Tag Archive for: Top

Top TIMBERSPORTS® athletes compete for top spot

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Top TIMBERSPORTS® athletes compete for top spot: TIMBERSPORTS® is back with a bang at the Royal Three Counties Show, Malvern from 14-16 June 2024. Three days of action-packed competition will see Britain’s top athletes compete against each other for the British crown, as well as the opportunity to represent their country at world level. 

Competition for places in the British Pro Championship taking place on Saturday 15 June is so high that the first ever qualifier will take place the Friday before. The top six athletes from 2023’s Championship have earned automatic qualification, whilst the remaining athletes from last year’s competition will go head-to-head with newcomers to decide who will take the final spots in the main event. The action doesn’t stop there with 12 rookies (athletes under 25) competing in the British Rookie Championship and 11 women vying for victory in the British Women’s Championship on Sunday 16 June.

Top TIMBERSPORTS® athletes compete for top spot

Top TIMBERSPORTS® athletes compete for top spot

Fresh from finishing sixth at the World Rookie Championship in Milan, Jack Morris will be the one to beat in the Rookie Championship. Inspired by his older brother, Morris first competed in TIMBERSPORTS® in 2019 and his laser focus on fitness and training has seen him rise to the top of the British rookie ranks, where he finished first in 2022 and 2023. This will be Morris’s last year competing as a rookie as he moves up to the Pro level in 2025, and he’s aiming to finish on a high, but there will be plenty of other rookies with their eye on the podium so complacency is not an option.

In the British Women’s Championship, it’s all to play for this year, with previous champions Justine Narusa (2023 winner) and Zoe Penlington (2022 winner) returning as well as some exciting new talent looking to shake things up.  Libby Arrowsmith, the youngest competitor at just 17, has been focussed on a dedicated training regime and will be looking to better her third-place finish in 2023, whilst newcomer Rachel Ferrington, who has competed in many sports including jousting, is also looking to make her mark.

The Pro Championship will be another hard-fought battle, but Glen Penlington will be hoping to hold off his rivals to make it a hat-trick of national titles, after he won in 2022 and 2023. But 2014 champion Rob Chatley is also eyeing the top prize. Both athletes are GB TIMBERSPORTS® trainers and share their expertise with the less-experienced athletes at regular training camps throughout the year, but once the competition starts it’s every man for himself, and they will both be looking to get maximum points in all six of the competition disciplines. Between them, they hold three of the six national records, so the competition will definitely be fierce, and is sure to deliver edge-of-your-seat action.

The British Championship takes place from 14- 16 June at the Royal Three Counties Show in Malvern. Tickets are available from the show website. The Pro, Women’s and Rookie Championships will also be livestreamed via the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS® YouTube channel.

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Top class cricket and irrigation

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Top class cricket and irrigation: The historic Rainham Cricket Club in Kent is all set for the 2024 season and once again the club’s reputation for providing some of the best prepared pitches in the Kent cricket leagues will be demonstrated. This is all thanks to hard working and dedicated volunteer grounds staff as well as the continued support of Holts Irrigation who in 2021 installed a Rain Bird irrigation system.

Glen Cook is the Club’s Groundsman and Secretary. Since retiring after a long playing career, he has dedicated much of his time to the club’s Berengrave Lane home. There are four Saturday teams which compete in the Kent Cricket League and a Sunday team in the Kent Village Cricket League. An extremely popular Colts section provides opportunities for the 9-17 age group of this family orientated club which has a very active social calendar and will celebrate its 170th anniversary in 2026.

Top class cricket and irrigation

Top class cricket and irrigation

Preparing pitches to the highest standard follows a procedure that can take anything from 10-14 days. There are 17 pitches on the Rainham square with at least two in use at any time. In 2021 it became clear that a new approach to pitch preparation was required with irrigation a key issue. This was reliant on connecting a hosepipe to the mains water supply and running across a 50+ metre square. Irrigation could take as long as two days to complete and could include overnight watering.

