Tag Archive for: Results

Express results from Autumn Green BiO

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Express results from Autumn Green BiO: Rigby Taylor has announced the Autumn Green BiO fertiliser – a new 3-0-12+8Fe+6CaO+2MgO micro granular formulation that includes a ‘BiO Pack’ and zeolite to ensure enhanced plant health and root development, improved disease resistance, rapid green-up and extended (two-three months) colour.

With zeolite helping to reduce leaching and improve the plant’s Cation Exchange Capacity, Autumn Green Bio’s potassium content also provides a constant top-up, which is essential for an improved root system, while a continuous supply of calcium avoids deficiencies that would lead to stunted roots and limited nutrient uptake.

Express results from Autumn Green BiO

Carbohydrate storage increases as plant growth slows down and temperatures cool in the autumn. It is therefore essential that sufficient levels of potassium are maintained to prevent reduced levels of Adenosine Triphosphate – the energy source that drives all metabolic activity of plant cells produced during photosynthesis.

The dual source of iron in Autumn Green BiO provides extended colour for two-three months, and the addition of magnesium – the central element of chlorophyll – not only provides colour but also improves iron utilisation levels.

In addition, the inclusion of seaweed and lignite – which, when applying at 35gm/m2 is the equivalent of eight applications of a liquid seaweed – improves the production of cytokinin and auxin, promoting cell division and elongation.

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ISEKI Dealer Thrilled With Results

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ISEKI Dealer Thrilled With Results: Llyn ATV in North Wales signed up with ISEKI in the late spring of 2018 after a review of what product lines they could add to their portfolio that would suit their customers’ needs for diesel mowers and small tractors.

Will Owen the manager of Llyn ATVs commented “ the grass conditions here in North Wales are so lush due to the amount of rain we get and most manufacturers products simply will not cope with these difficult conditions when cutting and collecting” Will went on “ when we tried the ISEKI products we were amazed as to how well they coped with the conditions and we sold our initial stock in the first few weeks, getting an order from every demonstration that we did”

ISEKI Dealer Thrilled With Results

David Withers, Managing Director of ISEKI UK, when asked about the Llyn ATV success story added his thoughts “We are pleased, but not surprised, that Will has had the success he has, many dealers are finding that the ISEKI range fits very nicely above the petrol powered variants that they already sell and meets the more demanding customers’ expectations” he added “ ISEKI mowers are the best cut and collect units available and combined with a strong line up of compact tractors the range can be a real game changer for dealers around the UK”

For more information, visit: www.iseki.co.uk

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Toro’s Great Results At Carnoustie

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Toro’s Great Results At Carnoustie: This year’s hot, dry summer led to Sandy Reid, links superintendent at Carnoustie Golf Links, facing an unusual set of circumstances in the lead up to, and during, the Open Championship.

Weather prior to the Championship had produced the fast-running links conditions many had dreamt of, but the turf was so dry it was barely growing, and vehicles travelling over the course were causing damage.

Toro's Great Results At Carnoustie

“We were delighted with the conditions as it shows links golf off to the very best,” says Sandy. “But we were also apprehensive because we weren’t used to it and we had never prepared the course in conditions like that before. It was just so dry.”

So, to give the fairways all they needed throughout the Championship – a gentle trim – the Toro Reelmaster 3555-D fairway mower was perfectly suited for the task.

“We brought in a vehicle and buggy ban inside the ropes for a week in advance of the Championship and for the week itself, and this applied to everyone from the contractors, the TV camera crews, the R&A and ourselves,” explains Sandy, who together with Championship Course head greenkeeper, Craig Boath, managed a large team, and support staff for the week.

“The RM3555 fairway mower was absolutely perfect as, with three wheels and slick tyres, we could use it with the confidence that it was not going to damage the turf and as it uses the same cutting units as the Reelmaster 5410 we knew we would get consistency of cut.”

As usual Carnoustie produced a fantastically exciting Open with Italian, Francesco Molinari, producing a bogey-free weekend to top a leaderboard stacked with big names. Before Molinari had holed his final putt both Tiger Woods, leading with just nine holes to play for the first time in 10 years, and Rory McIlroy, tied second, had the galleries roaring their approval.

With three courses to maintain, Carnoustie Links have a substantial fleet of Toro equipment from a long-standing agreement with Reesink. But for such a huge championship extra equipment, plus Toro tournament support staff, were brought in for the week.

“It was great to have this equipment ready and waiting even if it wasn’t used as much as other tournaments. However, there was rain overnight on the Friday, which created some growth, and having additional fairway mowers meant that we could cut them from one direction, tee to green,” says Sandy.

