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Introducing the new FURY

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Introducing the new FURY: The new UKCA Certified compact Stand-On FURY is the latest mower from the new “evolution” series by Mean Green Mowers, the FURY utilizes the patented ZTR technologies found in RIVAL and VANQUISH models reconfigured into a new compact platform. 

The FURY has the same low noise, low HAV’s, low WBV’s and zero emissions as the complete Mean Green mower range.  The FURY is designed to allow access into gated areas such as cemeteries, housing associations, restricted access areas etc and is available with a 32″ or 36” rear discharge deck.

Introducing the new FURY

Introducing the new FURY

The FURY has the ability to cut grass up to 5.5 inches to its adjustable floating rear discharge cutting decks with anti-scalp solid front wheels, the Hi/Low blade speed control allows the blade speed to be slowed down when cutting short grass.  Designed with aerospace engineering technology and powered by an 11kWh (equivalent to 24HP) Mean Green Lithium Energy Module offering a mowing time up to 7hrs*.  The FURY provides more than enough power from its motors and controllers as fitted to the larger RIVAL, EVO and VANQUISH mowers.  With horsepower exceeding most commercial petrol mowers in its class and maximum torque from the start, the FURY proves that electric mowers can be powerful, economical and quiet.

The Impulse Drive System (IDS™) is designed with maximum power in mind, Mean Green has combined time proven planetary gearing and the latest electric hub motor technology.  The IDS™ generates unrivalled power, weight carrying capacity and speeds up to 9mph.

An Interactive Touch Screen Display allows operators to choose high/low blade speed and high/low drive speed, displays the battery charge level, machine operation status, hour meter, and service notifications.  The Blade Performance Monitor displays speed and performance of each blade to help the operator maintain optimal mowing efficiency and quality of cut.

As standard the FURY has a steel and high strength aluminium alloy chassis, single lever manual deck lift, semi-pneumatic caster wheels, bolstered thigh/knee pad, suspended and shock absorbed standing platform, USB port, mobile phone and cup holder, built-in tie down points, a 5-Year (1500 hr) Battery Warranty and charger.

For more information or demonstration contact Overton (UK) on: 01522 690011 or email us at sales@overtonukltd.com

*Depending on terrain, operator performance and grass conditions.

See us at GroundsFest Stand No: OSA230 20 & 21 September 2023

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ICL’s Greenheaven tall fescue is the cultivar for Black Bears

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ICL’s Greenheaven tall fescue is the cultivar for Black Bears: Miles Properjohn, Head Groundsman at Black Bears Polo Club, has been relying on ICL’s Greenheaven cultivar in an attempt to increase the percentage of tall fescue in the one of the world’s most renowned polo pitches.

Lower Bolney Farm in Oxfordshire, home of Black Bears Polo Club, has deservedly gained a reputation for having some of the best facilities in the UK. The five polo grounds are kept in immaculate condition by a dedicated team of grounds staff. Pitch 5 in particular is the talk of the polo community and those that have been fortunate enough to play on it have declared it to be the “best field in the UK – if not the world”.

ICL’s Greenheaven tall fescue is the cultivar for Black Bears

ICL’s Greenheaven tall fescue is the cultivar for Black Bears

The grounds team is led by Head Groundsman Miles Properjohn, a long-term employee who has honed his skills at Black Bears, and he explained the reasoning behind using ICL’s Greenheaven.

“The pitch was originally sown with tall fescue, and we have since used other cultivars for a few seasons,” he said. “We are now keen to build back the percentage of tall fescue as we see its benefit in providing a hard wearing, low input, and great playing surface for polo. The polo schedule is very busy here with high goal being played and the players have incredibly high expectations of how the pitch should play.

“Whenever choosing a seed we always refer to the BSPB/STRI guide and we also do our own plot trial of any new seed to assess its germination speed and visual characteristics. Greenheaven was no exception.”

Greenheaven, from ICL, is a European-bred tall fescue which presents a midgreen compact growth habit. A fine leaf texture combined with excellent disease tolerance makes Greenheaven a very visually appealing variety.

Miles and the team sowed Greenheaven in September 2022 as part of a post season renovation: “Germination and development were very good after overseeding, and we found Greenheaven to be a finer more attractive cultivar than other versions,” he said.

“The tall fescue has been extremely hard wearing under a high level of wear from all the matches. It has a dense root structure and has great stability in the turf.”

Greenheaven also features excellent drought tolerance, something which Miles believes is essential. “When making a decision on species/cultivars, drought tolerance is of high importance. The irrigation is used to provide the correct firmness and traction for the ponies and players, so irrigation is for playability more than plant health. Irrigation is time consuming so the sward will have periods of no irrigation therefore the pitch needs to have excellent drought tolerance. In the hot/dry summers of 2018 and 2021 it was the only thing that was thriving. Water security and responsible water usage will be a factor for the future, so affects the decision-making process.”

