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MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos

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MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos: MM60 grass seed has helped Ryan Golding, Head Groundsperson at Leeds Rhinos, to achieve a consistently good surface all year-round despite it being the busiest ever on record.

Ryan has been working at Headingley Stadium for nearly twenty years and has been the Head Groundsperson for nine of those. As one of the most highly used surfaces in professional sport, it is safe to say that he and his three members of staff have their work cut out: “This job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and is a 365-day operation,” he said.

MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos

MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos

The pitch at Headingley Stadium had over 100 usages last year which was particularly high due to several Rugby World Cup fixtures taking place. With such heavy and consistent use, a grass seed with a good wear tolerance is essential, and that is why Ryan did his research before choosing MM60.

“I originally went round to see a few venues which I knew used MM60 and the people who used it all gave good feedback,” he said. “After speaking to Matt Gresty (MM Sales and Marketing Manager) I quickly realised that it is a great company to deal with. It was refreshing that they really wanted to work with us and take the time to find out everything about our pitch and our goals. I know it sounds cliché, but Matt is always on the other end of the phone if I need them – even at weekends.

“We now use MM60 for everything including overseeding, renovating, for when we recover heavy wear areas or for hand seeding.”

MM60 grass seed is renowned for producing an excellent playing surface in a stadium environment. It is a 100% Ryegrass formula which is perfect for renovation and divot repair, has a high disease resistance, fantastic aesthetic qualities and offers extremely fast germination – which is boosted by the inclusion of Headstart® GOLD.  it is a natural revolutionary grass seed treatment that ensures rapid germination and is perfect for enhancing performance on grass seed coatings for sports fields, golf courses, lawns and amenity turf.

MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos

MM60 stands firm for the Rhinos

“Disease tolerance is one of MM60’s best features, as is the speed of root mass and density, which is highly important because we are a fibresand pitch,” continued Ryan. “With having rugby on it, these guys are a lot heavier than footballers, and they are moving forward and back all the time, so we need to have a consistently firm, stable surface. MM60 gives us that.

“Recently, we had a winter concert on January 7 and then had to recover around 2,000 sq.m of grass from scratch before a game on January 29. We would not have been able to do that without MM60.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s website www.mm-seeds.co.uk.

You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed.

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Aspen return to The Arb Show

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Aspen return to The Arb Show: Highlighting the benefits of ethanol-free alkylate fuel for machinery, people and the planet, Aspen will be back at The Arb Show on stand A08, as it returns to Westonbirt Arboretum this May.

Celebrating 35 years as pioneers of alkylate fuel during 2023, Aspen are delighted to be extending their ‘Experience the Difference’ trial – giving businesses the opportunity to use the 2 and 4-stroke fuel risk-free and discover the improvements for themselves… or get their money-back!

Aspen return to The Arb Show

Aspen return to The Arb Show

Being free from ethanol, benzene and most other hazardous hydrocarbons found in traditional pump petrol, Aspen Fuel powers a cleaner, greener workstyle for many leading landscape, arboriculture and ground care professionals. The cleaner burn achieved with Aspen not only makes for a more pleasant operator environment, but engine performance is maintained without many of the costly reliability issues associated with component failure – particularly when equipment is left for extended periods in storage.

Concerns around the cost or logistics can often delay the decision to make the switch to Aspen which triggered the ‘Experience the Difference’ offer, meaning business owners can trial the fuel without incurring any additional cost. “We typically find that most companies overestimate their total annual fuel consumption” explains Business Development Manager Axel Hildebrand. “Through this initiative, people discover the simple accounting and all the sustainability benefits of protecting equipment, operators and the surrounding environment that makes Aspen an option too good to ignore.”

One of those who knows how advantageous Aspen can be is Tony Gascoyne who has been using Aspen Alkylate fuel in his business, The Arborist Limited, since 2016. Tony, along with the Aspen team, will be on stand A08 across the two days to answer any visitor questions and discuss his own first-hand experience of using Aspen in his day-to-day tree management operation.

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EVO expansion under the spotlight

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EVO expansion under the spotlight: After a four-year absence, May sees the return of The Arb Show, with GreenMech back and kickstarting their 30th anniversary celebrations with a showcase of their revolutionary EVO series.

The 2019 event was the launch platform for the EVO 165 range which, from introduction, set the benchmark for its category. EVO models are now available in both 6” and 8” capacities and in road-tow and tracked formats, many of which will be on display at Westonbirt Arboretum on stand C09-C10.

EVO expansion under the spotlight

EVO expansion under the spotlight

Launched in 6” diesel format, the EVO boasts more aggressive torque, more powerful bite and improved throughput. A petrol EVO 165P model quickly followed before the ‘big brother’ arrived in the form of the powerful 8” EVO 205D. GreenMech’s long and illustrious reputation for providing the ultimate tracked offering continues with the EVO Series, with fixed track, SAFE-Trak and SURE-Trak options now available.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to witness the performance first hand on GreenMech’s dedicated demonstration area, located on stand D06.

In addition to showcasing a selection of machines from the EVO Series, The Arb Show will be the first UK outing for the ECO 135 – a new concept 5” capacity entry-level woodchipper, ideally suited to the more price-conscious arborist, landscaper and rental markets.

The entire GreenMech range comes with a 3-year, no-quibble guarantee and the support of their nationwide dealer network. The team will also be on hand across the two days to answer any questions and explain the variety of flexible finance options available via GreenMech Finance.

