Tag Archive for: Terrain

Terrain Aeration’s deep penetration to relieve waterlogging

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Terrain Aeration’s deep penetration to relieve waterlogging: Over many years, major house-building companies have called on Terrain Aeration to decompact back gardens and community areas of new-build developments.

During the building, the unavoidable combination of diggers, dumper trucks, bulldozers, concrete mixer lorries and parked vehicles take their toll on the soil, flattening the air out of it. Eventually, the areas that become the gardens and shared grass areas can become overly compacted. They may already have a sub-soil layer of rubble, old bricks and general landfill waste contributing to the problem. The result is waterlogging and panning requiring very deep aeration as a cure.

Terrain Aeration’s deep penetration to relieve waterlogging

Terrain Aeration’s deep penetration to relieve waterlogging

Terrain Aeration’s Terralift system reaches a depth of one metre using a JCB hammer and probe to break through the compaction. At this depth, compressed air is released, creating multiple fissures in the soil. This fracturing is done working to a grid system with two-metre spacing between each injection of air. As can be seen in the picture, there can be a massive amount of water trapped beneath the surface, causing the waterlogging in the garden. The spouts of water give a clear indication of the need to penetrate far deeper than normal turf aeration. As the probe exits, dried seaweed is injected which expands and contracts, keeping the interlinking fissures open and ensuring maximum drainage to the area.

Terrain Aeration has provided the solution to this for some of the UK’s biggest builders, including Taylor-Wimpey, Barratt, and Persimmon. The Terralift machine has proven itself over the last 30 years in aerating and decompacting soils. It is the ideal way of getting oxygen back into the soil structure, is non-invasive and leaves no mess. Once a garden has been aerated using Terrain Aeration’s machinery, nature will be able to help with the rejuvenation of the soil structure – so this treatment would not be required again. Different types of machine have been built to enable access to the gardens through single gates and garages.

Terrain Aeration works nationwide, providing deep aeration relief for waterlogging and flooding for house builders, sports grounds, amenity areas, golf courses and public spaces.

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Toro stands up to tough terrain

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Toro stands up to tough terrain: In a theme of fives, Calcot Park Golf Club has received five new Toro machines on a five-year lease. Headlining the fleet is the Reelmaster 5410 with five cutting units for tackling the challenging terrain of the course with unrelenting ease for years.

The club, situated on the Berkshire border, is no stranger to Toro. In fact, according, to Course Manager Tom Jennings, 100 percent of its machinery fleet is red and that’s as much for its longevity as it is its performance.

Toro stands up to tough terrain

Toro stands up to tough terrain

“Toro machinery is bulletproof when it comes to longevity. We have fairway mowers here that are up to 13 years old, which is impressive for the amount of work they do,” says Tom.

It’s no surprise then that when the time came to upgrade its machines with a five-year lease deal, Toro was the only option considered. And one machine in particular that has made its mark is the Reelmaster 5410 with five cylinders.

“The topography at our course is very up and down, and being a heavy clay site, we need a machine that can handle that, especially in the winter,” says Tom. “As a parkland course, we’ve got thicker grasses and lots of them and the sheer quantity and the coarser texture can be tough to get through, but it presents no problem for Toro and in particular the five-cylinder mower.”

In a fleet deal that also includes two new Greensmaster 3400 mowers, a Reelmaster 3100 sidewinder, and Groundsmaster 4000 – all provided by Reesink Turfcare, Tom says all the mowers work hand in hand to navigate the Harry Colt designed course and also singles out the Reelmaster 3100 for commendation.

“We’ve got the 3100 coming in on the lease as well. It’s a smaller machine which is why we chose it. Our course was built in 1930 and a lot of the complexes are quite small and tight; this sidewinder is flexible enough to get around them, whereas others on the market tend to be too bulky for the job.”

The club benefits from Reesink’s lease deal which allows it to renew its range of machines every five years. “Opting into a lease deal works well for the club,” says Tom. “I know that if we get a five-year lease, in five years from now I’m not only going to get the machines and the brand that performs best on the course; but benefit from the latest technology and the latest machines that could also benefit the course.”

And Tom and his team have their sights set on electric power next. “We’ll be considering some of the electric machines next time. We’re in an urban area and I think this will be helpful with our mowing routines,” he concludes.