Not only was the water quantity that reached the square insufficient, but the pressure was too low. There was no prospect of irrigating the square uniformly and, with its slope, water would also run away. A series of long dry spells during that summer also meant that any surface water quickly evaporated.

The club was put in touch with Holts Irrigation, a company with extensive experience in sports turf irrigation. Andre Holt recommended a completely new approach based around the installation of a Rain Bird ESP-RZXe irrigation controller to manage six 950 Series pop up rotor sprinklers, as well as a 10000 litre water tank complete with a Grundfos submersible pump and controller. With close cooperation between grounds staff and Holts Irrigation, the full installation was completed within a week.

Four of the 950 Series rotors with double nozzles and 90º arcs are positioned at the corners of the square and the other two at the side which have 180º arcs. They can throw to a distance of up to 28.0 metres providing head to head 100% uniform coverage across the square. The  ESP-RZXe controller has a large LCD screen and a simple user interface. With its rapid programming feature it was simple for Andre to set up and is ideal for grounds staff to carry out additional manual functions.

The controller offers many irrigation scheduling options and in practice, during the playing season, it runs a minimum of two heads. The rotors are set up to irrigate the pitches that are to be used at the weekend and they are also turned on after play on a Sunday evening.

Glen also has the flexibility to apply additional manual irrigation throughout the season when required during dry spells or when carrying out pitch maintenance including reseeding and repairing used pitches. “ We can put down fertilisers and soil conditioners at any time we feel necessary as we now don’t need to rely on the weather to water it in if we have a dry early spring. We are also no longer reliant on waiting for the right weather before we carry out any renovation work and can simply turn on the irrigation system. This is flexible and convenient as well as helping with conservation, as water is applied only when and where it is needed,” says Glen.

Since the installation, Rainham Cricket Club has received praise for the quality of its playing surfaces. This is down to both the professional care afforded by the volunteer grounds staff and the irrigation regime which prevents the surface breaking up on the strips and helps to provide the right amount of water to repair and prepare wickets for second use during the busy playing season. This has resulted in predictable pace and bounce for bowlers and a consistent safe surface for batsmen. The irrigation system makes it much easier for the grounds staff to build on the great cricket surface already established over recent years by the previous groundsman.

Andre Holt carried out the pre-season checks of the irrigation system in late February 2024 at the same time as Glen and his team started pre-season pitch preparations for the new season. Electrical testing of  the irrigation controller and the pump start were carried out along with water pressure and leakage checks. The rotors and nozzles were checked for correct rotation and arc orientation as well as for  debris that could result in clogging.

The start-up checks and the reliability of the installation means that there will be no need for a return visit from Holts Irrigation until after the end of the season when the system is shut down. “Andre’s knowledge of sports turf irrigation has helped to transform the management and upkeep of our pitches. As the 2024 season progresses and the drier spells become more prolonged and frequent, the irrigation system will really come into its own. It’s been a very worthwhile investment and will virtually guarantee the quality of our playing surfaces throughout the summer,” says Glen.

For more information contact: Holts Irrigation, Heathfield, East Sussex, X: @AndreHotech  and www.rainhamcricketclub.com

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RHS disease ranking highlights top 10 gardening problems

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RHS disease ranking highlights top 10 gardening problems: The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has published its annual disease ranking, revealing the top ten problems for gardeners in 2023.

Damp conditions in spring and summer were the driving influence in the prevalence of certain diseases, with the following four new entrants to the top ten list: blossom wilt of fruit trees, pocket plum, tulip fire and slime flux. Fruit trees continued to be under threat from disease, with apples, pears, and Prunus among the top five hosts and collectively resulting in over 1,000 enquiries to the RHS advisory service, a 50% increase on the previous year.