Commenting on the use of Greenheaven at Black Bears Polo Club, ICL’s Martyn Parrish, said: “It’s been very much a collaborative effort learning from each other along the way, listening to Miles’ unique needs and requirements to produce a top polo pitch and providing the correct product advice and solutions to meet those needs.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-growing solutions.uk or www.icl-growingsolutions.ie if you are in Ireland.

For more news and insightful views, you can follow ICL on Twitter @ICL_Turf

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ET Lander cruises through the streets of London

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ET Lander cruises through the streets of London: According to Jo Desborough, Head Gardener for The Bedford Estates, the Etesia ET Lander is a luxury electric utility vehicle which can be driven from site to site through the busy streets of London without worrying about the battery life.

The Bedford Estates has owned, developed and cared for much of Bloomsbury, London since 1669. The Estate comprises some 200 properties containing over 825,000 square feet of office and educational accommodation, some 100,000 square feet of retail space, over 1,000 hotel bedrooms and more than 550 flats.

ET Lander cruises through the streets of London

ET Lander cruises through the streets of London

It also includes two public garden squares, Russell Square and Bloomsbury Square and several private garden areas. These include Bedford Square, the only intact Georgian garden square in London.

The location of these gardens was a reason for choosing the ET Lander according to Jo.

“We chose the Etesia ET Lander because it’s a vehicle that’s easier to drive on the roads.

We have to go between our gardens and in order to do that, there are busy London roads in between, so having a cab that’s fully enclosed helps us with the traffic. It’s more comfortable to ride in and the features that it offers are perfect for what we need.”

100% electric, spacious, well-equipped and user-friendly, the ET Lander is built on a robust chassis and has an array of options including a three-way tipper bed with dual control from the fully fitted two-seater cab or by remote control when outside the vehicle. With a length of just 3.72 meters, the ET Lander is very compact. Thanks to the power steering, the short turning radius of 4.40 meters and 360 ° visibility, it goes anywhere. The autonomy of the vehicle lasts for a full working day – without noise pollution, can transport loads of up to 940kgs and can also tow up to 750kgs.

The latest models are fully N1 homologation compliant meaning that the ET Landers are fully road legal along with being able to be used off road. They also feature lithium-ion batteries which ensures that the range of the ET Lander extends to 100km and have a charger system compatible with a standard type 2EV car charger.

The battery-life on the ET Lander certainly doesn’t concern Jo and she also revealed that the team wouldn’t be without it.

“We’ve had the ET Lander since January, so we’ve been running it around our gardens for the last six months or so. The battery life has been really good, and we hardly ever have to charge it, so that’s very impressive. We use it to do lots of short journeys and you might expect that the batteries would run out maybe slightly quicker, but in fact, we find that they last several weeks for us.

“We often use the ET Lander for collecting our tonne bags to pick up and bring back to our main head office where we have our green waste storage, and also for taking all our equipment over to the gardens.

“Using the ET Lander has made life a lot easier going between the gardens and driving on the roads. It’s very comfortable in the cab, very manoeuvrable and easy to drive. It also has windscreen wipers and having a radio is the icing on the cake.

“It has a very luxury feel to it and it feels more like driving a car rather than garden equipment.”

Bloombury Estates purchased the ET Lander through Etesia dealer RT Machinery and Jo was quick to praise the service she has received to date.

“RT Machinery were very helpful throughout the whole process. Scott Reynolds (Area Sales Manager) came and delivered the ET Lander and ran through all of the directions and showed us how to use it, which was clear and comprehensive.

“They also come and do our servicing, which they do on a regular basis. They get the equipment back to us as soon as they can and generally provide a really good service and are always available when we need them.”

You can view a video of the ET Lander with The Bedford Estates by visiting https://youtu.be/cbxnh6nF9p8

For further information, please contact Etesia UK on 01295 680120 or visit the dedicated Etesia ET Lander website www.etlander.co.uk

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

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COMPO is top of the range for bowls greens

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COMPO is top of the range for bowls greens: Ian Dickson, a bowling green contractor, believes that COMPO EXPERT products have proved to be top of range without the premium price tag.

Ian originally started his career in greenkeeping but switched to bowling green maintenance ten years ago. While admitting it is a completely ‘different animal’, Ian says he quickly got an appetite for maintaining bowls greens and has done so ever since.

COMPO is top of the range for bowls greens

COMPO is top of the range for bowls greens

He explained how he first started using COMPO EXPERT products on bowls greens.

“In my greenkeeping days I used to order a lot of products from Agrovista Amenity (the exclusive national distributor of COMPO EXPERT’S turf products in the UK) and my representative was Ramsay MacGregor. I stayed in touch with Ramsay when I switched to bowls because he is very knowledgeable, and he gives valid reasons behind using products.

Ramsay is genuinely interested in a plant’s health and his advice is key to my operations.

“Ramsay came in and looked at the bowls greens I was working on. He suggested using some COMPO EXPERT products and explained how they had been getting great results on some golf courses, so I decided to give them a try.”

COMPO EXPERT believes in sustainable, integrated turf management by focusing on modern fertilisation concepts, consistent regeneration of growth and optimal support of the plant’s own physiological processes. All of which promote vitalisation, stress tolerance and root development while providing optimum turf quality.