And of course, the work didn’t stop when the players and public galleries returned home, then began the recovery work!

“We had the ProCore 648s doing solid tining and mini coring in some of the well-trafficked areas, so we could get some air into them and some seeding done. The HydroJect have also been very useful. We’ve got a couple of pedestrian ones, but we still have a trailed one which we put on the back of a Workman with some wetting agent in the tanks for some of the barer spectator routes.”

Having been head greenkeeper on the Championship course, working under links superintendent, John Philp, at the last Carnoustie Open in 2007, Sandy is well placed to assess the development of equipment in the intervening 11 years.

“I would say that there have been improvements. We’ve moved to 11-blade units, even on our triples, while we find the latest machines’ ability to follow contours and curves, particularly with the Greensmaster TriFlex Hybrid 3420s, so much better. The balance of the wheels and tyres means that you don’t see wheel marks to the same degree as you used to. They don’t put the pressure on the turf that the older machines used to.”

He is delighted with the support Carnoustie Links gets from Toro and distributor Reesink Turfcare, while the quality of the equipment itself pleases not only him, but his team of greenkeepers.

“It is first class machinery throughout the fleet and we have full confidence that whatever task we are doing we will get a great quality finish. The guys all love using it as it is comfortable, understandable and easy to use.”

‘Rest’ is a four-letter word not often heard at Carnoustie and there won’t be much of it coming up as the annual Dunhill Links Championship, with its host of celebrity golfers, takes place over Carnoustie, The Old Course, and Kingsbarns, in October.

Nothing to faze Sandy and his team, however, and, with the support of Toro and Reesink, it will all be taken in the Carnoustie stride.

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro

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“Fantastic Results” From Toro: Scarborough Borough Council’s recently appointed parks and countryside manager, Tim Allison, has invested in Toro for the first time in the form of five new Toro LT-F3000 triple flail mowers, and the green spaces of the North Yorkshire seaside town are already benefitting from the change.

Previously cut by cylinder mowers that struggled with long grass and dandelions, the highway verges, small open spaces and mini golfs of Scarborough are now being maintained by the five innovative flail mowers, five days a week.

"Fantastic Results" From Toro

With 28 years’ experience working in various roles within Scarborough’s parks and countryside service, Tim wanted to re-evaluate the council’s grounds strategy to uphold its national reputation for prestigious green flag award-winning parks and open spaces, such as Peasholm and Falsgrave Park.

He explains why he decided to take this new approach of using flail instead of cylinder mowers and Toro, which is distributed in the UK by Reesink Turfcare: “Jon Wright from our local dealer Russells Groundcare was especially helpful during the decision-making process by helping organise a demo of machines across the market.

“We lined up five different cylinder, rotary and flail mowers from different brands and put them to use in a local park. The Toro LT-F3000s were agreed to be by far the best, both in build quality and the standard of cut they produced.

“In fact”, he continues, “the machines are only on their second cuts across the borough and already we’ve received positive feedback from the public, councillors, managers and, most importantly, the operatives about the quality of cut and improvement in after-cut appearance.”

Tim compares the after-cut appearance produced by the machines to a ‘green carpet’: “Thanks to the ability of the LT-F3000 to tackle longer grass, we’ve raised the height of cut and there are many benefits to doing this.

“Firstly,” he says, “there are shorter grass clippings, which are swept into the freshly-cut sward. Because of the space in the flail head, where grass does not build up, clippings are not left in clumps but spread evenly in the machine’s wake and hidden from view – giving the impression of a green carpet.”

Reduced grass growth is another, says Tim: “The higher you cut grass, the less you promote its growth. So while grass isn’t cut as short as when we used cylinders, it remains a neater length for longer. This is ideal because time is of the essence.”

Finally, and most importantly, Tim adds, there is public perception: “Rather than seeing short grass for a moment followed by a long period of rapid growth, the public is now seeing spaces across the borough maintained at a constant rate. The build-up of grass cuttings have gone and they are reassured that we are out looking after the green spaces of Scarborough regularly.”

Buoyed with positive comments from all angles, Tim concludes: “Councils can quite often become stuck in the old ways of doing things, so by going against the status quo there was additional pressure for the machines to perform. With such fantastic results, these new Toro LT-F3000 flail mowers have left no room for doubt that they are up to the job.”

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Aqua-Zorb Delivers Results

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Aqua-Zorb Delivers Results: The Course Manager at the highly exclusive Birch Grove Estate in Sussex, Pete Smith, has reported ‘phenomenal’ results from using Sherriff Amenity’s Aqua-Zorb wetting agent to bring his fairways back to life.

