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Soil Scout head to SALTEX

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Soil Scout head to SALTEX: Leading soil monitoring solution provider Soil Scout is pleased to announce that we will once again be exhibiting at Europe’s largest free sports turf, amenities, and landscaping trade show, SALTEX on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 November at Birmingham’s NEC. 

Following a very successful first appearance at the 2021 show we have once again teamed up with our partner Turf Lighting Solutions (TLS) to share a much larger open stand space, you can find us in a central location on stand H081.

Soil Scout head to SALTEX

Soil Scout head to SALTEX

You will be guaranteed a warm welcome with team members from Soil Scout headquarters in Finland including CEO Jalmari Talola on-hand to answer any questions you have beside our UK-based Sales & Sports Turf Specialist, Nick Durkin. Having previously worked in the professional football turf industry at Chelsea FC, Wembley Stadium and Derby County, Nick has a wealth of practical experience and technical knowledge.

SALTEX attendees are also encouraged not to miss out on our exclusive special offer! For the duration of the show you can purchase one of our Soil Scout Starter Kits with a very generous 20% discount. With only 25 kits available it’s a deal that is not to be missed! The Starter Kit is the ideal soil monitoring package for first-time stadium, training ground or golf course installations. The kit comprises six sensors, one base station and all necessary antennas and cables. But that’s not all, this special offer package will also include one year’s subscription to the Soil Scout Hub and free online training from our expert technical team.

Visitors to the stand will also be able to have a first-look at our newly developed dual-depth sensor (DDS) and pick up a copy of our packed Sensor magazine. The ground-breaking DDS gives the well-known Hydra sensor an additional sensing head – interconnected with a cable. The main sensor will continue to perform the radio communication, it can be buried in shallow ground to give an improved range, whilst the second-sensor can deliver measurement data from very deep. All from the same hole and with an excellent battery life of over ten years.

Pete Ashworth is the Head Groundsman at Preston North End and has been at the club for 17 years. Preston has recently installed Soil Scout and Pete told us; “It’s almost like a comfort blanket, knowing you’re not overdoing it or letting it get too dry.

“I’m always looking at the dashboard and it gives us that extra bit of belief that everything we are doing on the pitch is right.”

John McLoughlin is the Course Manager at Wallasey Golf Club and another user of the Soil Scout solution. “What drew me to Soil Scout is the live data you get every 20 minutes. Having that at your fingertips is unique in the industry. I also think it’s quite nice to feel like you’re in control. So when you’re at home and going through a dry spell, for peace of mind, it’s great.”

John continued; “There can be times when the greens are drying out or getting too wet, and being able to check that takes a lot of pressure off you, it gives you peace of mind.”

Soil Scout provides the most advanced fully buried underground wireless soil sensor and monitoring solution for professionals in sports turf maintenance, golf courses and agriculture giving real-time data measuring soil moisture, temperature and salinity. To find out more visit – www.soilscout.com

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Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

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Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes: When players are asked to describe their ideal putting conditions, the top two words likely to be mentioned on most occasions will be ‘firm and fast’.

For greenkeeping teams, trying to achieve firm, fast surfaces alongside consistency over all 18 holes is tough – but for Chris Brook, Group Course Manager at The Club Company this challenge is multiplied across 15 individual courses! Assisting Chris is the technical team from Origin Amenity Solutions who, from conducting in-depth soil-sampling, have helped in the tailoring of the renovation and nutritional requirements of the groups 270 greens.

Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

Origin Amenity core to tailored programmes

Chris has been in charge of the group for 25 years, working with the individual green’s teams at the championship golf courses which are dotted up and down the country. “As a group” Chris explains, “we’re always looking for new ways to further course condition but to move things forward, you need an accurate understanding of exactly where you’re starting from. I got in touch with Laurence McCrory, who joined the Headland brand within OAS last year but who I knew from his time as Course Manager at Castle Royle and asked if he could help with some in-depth soil analysis.”

Laurence and his OAS colleagues nationwide visited the 15 venues, sampling all greens to take away and analyse multiple variables including moisture content, minerals and organic matter (OM) levels, and assess the loss on ignition (LOI). LOI analysis will reveal the percentage of OM in a green and the depth – be it the top inch, or two inches – to which OM is present. “With this data, we can then plan down to each individual green what we need to do, or not do, in terms of mechanical maintenance and nutritional inputs to get the best results from every operation and bring each green up to a certain standard. It’s a worthwhile expenditure, which will then give every team all the information they need to tailor the severity of renovations and put a programme into place which they can map out and action around the unique requirements and demands of their course.”

“All sites have different feeding programmes, worked out between the independent greens teams and myself, with Headland Amenity’s 20-20-30 enhanced plant health tank-mix a key part of many clubs plans at this time of year. We’ll then be looking at feeds such as C-Complex® in various formulations for a response at lower temperatures and post-renovation recovery.”

Chris adds, “Having this data at our disposal means we can ensure we are using the right tools and techniques, that we know will work, and using them in the right places at the right time to deliver the surfaces the members want. We can then re-conduct the sampling and review the results on an annual basis to help us monitor progress and ultimately reach the goal of presenting our courses in the very best condition we can.”

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Lantra supporting CRRU in its efforts to safeguard birds of prey health

Lantra supporting CRRU in its efforts to safeguard birds of prey health

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Lantra supporting CRRU in its efforts to safeguard birds of prey health: Lantra has taken major measures to support the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) in its efforts to help safeguard the health of birds of prey, as worries continue over irresponsible rodenticide users.

As one of the leading awarding organisations for the land-based sector in the UK, Lantra is working closely with CRRU, industry partners and stakeholders to ensure birds of prey don’t fall foul of individuals not using rodenticides properly or safely.