Learn more about Toro’s technology and how it could benefit your course, by calling distributor Reesink at 01480 226800, emailing info@reesinkturfcare.co.uk or visiting reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Terrain Aeration scores with Hallam Grange

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Terrain Aeration scores with Hallam Grange: Hallam Grange Bowling Club has its roots in a tennis and sports club dating back a hundred years. Located to the west of the vibrant city of Sheffield, today’s club draws enthusiasts of all ages and levels with first-class facilities and until recently the bowling green was no exception.

Well maintained and meticulously taken care of by a small number of members and led by volunteer green keeper, Martin Westley, the green had begun to suffer after last winter and the exceptionally wet build-up into spring. It was known the green was originally constructed on an area used for spoils from house building many years ago and the only drainage was in the gutters around the edge.

Terrain Aeration scores with Hallam Grange

Terrain Aeration scores with Hallam Grange

“Usually, we have a smooth, even, and top-quality surface,” says Martin, “but last winter was so very wet and we started to get pooling across the green. We have done regular vertidraining down to about twelve inches, but each time there’s heavy rain we have standing water. We were certain the combination of the original foundation of the green and sixty plus years of play had led to compaction at depth and lack of drainage.”

Martin did some research to see what was available to solve the problem. He came across Terrain Aeration and spoke to other clubs whose greens had been treated as long as fifteen years ago and were still draining freely.

The Terrain Aeration Terralift system works on the principle of a probe drilling down to a metre depth and releasing compressed air at a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This fractures and fissures the soil to allow drainage. On the tail end of the blast, dried, milled seaweed is injected. Over time, the seaweed expands and contracts in the soil, similar to ‘breathing’ underground, to help keep the fractures open. The probe is removed, and the process repeated using two-metre centre spacings on a staggered grid pattern. This grid ensures that each probe shot links with the previous ones. Terrain Aeration says the long-term solution leaves little surface disruption and allows immediate play after treatment. That was certainly the case for Hallam Grange. Martin says, “Terrain Aeration arrived at ten in the morning and worked through to about three in the afternoon, and you couldn’t really tell where they had been. We played a league match at six-thirty the same day.”

Terrain Aeration www.terrainaeration.co.uk  01449 673783

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Cost-effective solutions from Terrain Aeration

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Cost-effective solutions from Terrain Aeration: We take for granted trees, sports pitches and green spaces in our parks and urban environments, as a natural part of the landscape. Yet, all too often, trees are subjected to stress because of several factors.

Nutrient shortages, surface compaction, and waterlogging, where water drains off hard surface pathways, all have their effect. Sports pitches and open spaces suffer from constant play and foot traffic. Frequently sited on made-up ground, they too experience major problems with drainage. Reductions in Local Authority budgets in recent years are bound to influence the care of trees, parks, pitches and open spaces. While essential to urban communities on many levels, they are costly to the councils who must seek ways of reducing costs. Deep aeration specialists Terrain Aeration has several cost-effective solutions developed over thirty years of treating trees, sports grounds and green spaces.

Cost-effective solutions from Terrain Aeration

Cost-effective solutions from Terrain Aeration

Councils have not had to spend so much money this year on watering trees, but if the trees were aerated and had a water-storing polymer injected, this would be a one-off treatment (unless, for example, the area is regularly used for concerts held each year). These trees would be able to access a higher percentage of oxygen and water, resulting in a stronger root growth and canopy spread. Natural flora and fauna could take over with enormous cost savings to councils. The roots would be less susceptible to rot and anaerobic conditions, resulting in healthier trees. This helps them to live longer and reduce costs by not having to fell, chip and take away the tree, and without the cost of a replacement.

Trees which have had materials stored over the root zone or where too many vehicles have passed over the roots during building works can be helped. Tree Preservation Officers fully endorse the use of the Terralift machine to aerate, decompact and inject oxygen back into the soil structure.

With councils cutting back on spending money on sports facilities, one way of saving money is to carry out deep aeration on sports pitches, instead of putting in new drains. Even with new drains, you would still have compaction panning in between the drain runs, but with the Terralift machine, the complete area is decompacted from one metre to the surface with each shot interlinking with the previous ones. This deep aeration treatment lasts for around 7-12 years, even longer if the ground is spiked as part of the normal aeration process; which would link to the fissures created by the Terralift machine.

Unlike normal aeration, Terrain Aeration’s Terralift machine is designed to penetrate as deep as one metre using a probe, which releases compressed air at a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This fractures the soil, resulting in fissures that interlink as the Terralift repeats the process on a grid system of two-metre spacings. The network of fissures allows maximum penetration of air and water. On the tail end of the blast, the probe injects dried seaweed that expands and contracts with the moisture content in the ground to allow drainage and air to the roots. The treatment is long term with the cost amortised over the many trouble-free years ahead. Our service has been used by the Royal Parks in London, ranging from Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent’s Park and Greenwich Park to Local Authorities throughout the UK. Working closely with Tree Preservation Officers and Park Managers our treatment goes far beyond the effects of normal aeration to represent long-term savings.