Situated in 1200 acres of undulating Sussex countryside, lies Birch Grove Estate. It is the former home of Sir Harold Macmillan, former Prime Minister, and visitors to the house have included Sir Winston Churchill, General Charles De Gaulle and, just a couple of weeks before his assassination, John F Kennedy.

'Phenomenal' Results From Aqua-Zorb

While these extraordinary visitors would have no doubt enjoyed the luxuries and stunning views afforded by Birch Grove, they would not have had a chance to play a round of golf on the magnificent 18-hole course in the grounds.

It wasn’t until 1986 when new owner and Asian businessman, Larry Yung, gained planning permission to build the course on the provision that it was to be purely for private use. Work eventually began on the Donald Steel designed course in 1994, and it was completed in 1996. However, for reasons unknown, Yung began to lose interest in his course and for next few years it was maintained as a 9-hole course with barely any golf played on it.

This all changed in 2011 when the current owners purchased Birch Grove and decided to return the course to its former glory. Having played a part in the original construction, Pete Smith – experienced greenkeeper and then course manager at the Cavendish Club, was brought in to reinstate the course.

Following a highly successful renovation, the 18-hole course is now 7,000 yards long, with the greens and tees constructed to USGA specification. The course remains ‘purely by invitation only’ and a maximum of 150 rounds of golf are played a year on it. It could be argued that Birch Grove Estate is the most exclusive golf course in the country.

Pete along with two other full-time greenkeepers tend to the course and no stone is left un-turned. So when his fairways started to take a turn for the worse, he was quick to find a solution.

“We have irrigation on the greens, tees and approaches but we don’t have fairway irrigation and I have never really used a wetting agent on them,” says Pete. “However, this year has been ridiculously dry and it got to the stage where in early July I was starting to look at the fairways thinking that they are actually going beyond dormant. We were starting to lose large parts of the fairway where we have not had any irrigation or any rainfall.

“So after speaking Joseph Dormer (Amenity Specialist for Sherriff Amenity), he suggested using the Aqua-Zorb Liquid as a curative effect and we thought we’d give it a go.”

Aqua-Zorb Liquid from Sherriff Amenity is a concentrated non-ionic turf wetting agent that will enable water to move faster and deeper into the soil profile. One application can last all season and it is renowned for treating the cause of Localised Dry Patch. Aqua-Zorb can also improve drainage, alleviate compaction, reduce the quantity of irrigation required, suppress the formation of dew and greatly improve the quality of the sward.

Upon applying Aqua-Zorb it is recommended that the operator should immediately irrigate with a minimum 3mm of water, or spray during rainfall – which, with no fairway irrigation, Pete relied on. However, what he thought would be a passing shower actually turned out to be far much more.

“Without fairway irrigation I was reliant on rainfall so I waited until it started raining before applying the Aqua-Zorb. It ended up absolutely chucking it down – literally the last couple of fairways I was spraying the product on were virtually flooding with surface water sitting on them. I ended up with about 16mm of rainfall which is pretty much four times the water volume that is required. At the time I was convinced that, due to the heavy rain, it wasn’t going to work. I believed it would just wash off and I thought I had just wasted all of the product.

“But coming back two days later I was amazed to see the fairways ‘greening up’ – the results were truly phenomenal. The proof, bizarrely that it worked, was that I missed a couple of areas, and you could clearly see where I had applied the wetting agent and where I hadn’t. At the time of spraying, I thought it wouldn’t matter if I left a 2ft line between my spray widths because it I felt it would leach and move with the heavy rain water that was coming down.

But it didn’t, it just stayed there and that actually gave me the evidence that the Aqua-Zorb had actually done an amazing job. I said to Joseph that it must have been like super glue!

“I will absolutely, un-questionably, use Aqua-Zorb in the spring next year as my six month fairway wetting agent. I will put it down with 100% confidence because I know how heavy that rainfall was. It was quite incredible seeing the results from this year and I know I won’t have to worry anymore about my fairways burning off or be concerned about losing them if we have another dry spell.”

As well as being a fan of Aqua-Zorb, Pete was also quick to praise the customer service he receives from Sherriff Amenity’s Joseph Dormer.

“Customer service is excellent – Joseph is relatively new in his role and having previously been a greenkeeper he is extremely knowledgeable. I know that he is always on the end of the phone for any back-up or agronomy issues.

“Not a lot of people are aware of actually how good this product is but Joe has looked into it, researched it and is confident in it. He hasn’t pushed it onto me – he simply came to me in a time of trouble and found me a solution. I took his advice and I’m pleased I did!”

For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com

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