Lantra supporting CRRU in its efforts to safeguard birds of prey health

Lantra supporting CRRU in its efforts to safeguard birds of prey health

CRRU has recently stated that concerns remain about rodenticides’ residues being found in birds of prey which is down to the actions of a small minority using the chemicals irresponsibly.

To support CRRU, Lantra, as a member of its training and certification group, has responded by upgrading its rodent management training courses.

Lantra Awards, has developed and launched the Ofqual-regulated ‘Lantra Awards Level 2 Award in Rodent Management’ to replace ‘Rodent Control on Farms’ and ‘Responsible and Effective Control of Commensal Rodents’ certifications.

This comprehensive course gives people the knowledge and tools to understand legislation governing rodent pest management, the importance of, and the reasons for, rodent management and the biology and behaviour of a specific range of rodent species.

It also stresses the importance of understanding integrated pest management and monitoring rodent activity.

The major move strengthens the existing stewardship regime by upgrading Lantra-assessed training courses into a Level 2 Award in Rodent Management.

David Fisher, Lantra’s Head of Industry Partnerships for the area, said: “As CRRU has recently reported, concerns remain with rodenticide residues found in birds of prey which is being linked to the actions of a minority of irresponsible rodenticide users.

“Lantra responded to calls from CRRU as a member of its training and certification group, to strengthen the existing stewardship regime. We have listened to industry concerns and have taken the relevant measures to respond.

“It is hoped that this and continued promotion of best practice and CPD will go some way to help reduce instances of poor practice to ensure that responsible users can continue to use professional rodenticide products as part of their integrated approach to rodent management.”

For farmers and pest control trainees, there are now seven courses in total, listed at www.thinkwildlife.org/training-certification/

In each case, passing the end of course exam yields a formal qualification/certification accepted at point-of-sale for professional use rodenticides under the UK Rodenticide Stewardship Regime, operated by CRRU.

Lantra will be exhibiting at PestTech, the Pest Control industry event on 9th November where the latest developments affecting the industry will be discussed. Details of the free to attend event can be found via the NPTA website, PestTech – NPTA

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Turf Tank returns to SALTEX

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Turf Tank returns to SALTEX: Turf Tank, leading robotic line marking company and winner of the 2017 Saltex Innovation Award, is bringing the revolutionary Turf Tank One back to Saltex 2022.

Booth No G085

This year the company is bringing a new surprise to the show, the next generation robotic line marking software. Visitors will have a chance to discover the latest features, that improve usability, make the process even faster and easier, and offer more customisation options.

Turf Tank returns to SALTEX

Turf Tank returns to SALTEX

The Turf Tank UK team is inviting everybody interested in the technology to visit Stand G085 and learn how Turf Tank could improve their line marking operations.

Read more

We’re dealing with an establishment where people are investing a lot of money sending their kids to a private school which excels in all areas of education on and off the pitch. So, I want to make sure that the pitches reflect that level of expectation. The Turf Tank robot brings a quality of perfomance and reliability that we expect.

– Lee Marshallsay, Grounds Manager, Eton College

With the traditional way of marking pitches, there was a lot of time wasted. Today we’ve marked five pitches, which would have taken our staff three-four days. With the robot, we’ve done that in an afternoon! It’s the future of line marking!

– Richard Hare, Head Groundsperson, Bromsgrove School

It wasn’t until we used the GPS machine that it highlighted the fact that when you come to mark a line freehand, they creep a bit. And then they creep a little bit more. And then they creep a little bit more, and you don’t really notice the little bit of creeping until you get a GPS line marker overmarking the pitches that were already there. You realise that they’ve moved a considerable amount of distance, and it kind of highlights that the lines were actually in the wrong place.

– Ewan Hunter, Grounds Manager, Nottingham Forest FC

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GKB to showcase Leaf Reducer

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GKB to showcase Leaf Reducer: GKB Machines will be retuning to SALTEX for 2022, showcasing a new solution to the problem of large-area leaf clearance. The GKB Leaf Reducer offers an economic and environmentally-friendly alternative to the time-consuming task of leaf collection – effectively mulching the material and returning it, and its nutrients, back into the surface to the benefit of impoverished soils.

This, and many other innovative machinery solutions for natural, hybrid and synthetic surfaces, will be on show on stand H051.

GKB to showcase Leaf Reducer

GKB to showcase Leaf Reducer

The Leaf Reducer has been developed in direct response to demand from local authorities, looking for a more sustainable working method to using blowers, vacuums and trucks to collect and dispose of fallen leaves. In a single pass, the flails on the Leaf Reducer collect the leaves before a turbine provides both initial fragmentation and the airflow needed to pull the material into the machine where it is further milled into a fine mulch. The fine ‘porridge-like’ material is then returned to the surface via a rear ejector which can be adjusted to a desired direction depending on the location.

In trials conducted by municipalities in The Netherlands, it has proven not just to deliver labour and cost savings to the task but has proven effective at returning an all-important source of food and nutrients back into the soil. The Leaf Reducer is available with a 1.5m working width, and an adjustable working height to treat areas with both low and higher heights of cut.

The technical team will be on hand to discuss this and other products from the GKB range including the Deep-Clean, for effective cleaning and removal of contaminants from synthetic surfaces and the Deep Tine Aerator (DTA). The DTA is available in four working widths to suit both fine and sports turf surfaces and offers effective compaction relief down to depths of up to 400mm (16”). The DTA features GKB’s unique tine mounting system, utilising ‘blocks’ instead of individual mountings, allowing for more tines per head and reducing downtime when switching between sets

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