Tag Archive for: The

SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare

/in , , /by

SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare: From robotics to hybrid mowers and digital apps, ground-breaking ideas to thought provoking debates, career enhancing advice to limitless opportunities; the recent SALTEX 2018 at the NEC in Birmingham was a landscape packed with possibilities and prospects for the future of groundscare.

Europe’s largest annual groundscare event featured 300 exhibitors, many of which embraced new technologies through the launch of their latest products and services showcased at the event.

SALTEX Shapes The Future Of Groundscare

One visitor – Chris Wood, ECB pitch consultant, was certainly impressed with the machinery on show: “My job with the ECB is to gather as much information on all the new innovations and this is one tremendous outlet for that. I always think that we are one big family in this industry and SALTEX is the one occasion of the year where we can come together, network, and look at all the new machinery – it’s like a toyshop at Christmas.”

The vibrant show floor offered a fantastic opportunity to witness just how these latest technologies are having a positive impact in the groundscare industry – particularly in the all new Innovation Hub where visitors were free to attend live interviews with industry experts and trend setters at the forefront of new groundscare innovations.

This new Hub was also the ideal platform to showcase and celebrate the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award. After making its successful debut at last year’s show, the SALTEX 2018 Innovation Award attracted even more entries from various exhibitors across the globe and included a wide variety of high-quality products, services and equipment. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts it was decided that the Toro Outcross 9060 from Reesink Turfcare, PrecisionPro from Sherriff Amenity and the ROBOCUT from McConnel were the stand out entries. Sherriff Amenity’s PrecisionPro was crowned as the winner.

Sherriff Amenity representatives however were not the only trophy winners at the show as Bridgewater & Taunton College saw off fierce competition to win the SALTEX College Cup and the winning students can now look forward to visiting the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in the run up to the Wimbledon tournament, to experience court preparation from Neil Stubley, head of courts and horticulture.

There were also an increased number of visitors looking to progress within the industry as Frank Newberry’s Job Clinic sessions were fully booked between 9am and 3pm on each day of this year’s show. The expert careers advisor offered some fantastic tips on: perfecting a CV and cover letter; how to succeed at job interviews; negotiating a package; proactive job searching and self-employment.

The many opportunities to gain expert advice prompted John Ryan, founder of Lawn Care Legends, to travel from Northern Ireland to SALTEX: “I found my visit extremely beneficial because there are a lot of industry people you can connect with that can help provide ideas on how to develop a business. It’s great to see people with such a passion for the industry and share it with others. For anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the industry, I would recommend that they visit SALTEX.”

Free advice was available at every turn throughout the three large halls at the NEC. Visitors had the opportunity to gather one-to-one sports turf management advice from IOG regional pitch advisors at the Ask the Expert feature and Pathology and Soil Science LIVE provided an opportunity to share soil samples which were magnified, displayed on a large screen and assessed.

Learning LIVE 2018, SALTEX’s all-encompassing education programme, featured more than 50 free-to-attend seminars. Visitors gained CPD points for attendance and got to hear from expert speakers from the UK and abroad who focussed on vital issues that affect the industry.

James Pope, grounds manager at St Paul’s School in London, said he visited SALTEX to explore new concepts: “I’ve gained more ideas just from coming to this one show than I have all year. SALTEX is the right time of year and it’s the busiest and most vibrant show around – everyone is always in high spirits.”

Echoing James, was Ted Mitchell from the RFU, who was pleased to see just how the world’s longest standing groundscare exhibition has transformed over the years. “I’ve been attending SALTEX for many years and to see the event as it is today is incredible – it takes your breath away. It offers such a unique opportunity to meet the range of people at SALTEX in five or six hours that would, in any other circumstance, take me a huge amount of time over a number of months. SALTEX brings the industry together all in one place.”

SALTEX does indeed unite every corner of the industry – the manufacturers and suppliers, the visitors and speakers, the governing bodies and associations; who contributed to the conversations, the learnings, the ideas, the debates, and actively played their part in shaping the future of groundscare and creating opportunity for all.

