Tag Archive for: Turf

Conserving water for the future of turf sports

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Conserving water for the future of turf sports: It’s official – fresh water supplies are dwindling, demand for water is steadily rising, and regulations on how much and for what purpose water can be used are becoming increasingly tightened. Finding ways to use water more efficiently is no longer an environmental nice to have; it’s a fact of life for most turf facilities today and imperative for our industry’s future.

As a turf manager you’ll always need water – it’s a fundamental building block of turf – but there are a number of steps you can take to influence how much water you need.

Conserving water for the future of turf sports

Conserving water for the future of turf sports

One of the biggest potential impacts on your water consumption can be made by redirecting water that already exists.

Plant selection can also play an important role in how much water is needed to keep your property at its visual best. Choose turf varieties such as fine fescues that require less water than others such as perennial ryegrass.

Even with these changes, irrigation is still essential and ongoing maintenance of your irrigation system is an effective way to reduce the amount of water wasted. Moisture sensors, weather monitors and other high-tech tools are also available to help you use your water conservatively.

Even after irrigation, there is still one more hurdle to getting water to your turf as efficiently as possible: your soil. How well your soil performs can have a tremendous impact on how much water you use.

Soil:water repellency interferes with how even the most well-placed water moves, leaving some areas a little too dry while making some a little too wet. This is certainly not a new phenomenon, but research indicates that it is much more common than previously thought.

Water repellency is one of the most pervasive water use issues, and it is also one of the easiest and most cost-effective to fix. Soil surfactants lower the surface tension of water and restore the wettability of effected soils, allowing water to move into and through the profile more efficiently. This reduces the amount of water lost to run-off and preferential flow

“Revolution is one of the very few products that makes a dramatic difference and actually changes the way turf is managed. It affects everything including the turf, the distribution of water, fertilisers, and other materials” – Sam Rhodes, Woodhall Spa GC.

Most courses have best management practices in place for their properties, but not all commit them to paper in a formal document. There are a number of resources available that provide guidance and templates for creating one, but should you bother? Absolutely.

Water conservation is a realistic goal, with both environmental and financial upsides.

Like it or not, the call for sustainability – and the challenges that presents – are going to be big issues for a long time. Doing what you can at your course does more than just protect a diminishing global resource – it protects your course, your job, and the future of the sports turf industry.

New releases from Wildflower Turf

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New releases from Wildflower Turf: The UK’s most prominent wildflower experts, Wildflower Turf Ltd, are committed to providing innovative landscaping solutions that also provide considerable ecological and environmental benefits.

With a dedicated in-house research and development team, on-site laboratory and extensive trial facilities, Wildflower Turf Ltd are using their expertise and constant desire for knowledge to push boundaries within the landscaping industry when it comes to wildflowers.

New releases from Wildflower Turf

New releases from Wildflower Turf

In line with public concern about the damage peat extraction does to our natural environment, the business is committed to an annual reduction in the use of peat as a growing medium and has already made excellent headway, with their Meadowscape Pro™ product now 100% peat-free.

Meadowscape Pro™ is an enhanced pre-seeded growing medium used by professionals for effective wildflower establishment and allows the creation of dynamic and biodiverse wildflower spaces in a range of settings with very little ground preparation.

Successful wildflower establishment is very dependent on quick, healthy seedling growth gaining a head start over any other grass or weed species development – Meadowscape Pro™ delivers the optimal seed germination environment to make this happen.

Enriched with Hydropor™, the specially developed formula supports good water percolation and retention, stabilising the growing medium for much better seed germination compared to conventional direct seeding.

In addition to refinements to Meadowscape Pro™, Wildflower Turf Ltd has also recently released two Limited-Edition products: Meadowscape Pro™ Low Grow and Meadowscape Pro™ Pollinator.

Already proving very popular, the Low Grow mix has been designed for projects that require biodiversity enrichment but with height restrictions to consider. This new release is perfect for sites such as a road verges, roundabouts or in a garden or near a building.

The species-rich mix will grow to approximately 40-50cm in height and has the added benefit of incorporating a few highly scented species which, when disturbed, throw up a heady scent and attract a considerable number of insects to the very attractive habitat. Low Grow also has some ornamental grasses included which add texture and a changing colour scheme to the area throughout the growing season.

This new release is currently available in Meadowscape Pro™ as a Limited-Edition product. The Limited-Edition Wildflower Turf® format will be available from summer 2022.

The second Limited Edition Release, Meadowscape Pro™ Pollinator, has been created by playing with a range of native and non-native wildflowers to create a tall architectural feast of colour and nectar for a wide range of insects. This grass-free mix can grow in optimal conditions to over 1m in height and provides an eye-catching natural nectar bar that is perfect for private gardens as well as parks and public areas.

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New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

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New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland: ICL and Syngenta have launched Turf Rewards for 2022 which now features separate schemes for the UK and Ireland.

Turf Rewards provides the opportunity for customers to earn points from purchases that can then be exchanged against a fantastic selection of agronomic or turf related items and learning opportunities.

New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

New Turf Rewards for UK and Ireland

New for 2022, Turf Rewards products will have lower thresholds to earn points. Here’s an example:

In 2021, Turf Rewards customers would need to purchase 25 bags of SierraformGT or ProTurf to get 5 points. However, this year customers would only need to purchase 12 bags of either to earn 3 points.