The innovative product range includes specialty mineral and stabilized fertilisers, slow and controlled release fertilisers, water soluble and liquid fertilisers as well as biostimulants, trace elements and soil conditioners.

The first product Ian tried from the COMPO EXPERT range was Fertilis® Speed, an NPK complex fertiliser with emphasis on nitrogen for spring and summer application to promote growth and a quick green-up.

“The green where we applied the Fertilis® had a lot of bare areas and the growth has been tremendous,” said Ian. “We applied it in May and had a full 12 weeks out of it. There has been less disease, the sward is a lot thicker, and even during a big drought period the greens performed superbly.”

Ian also maintains a sand-based green which is prone to leaching. For this green he applied Floranid® Twin Eagle K – an extra fine granulated slow-release complex fertiliser of excellent solubility.

“The nutrient levels on this green are very hard to maintain. With the Twin Eagle K, you don’t get the flush of growth in the way you would from the Fertilis®. Instead, you get an even, consistent growth. I judge the consistency of it by looking at the amount of grass cuttings I take from the mower each week. We get three boxes of cuttings three times a week and that underlines how consistent the Twin Eagle K is. Again, we get excellent results.”

Ian claims that he has been very impressed with the longevity of the products and believes that there isn’t much on the market that can beat COMPO EXPERT products in terms of performance and price.

“A lot of other fertilisers just don’t have the longevity that these do,” he said. “We were using a cheaper fertiliser in the past and I was applying twice as much product, so it ended up costing me more.

“The COMPO EXPERT products are top the range, but you don’t pay top of the range prices for them. They are very fairly priced compared to their competitors.”

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

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Green-tech provide the products for children to play and learn

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Green-tech provide the products for children to play and learn: Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn (YFD) is a primary school in Llandudno, Wales that is working hard to offer its young pupils a green space in which to play and learn.

In partnership with Conwy Borough County Council and Wild Elements, a not-for-profit social enterprise, the school wanted to create green spaces for the children of YFD to immerse themselves in natural materials and greenery. The site was selected due to its severely grey infrastructure and lack of green space.

Green-tech provide the products for children to play and learn

Green-tech provide the products for children to play and learn

Wild Elements is dedicated to getting people in North Wales outdoors and connecting them to nature, improving their lives, opportunities, and aspirations.

The school received a recommendation from another Local Nature Partnership Coordinator in Cardiff and after seeing the successes of their project they felt it was the best way forward to source the green infrastructure for the school site. Gareth Lloyd – head teacher of YFD comments “we felt the products offered by Green-tech were one of the few that we were satisfied to have green infrastructure installed on a Centre Based Child Care education estate.”

Green-tech supplied everything but the trees for this project which included 45 Hedera Helix Woerner Living Ivy Green Screens and 45 bespoke Planters in 3 different colours.

The living Green Screens provide instant and effective screening and are perfect for projects where an instant privacy green fence is required. They provide rigid, secure, and evergreen barriers which are low maintenance and easy to install. As well as being much more attractive than traditional fencing, they are an environmentally conscious choice that support an array of wildlife and help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to provide cleaner air.

To ensure the green screens stay hydrated a Mona irrigation watering system was supplied for each screen. The Mona System is a 100% water efficient, subterranean plant irrigation system and provides cost effective tree and planter irrigation.  The system acts as a reservoir to hold water and distribute to the plant’s roots as and when required to ensure they remain healthy and grow.

Gareth continues, “Following the success of the Cardiff project under the same Welsh Government grant, we hoped to replicate the work as it was a big hit with the Cardiff primary school children. One of the main concerns raised in the project’s infancy was the lack of shade in the school. During the warmer months, it can become overwhelmingly hot for the children. We intended for the Ivy Screens to provide an adequate source of natural material shading for the children. We also wanted the Ivy Screens to be a space for the children to play, hide and immerse themselves in their games. It has made a huge impact to the children’s well-being and is greatly appreciated.”

Green-tech supplied 12 bespoke planters for trees in 3 different colours and 12 containerised anchor systems to secure each tree discreetly without impacting on the overall design. In addition, 16 bulk bags of Green-tree topsoil which is manufactured using organic compost and overburdened sand from quarries and perfect for projects focused on environmental sustainability and green credentials, was supplied.

There was a lot of products to be delivered and it was important that the delivery schedule met the needs of the school, without interrupting them, as well as Wild Elements installation plan. “It was logistically impressive!” comments head teacher Gareth Lloyd.” “Thanks for sorting the delivery to run so smoothly, one wagon in, the next one to follow”, Tom from Wild Elements adds.

Julieanne Quinlan, Local Nature Partnership Coordinator for Conwy adds, “the experience with Green-tech has been a wonderful one. James, their Sales Advisor, has been incredibly helpful and patient throughout the entirety of the project. We cannot thank Green-tech enough for making this project come to fruition. It has been a big hit with the school and the children, and we have great hopes for the future pupils of Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn. Diolch yn fawr (thank you very much).

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