For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Terrain Gets To The Core

/in , , /by

Terrain Gets To The Core: A frequent problem facing building companies, contractors and landscapers on completion of a development is compaction. The movement of traffic and materials across the ground to buildings under construction leaves areas prone to waterlogging. Newly laid gardens, grassed and play areas in particular become susceptible, with compaction occurring far deeper than normal aerating will alleviate. Deep penetration aeration is the solution but how do you know what lies beneath the grass and to what depth the aeration is needed? Terrain Aeration have been treating such problems for over twenty-five years and work regularly with construction companies such as Taylor Wimpey, Barrett Homes, Laings and smaller developers to provide a long-term solution.

The Terrain Aeration Terralift machines penetrate the ground to a depth of one metre, releasing a blast of compressed air which fractures and relieves the compacted soil, creating permanent aeration and drainage. However, before carrying out the aeration it is often necessary on old site layouts to determine what lies beneath and Terrain Aeration take a core sample using their specialist machinery. The plastic sleeve which slides out of the metal casing reveals what the soil is like, from the top soil down (in this example) to the clay structure beneath. The soil cores are taken to one metre depth and are also very good indicator to show where oil and diesel spillages have penetrated and how deep. The Terralift can then deal with the oil-bioremediation using specialist products in the area down to one metre depth.

Terrain Gets To The Core

Further down, flint is encountered and the Terralift probe is designed to break through the solid layers, employing a JCB hammer incorporated as part of the machine. Once the hard materials have been penetrated, the compressed air blast released creates fractures and fissures. These are injected with dried seaweed as part of the process, keeping, in this case, the clay seen in the core sample open and allowing surface water to quickly drain down one metre, before naturally percolating away into the flint area.

What is an ex-car park area has been transformed into a healthy soil structure with good root zone and ready for children to play on. Of course, not all compacted ground will have the same strata but the Terrain Aeration process is used to treat all types of waterlogging, from small gardens to parks, public spaces and sports pitches to bowling greens.

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

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Trime UK Champion The Green X-Splash

/in , /by

Trime UK Champion The Green X-Splash: Trime UK, the Cambridgeshire based supplier of sustainable equipment for the horticultural, agricultural, construction and rental markets have had their X-Splash wash bay honoured by the prestigious environmental campaigners, the Green Organisation. They competed against more than 800 other nominations in the Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice.

Trime’s Ray Caulfield (CEO) and Paul Hay (MD) were requested by representatives of the Green Organisation to attend a glittering presentation ceremony held at the Houses of Parliament on 12th November to receive their Champions Award, which is the top accolade.

Paul Hay confirmed, “Our aim was to produce a cleaning method that conserves water usage through a recycling process and a collection procedure that gathers in all harmful contaminates so they are not discharged into the sewage system.”

“The X-Splash has rapidly become a popular product and to have its environmental qualities formally recognised is indeed an honour. We hope that this award will give confidence to current users and prospective purchasers that the X-Splash is an environmentally accredited product,” added Paul.

The judges commented:  “Localised ground and watercourse pollution from construction operations is a frequent occurrence. Trime set out to reduce this by developing an enclosed wash-bay for construction plant and equipment that contains filters and reuses its water, consuming less and protecting the environment.”

The Trime X-Splash wash bay is an ecological, flexible cleaning system for most types of plant and machinery. It prevents soil pollution and contamination of drains, from oil, grease, and similar chemical contaminants.

The Trime X-Splash is also listed on the Water Technology List (WTL) which promotes products that encourage sustainable water use. The WTL rewards businesses for investing in listed products through the ECA scheme. The ECA allows a business to offset the cost of purchasing eligible plant and machinery against its taxable profits.

The awards are organised by The Green Organisation, an international, independent, non-political, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world. The Green Apple Awards are supported by the Environment Agency, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, and The Chartered Institution for Wastes Management, REHIS alongside other independent bodies.

Trime UK Champion The Green X-Splash

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and have become established as the country’s major recognition for environmental endeavour among companies, councils, communities and countries.

Trime has significant experience in supplying sustainable equipment to the horticultural, agricultural, construction and rental markets. The Trime manufacturing plant is based in Cassinetta di Lugagnano, near Milan and the Trime UK is situated in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Grow Lights At The Allianz Arena

/in , /by

Grow Lights At The Allianz Arena: Although LED technology isn’t new, there haven’t been any sports surfaces grown on a large scale successfully with the help of LED light yet. After extensive research, development and testing, Allianz Arena are convinced they will now be the first, by using the SGL LED grow lighting system.