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Attraxor® is King of the Castle

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Attraxor® is King of the Castle: After Poa annua was disrupting play on the greens at Bothwell Castle Golf Club, the Head Greenkeeper found a solution in BASF’s Attraxor®, which was recommended and supplied by Agrovista Amenity.

Alan Boyd is the Head Greenkeeper at Bothwell Castle Golf Club in Lanarkshire – a flat 18-hole parkland course located in the woodland area surrounding the 13th century Bothwell Castle.

Attraxor® is King of the Castle

Attraxor® is King of the Castle

Alan explained how he first started using Attraxor®.

“Our greens are predominantly a Poa – bent mix. When the Poa is coming into bloom it starts causing issues with the ball swaying and the greens don’t run true. Ramsay MacGregor (Amenity Specialist for Agrovista Amenity) told me that Attraxor® reduces seedhead production in Poa and I was keen to give it a try.”

Attraxor® is a plant growth regulator containing the active substance, prohexadione calcium and can be used to regulate growth of all managed amenity turf. This active substance inhibits the gibberellic acid pathway, which results in a reduction of turf height and turf biomass. Root growth is promoted whilst turf colour and quality are maintained.

Furthermore, using an innovative formulation for fast leaf absorption, the product provides almost instant results, as it is activated once diluted in water. Contrary to other plant growth regulators that need to be activated by the plant enzymes, Attraxor® can be used earlier or later in the season during cooler weather.

Alan initially applied Attraxor® at a rate of 375 g/ha before increasing it to 800 g/ha and hasn’t looked back.

“You can build it up to that application rate or bring it back down – whatever you think is needed,” he said. “The results speak for themselves. Finer grasses have started coming through because the Poa is not overtaking. It is easy to use, easy to measure out and the granules easily disperse in the water. As a greenkeeper, our priority is to keep golfers happy and since using Attraxor®, the feedback on the surfaces over the past three seasons has been exceptional. They now have a consistent ball speed, and the ball isn’t swerving all over the Poa.”

Attraxor® is King of the Castle

Attraxor® is King of the Castle

In addition to supressing the Poa annua seed heads, Alan has reported some other positive findings.

“We spoke to some people from BASF and they shared with us the results from a golf club in another part of Europe with similar weather to us. They sprayed Attraxor® consistently throughout the year and noticed a reduction of disease. I was really interested in this because we do get hit with disease, but it has been getting better since we have been applying Attraxor®. BASF explained that as the regular use of Attraxor causes the thickening of plant cell walls and epidermis, it can lead to a reduced susceptibility to diseases such as Microdochium patch by mechanical means rather than by directly affecting the pathogen itself.

“If I carry on seeing a reduction in disease it will be a game changer because we are then not having to put down fungicides,” continued Alan. “We know the bad press fungicides are getting and you are saving money by not using them, so the money you are saving on the fungicide can be put into something else.

“In my opinion the future is bright.”

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

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The science-backed solution to sustainable weed control

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The science-backed solution to sustainable weed control: The decision to reduce or eradicate the use of herbicides may be taken for many reasons, but with a wide range of alternatives available, how can facilities be assured that a non-chemical option is going to provide a viable solution?

To provide confidence, Foamstream has been the subject of numerous independently controlled studies conducted by the University of Pisa, University of Athens and Cornell University, together with The US Department of Natural Resources and the Austrian Institute of Technology – all of which highlight the comparable or superior performance of Foamstream when compared to glyphosate.

The science-backed solution to sustainable weed control

The science-backed solution to sustainable weed control

An ever-increasing body of evidence indicates the substantial negative impact on nature, human beings and the environment caused by the existing level of herbicide use. Factor in that the amount of herbicide-resistant weeds is also on the rise, and green space managers are potentially having to increase the number of spray operations they conduct in any given period. It is therefore not surprising that facilities from all corners of grounds and public space management are seeking safer and more sustainable solutions that can deliver effective weed and vegetation control without detriment to the operator and the environment.

The patented Foamstream process combines hot water and an organically-derived biodegradable foam, delivered through one of Weedingtech’s range of machines. The active ingredient is the hot water, with the foam acting as an ‘insulation blanket’, preventing the heat from escaping and keeping the water in the ‘kill zone’ (temperatures of 57o and above) for longer. The heat penetrates the waxy outer layer of the leaf, travels down the stem and into the roots – killing or severely damaging the plant and causing it to die. In addition to eradicating the plant, Foamstream also sterilises surrounding seeds and spores that haven’t yet germinated, helping to reduce future weed growth.

Since its launch in 2011, numerous high profile individual academic trials have been published citing the efficacy of Foamstream – one of the most recent, in 2022, being the University of Athens study which found that Foamstream reduced weed biomass by a rate between 81% and 96% compared to mulching, mowing, pelargonic acid and the untreated control, and, in-line with glyphosate, resulted in the lowest Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and weed biomass.

Leo de Montaignac, CEO of Weedingtech commented, “We understand that any investment in technology requires credible third-party evidence that shows organisations that they are making the right choice. That’s why we’ve always been keen for independent third parties to trial Foamstream in proper controlled environments. We’re delighted that the team at the Agricultural University of Athens took the time to comprehensively put Foamstream to the test against other methods of weed control and recognised its value. We’d welcome further research by any other interested universities and organisations to carry out further testing of our eco-friendly weed control technology in other settings.”

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