In typical case studies, in Hyde Park we treated areas around the trees and prepared the ground for the huge numbers of visitors attending the various events in the parks. The primary areas to be treated were north of the Bandstand, an area of 10,200 m2 with sycamores and elms, and the ash tree circle north of Serpentine Road. Terrain Aeration has also treated the area around the Horse Chestnut group in Kensington Gardens to the east of Broadwalk and in Regent’s Park, the area beneath the canopies of the first and second line of trees between Chester Road and Ready Money Fountain. An area of two thousand five hundred square metres beneath canopies of Norway maples at the southern end of Marylebone Green has also had the Terralift treatment. In Greenwich Park, we applied our technology across 15,000 m2.

Darlington Council called upon us to treat the trees suffering from compaction in their South Park. With the South Park trees, all the lawn was aerated as well with mycorrhizal fungi. These attach themselves to the tips of the roots and help them break through hard soil, leaving the tree more energy to grow leaves and in size. The soil was very hard and dry around the base, so some fractures were done near to the tree. We injected water-storing polymer into the area to help retain available water from rainfall for the tree roots. On most occasions, treatment is one-metre inside and one-metre outside the canopy drip line, where the growing roots lie. Decompacting around the roots and injecting air into the soil increases the percentage of uptake of oxygen into the root system.

In another case, we found there was a magnesium deficiency coupled with low overall soil fertility around trees in a park. We used our technology to measure light transmission through the leaves on the trees to gain a reading of chlorophyll levels. The likely cause of the problem was that leaf litter is always removed and had been for a century, taking with it the natural nutrients from decaying leaves. There was also severe compaction of the surface around the tree. We injected a tree feed mix containing slow-release general nutrients and magnesium, using the Terralift’s ability to inject granular material via its seaweed carrier, forcing it upwards into the root zone of the trees. This also avoids losing the nutrients to the grass, which would occur with surface treatment.

To find out how we can help with your trees, parks and sports pitches call us on 01449 673783, Email terrainaeration@gmail.com or visit www.terrainaeration.co.uk

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Terrain Aeration hitches a lift

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Terrain Aeration hitches a lift: Devonshire Homes has been committed to building high quality new homes across the West Country for more than thirty years. As a wholly owned subsidiary of London and Devonshire Trust, they have built over 1500 new homes and created over thirty new communities.

One such development at Gwallon Keas, St Austell, is built on clay laden soil and they encountered a common problem facing new build developers. During construction, the use of heavy machinery can unavoidably cause compaction panning in areas designated to be the gardens of new houses. Even with land drainage installed and soil ripped, the compaction can reach such a depth normal treatment will not relieve it and provide the natural drainage needed. Consequently, with seven gardens of the new houses, severe waterlogging was occurring. To rectify it, they were given what they called ‘some silly quotes’ with no guarantee the solutions would work. A ground works contractor recommended compaction specialists Terrain Aeration and Devonshire Homes decided to proceed with them. However, there was just one further problem, how to get the Terrain Aeration’s Tracker Terralift machine, compressor and aggregate backfill material into the gardens with limited access.

Terrain Aeration hitches a lift

Terrain Aeration hitches a lift

The solution was a crane presented itself with the arrival of a crane to lift bags of topsoil into the gardens. Whilst Terrain Aeration has had machines lifted before, they have never been this high. The fences between the seven gardens had been taken down, so the Tracker Terralift could move along the gardens to do its work. This comprises the machine’s JCB road hammer and probe driving down to a depth of one metre. At this depth, a blast of compressed air is released to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This has the effect of fracturing the compacted soil and creating fissures. The treatment is worked on a grid system at two metre spacings so the fissures interlink. As the probe withdraws, dried seaweed is injected which expands when it rains and keeps the fissure open to allow normal drainage. The probe holes are then backfilled with aggregate It is a solution Terrain Aeration has specialised in for over thirty years, treating areas ranging from back gardens to sports pitches, golf courses, bowling greens, race courses, parks, trees and public spaces. For Devonshire Homes, it provided a timely solution, albeit one which, on this occasion, needed a crane to carry it out.

Terrain Aeration 01449 673783 www.terrainaeration.co.uk

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