Allianz Arena have purchased four LED systems from SGL, with integrated and fully automatic Infrared Radiation and irrigation, which together cover the entire width of the pitch. Since 2009 Allianz Arena had successfully been using the conventional HPS* lighting units from SGL. Their ambitious sustainability goals were the reason to look into possibilities for a more sustainable grow lighting system. Jürgen Muth, Managing Director Allianz Arena: “In order to get and keep a perfect pitch with a very good natural grass quality, the use of technical support has already been essential to us for many years. SGL and their light technology have been a very important and helpful partner since 2009. Now we climb a new step and look forward to the new LED Lighting Units coming from SGL. After extensive tests we are confident to get good results with these additional lights on our pitch.“

Grow Lights At The Allianz Arena

SGL founder Nico van Vuuren explains the challenge of creating top quality growth with LED: “LED is a fast developing technology and a lot of research is still being done in regards to its use for plant growth. There are many choices to be made in order to get the same quality at lower costs as the HPS armatures. Apart from looking at the energy efficiency side of the story, it’s crucial to look at the plant physiological side, practical side and investment costs too. LED has many advantages, such as the flexibility in light spectrum and the energy efficiency, but also some challenges such as the high investment costs, the lack of Infrared Radiation and the weight.”

While many know LED for its sustainable character, another unique feature that LED has is the possibility to create a so-called ‘light recipe’. This means you can choose the colours of the light spectrum that are used by the plant for specific purposes. The success of an LED armature greatly depends on the right choice of colours. Van Vuuren: “Grass uses red and blue light for photosynthesis. We’ve extensively tested different red to blue ratios, at our own test centre in the Netherlands and at the Allianz Arena. Based on the test results we’ve created the most efficient light recipe for grass growth, recovery and plant resistance.”

One of the reasons that grass has not yet been grown successfully on a large scale with LED is the lack of additional heat. In Europe grow lights are generally used in winter, in times that there is not enough natural light for optimal plant growth and temperatures are low. This means that, besides additional light, the plant also needs extra heat in order to get quality growth. Van Vuuren: “HPS armatures radiate PAR light and Infrared light to the surface while LED radiates almost no heat to the surface. Therefore we have added Infrared Technology to the LED unit. Naturally, this means you lose some of the energy savings you have obtained by using LED. In order to minimize the extra energy input, our Infrared armatures automatically turn on and off to reach and maintain the ideal temperatures for grass growth. Whether the energy saving is still sufficient for a high ROI, depends on the many growth circumstances that a pitch is subject to. Therefore we always run pitch data through our light source efficiency model to determine which light source is most efficient for the specific playing surface. The Allianz Arena is very dark very early in the year, which means they start their lighting season relatively early when temperatures are still high. Therefore they can save a significant amount of energy, since there’s no infrared required at those times.”

The SGL LED system was tested along with other LED lighting units on the Allianz Arena pitch, to compare efficiency, quality and user friendliness of the system. The SGL LED grow lighting system has been able to tackle the challenges and achieve top quality, with a system that is affordable and easy operable by the grounds teams. The LED lighting units will be used along with the HPS systems, with the goal to phase-wise switch to all LED in the coming years.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

New Face In The North For DLF

/in , /by

New Face In The North For DLF: To support their continued investment, growth and increase in sales, DLF Seeds have announced the appointment of Alistair Eccles. Joining the amenity team as Regional Technical Sales Manager for Scotland and the North, Alistair’s new role will see him working closely with both customers and distributors, providing advice and support on the Masterline and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges.

Alistair has a wealth of industry experience in many different areas of agronomy, grass seed and turf production. He joins DLF on the back of 12 years spent at Germinal Seeds where he worked closely with a range of customers including golf courses, sports stadia and landscapers. Prior to this, Alistair spent 18 years in several roles in the crop protection industry. He is a BASIS and FACTS qualified advisor and is now looking forward to putting his expertise to good use in his new role with DLF Seeds.

New Face in the North for DLF

“Over the years I have been fortunate enough to work alongside some fantastic turf managers and I look forward to furthering acquaintances old and new, delivering technical advice and support in my new role.  DLF are continually researching and developing exciting new breeding innovations which I’m excited to be working with in the golf and sports turf sectors.”

A keen golfer himself, Alistair can often be found out on the course in his spare time.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.