exciting time for ISEKI we will be investing more in marketing and promotions of the ISEKI brand and want to see a wider acceptance of our products through expanding our markets served and getting more share from existing customers. The commitment of ISEKI to the UK Market will be significant and we trust that the market will react positively to this approach”

More information will be issued over coming weeks and no changes are anticipated to the current dealer network.

For more information go to www.iseki.co.uk

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