RHS disease ranking highlights top 10 gardening problems

RHS disease ranking highlights top 10 gardening problems

The top diseases for 2023 are:

1. Honey fungus
2. Apple and pear scab
3. Rose black spot
4. Pear rust
5. = Blossom wilt of fruit trees
= Bacterial leaf spot and canker of Prunus
7. Phytophthora root rots
8. Pocket plum – Taphrina pruni
9. Tulip fire
10. Slime flux

Wet weather last spring provided perfect conditions for tulip fire – which produces brown spots and twisted, withered leaves – to take hold, seeing the disease make a return to the top 10 for the first time in several years. The damp spring conditions are also likely to blame for high cases of pocket plum, which causes elongated, hollow fruits with no stone on plums and damsons, as well as some ornamental Prunus, rendering the fruit inedible.

Slime flux, which affects a wide range of trees and shrubs, was another new entrant to the list. It is thought that the bacteria colonises trees via their roots, so the increase in cases may be a result of the wet winter in 2022/ 2023 and associated waterlogged soils. In addition, there was a rise in reports of rose black spot and pear rust, which can both likely be attributed to the warm and wet weather conditions during the summer.

Honey fungus topped the list for the 28th year running, having held the top spot since the list was first published in 1995. The fungus has a large host range of more than 140 garden plants, with the most common hosts in 2023 being privet, rose and viburnum, and results in dramatic symptoms, including death, cracked and bleeding bark and failure to flower.

To minimise plant disease this year gardeners are advised to apply mulch to improve drainage, while ground that has been laid sodden should be lightly pricked with a fork and spread with an organic mulch such as well-rotted manure, so plants grow with improved health and disease is less likely. Now is also a good time to prune out any diseased and damaged material before it can spread spores when the temperature is warmer.

Liz Beal, RHS Plant Pathologist, said: “Unusually wet weather in 2023 had a significant effect on plant health across the UK, with the prevalence of tulip fire and pocket plum demonstrating the impact of prolonged damp conditions. Following the extreme drought of the previous year, many gardeners are left wondering how to prepare for unpredictable weather patterns. Understanding the conditions of your garden is key in deciding which plants will thrive where; the right plant in the right place will always have a better chance of fighting off infection. Additionally, gardeners can help combat many of the most common diseases in our ranking by practising good hygiene, keeping tools clean and removing – and safely disposing of – diseased plant material from their gardens.”

The RHS Plant Health team uses the disease ranking to inform their research and advice. Current research at RHS Wisley’s Hilltop: Home of Gardening Science includes investigating the effective management of Phytophthora in gardens, examination of different methods for managing rose black spot and characterising the dispersal mechanisms and variation of honey fungus populations.

RHS members get free access to the charity’s Gardening Advice Service, available by phone or email. Find out more about becoming a member at: www.rhs.org.uk/join

RHS advice pages are available for everyone, for further information, visit: www.rhs.org.uk/advice

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AriensCo – Change at the top

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AriensCo – Change at the top: Nicholas Ariens has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Ariens Company with effect from 2 October 2023. He will take over from Larry Weyers, who will remain with the company as a consultant until the end of the financial year and will take his well-deserved retirement at the beginning of July 2024.

“Larry has succeeded in driving forward three extremely important aspects of our company. With a strong customer-centric focus, the opinions and needs of our dealers and end customers have become even more important. He also attaches great importance to strategically well thought-out planning and has thus made AriensCo even more disciplined. He has also succeeded in further improving the quality of our products thanks to state-of-the-art manufacturing processes,” emphasises Dan Ariens, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

AriensCo - Change at the top

AriensCo – Change at the top

Nicholas Ariens, the eldest son of owner Dan Ariens, has now taken over the position of President and COO. “I am proud that all five of my children, and therefore the fifth generation, are now involved in key positions in our family business. I wish Nicholas every success in his new role.”

Nicholas Ariens has previously held various management positions in the company. Most recently, he was Executive Vice President for the North and South America region.

Jochen Schneider, Executive Vice President EMEAA and therefore also responsible for the European locations of the Ariens Company, will report directly to Nicholas Ariens in future.

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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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