With an extensive range of items already on offer, new rewards for 2022 have also been announced.

New UK Turf Rewards

  • An SGL TurfPod with 1 year’s subscription.
  • Join or renew your British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) membership.

These great new rewards join popular rewards such as Machine Mart vouchers and agronomy tools including the TDR150 moisture meter and the Davis Vantage Pro2 Weather Station.

New Turf Rewards in Ireland

  • Join or renew your Association of Turfgrass Professionals Ireland (ATPI) membership.

This new reward has been added to popular rewards for the Irish market such as Caulfield Industrial vouchers and the TDR350 moisture meter.

If you would like to find out more about Turf Rewards in the UK visit www.turfrewards.com or for Ireland www.Turfrewards.ie.

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

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AMS Robotics working to improve turf health

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AMS Robotics working to improve turf health: Sports facilities, large gardens and businesses across the UK have seen improved turf health with AMS’s robot technology. Clients both old and new have recognised the significant differences and improvements it has made to their outfields and maintenance methods. With the mowing capacity increased to up to 75,000m2, the sky’s now the limit for robotic turf care.

The lightweight Belrobotics mower provides frequent grass cutting, rain or shine, which minimises the impact on the turf. The tiny quick-composting clippings provide a constant source of fertilisation and moisture, resulting in beautifully dense turf. For sports facilities in particular, this improves the pitch’s overall ability to withstand a busy match schedule and hours of use.

Pictured are two examples of areas in which you can see the comparison of the areas that the AMS robots manage and the areas which they don’t. Stirling university has one of the original large models, BigMow Connected, which has a mowing capacity of up to 24,000m2. These mowers work on a random cutting pattern and will mow the total area 3-5 times per week. This picture demonstrates the quality of the turf on the right managed by robots compared to the turf on the left which is not.

Another example of where the AMS robots have enhanced the quality of the grass is in this private client’s garden. The right hand side is managed by the AMS Robots and the left is not.

This area is managed by the smaller robot, ParcMow, which has a mowing capacity of up to 14,000m2 3-5 times per week on a random mowing pattern. However, this robot is kitted with the latest GPS RTK technology which allows the robot to work on pattern and stripe mode, therefore the mowing capacity is increased up to 40,000m2 5-7 times per week – making the process smarter and more efficient.

University Of Stirling

AMS Robotics working to improve turf health

AMS Robotics working to improve turf health

Private client

AMS Robotics working to improve turf health

AMS Robotics working to improve turf health

AMS Robotics are pleased to announce their latest partnership at Highfield Rangers FC. AMS are thrilled to be supporting such a brilliant project.

For all enquiries contact AMS on 01462 676 222 or sales@amsrobotics.co.uk

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay.

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic, which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it.

For context, Lee has a team of thirty. Eleven are groundsmen, with two on the college’s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking. Over the summer, the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year, and in November, Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking.

The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options. Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker, he eventually turned to Turf Tank. https://turftank.com/en/

“It was also about helping the team, so they didn’t feel under pressure all the time. With the robot, where it’s taken us six or seven weeks to mark everything, we can effectively do that in a week now. Suddenly, the pressure has gone, and if we have staff on holiday or off sick, it keeps us out of trouble.

“We’ve got some projects lined up this summer that we are going to do in-house, and suddenly, that marker frees up two people, and we can put extra staff on the projects. That’s how we’ll use it as an aid and addition to the team to help plan workload and projects.”

With the Turf Tank One in place, Lee is looking to cut his marking hours by more than half. For him, this will increase pitch quality with additional aeration, cutting and finessing taking place. But choosing a robot and company that could provide everything he needed was critical.

The support from Alex and the Turf Tank team has been exemplary, with all questions answered quickly and I know that there is a full-time service engineer if I ever need hands-on assistance.”

“I think to be fair; the Turf Tank instantly ticked a lot of boxes for us. And it wasn’t just me, my team were there, and we tried other machines a week apart on the same pitch. We looked at line quality, how much paint it was putting out, how quick it was to set up, and there were similarities.

“But then we started to think about the differences. Do we want to be tied into a paint deal? Do we want an annual subscription fee? Turf Tank gave us that bit more flexibility.

“The other factor was the base station. You read a lot about the pros and cons, but to be honest as soon as I saw how it interacted with the machine, and how much more accurate the marking was, compared to those without using a base station, the whole team were like ‘it’s a no brainer, isn’t it?’ It blew us away, to be fair, and we bought the Turf Tank, and we now have base station points installed across the site, and it has worked really, really well.

“The Turf Tank records templates for initial marking and subsequent over-marking. Being able to get those templates was a significant point for us and nothing has been out of the remit of the robot. We’ve got most of the pitches loaded up now, including where the goals are actually smaller than a football goal, but we’ve managed to get the robot between the two posts and mark. Everything we’ve asked for has happened, and it has been great

“We want to teach our staff new skills and using and understanding the latest technology is very much part of Eton College’s ethos. I’m very much won-over and very impressed with the Turf Tank One line-marking robot. And if I were to move anywhere else, it is one of the first things I’d want to have in my fleet.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK) Michael@turftank.co.uk (Scotland and Ireland)

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

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