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In action
GOING GREEN
Peter O’Brien & Sons has turned to Pellenc for planet-friendly kit
Peter O’Brien & Sons Landscaping, one of Ireland’s leading landscape and sports ground companies, has invested in a large fleet of Pellenc battery-powered equipment.
Peter O’Brien is a family-run business, with over 100 members of staff. Andy Jones, maintenance supervisor, believes the company has a responsibility to manage its impact on the environment. “We are always conscious of looking at our carbon footprint,” he says.
The company embarked on an extensive search to identify a new fleet of battery-powered equipment, as Andy explains: “We carefully read product specifications, spoke to end users and attended SALTEX in order to pinpoint the leading manufacturers.”
Local dealer Leinster Turf Equipment visited a company site in Dublin to give a demonstration and Peter O’Brien invested in a fleet of Pellenc equipment including Rasion Basic pushmowers, Excelion 2000 brushcutters, Helion 2 Compact hedge trimmers, Helion Telescopic hedge trimmers, Airion 2 hand blowers and Selion polesaws.
“The feedback from everyone is that we should have done this sooner,” says Andy. “From the weight of the product, the finish of the product, the lack of noise pollution and the most important thing, the battery times. We can easily get a full day’s work out
of these products and we don’t have to worry about the hassle of charging them while on a job.
“The Pellenc products have also increased productivity – particularly in the city centre and the residential areas. Before we had these products, it used to be a case of the staff members sitting in the yard until 8am before they could get into these highly populated areas. However, now we can get to the sites at 7am and we are not waking people up or disturbing anyone. This has been a huge benefit.”
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For more information visit www.pellencuk.com
FIRM FAVOURITE
Ben Hastie, head groundsman at Cheltenham Racecourse, has reported great results after embarking on a long-term strategy of scarifying and overseeding with Limagrain UK’s MM60 grass seed.
MM60 has been relied on at Cheltenham for over 25 years and Ben recalls a rigorous seed trial early in his tenure when MM60 proved exactly why it has been the number one choice for so long. “The climate at Cheltenham can be a little bit different to everywhere else – the highest point of the track gets very windy and it can get incredibly cold. We trialled eight to 10 different mixtures and we did tests in numerous conditions. We found that MM60 was by far the best for what we needed, and we haven’t looked back since.”
Limagrain’s leading MM60 winter sport mixture is a 100% ryegrass formula which is perfect in Ben’s quest to achieve consistency throughout the whole course. A strict regime of scarifying and overseeding during renovations has been key, according to Ben.
“Doing this consistently over the years has resulted in the ryegrass holding up more than it ever has. It is helping with disease, helping to keep moisture in where it is needed, helping the recovery rate and providing a better coverage which makes the course look so much better.
“You know with MM60 that you are going to get great growth and the colour is brilliant. Because we are predominantly a winter sport, we need germination at low
Ben Hastie, head groundsman at Cheltenham Racecourse, says MM60 grass seed is a key ingredient in keeping the course healthy
temperatures and I know that the MM60 will still be growing even if soil temperatures are 5 or 6 degrees when we are racing in December or January.”
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For more information visit www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm
WITHAM HALL BRUSHES UP
The GKB Rotobrush has revitalised the school’s surfaces
Tackling a full-sized Astroturf, grass cricket wicket and an all-weather wicket, there was no better match than the GKB Rotobrush for Witham Hall Preparatory School.
Alex Exton, groundsman at the school, explains that the GKB Rotobrush perfectly fits his needs. “It is a compact and efficient machine that it is perfect for what I wanted it for. This machine was affordable too, which was a big appeal.” He describes it as an impressive machine for a great price.
As your synthetic sport pitches get used, dirt becomes apparent. From moss and algae to general wear and tear, this can affect the technical characteristics and authentic
In recent years, the restrictions on the availability and use of plant protection products in Europe have increased. Two years ago, experienced groundsmen Jan Dijkhuizen and Mathieu van Borkulo of Dutch football club AZ Alkmaar took an important
appearance of the turf. The GKB Rotobrush restores this by tackling persistent contamination.
Alex explains that at Witham Hall they use their GKB Rotorbrush to clean the Astro. Due to the size of the grounds cleaning can take a while, however, they say that it does a really great job.
The GKB Rotobrush enables you to brush deeper and more effectively where needed, with a rotating brush disc
step in anticipation of this European policy. They exchanged fungicides for preventive treatments against grass fungi with UV-C light.
Agronomist Gerard van ‘t Klooster of SGL says: “Simple organisms, including fungi, arm themselves against everything that occurs in nature, but not against UV-C light. UV-C light is part of the sun’s UV radiation, but is blocked by the ozone layer. If you affect the DNA in a simple organism, the entire organism is disrupted and dies. That is why you can destroy the DNA of fungal spores with the correct dosage of UV-C light, without affecting the grass plant.”
Leaf fungi can ruin an entire football pitch within 48 hours. Therefore it is important that preventive action is taken in times when fungi thrive. AZ Alkmaar uses the UVC180, a machine
The GKB Rotobrush keeps synthetic surfaces clear
that is provided with extra rigid bristles. Alex says: “The GKB Rotobrush gets so close to the edges of the Astroturf, especially where the carpet meets the fence kickboard and also on the artificial
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For more information visit www.gkbmachines.com
SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE ISSUE
Dutch football club AZ Alkmaar uses UV-C light from SGL units to beat leaf fungi
for the cricket.” developed by SGL, in combination with the SGL grass disease forecast. The grass disease forecast calculates which diseases are likely to develop over the next seven days on the basis of weather forecasts and sensor measurements. Based on this, the correct frequency and intensity of the use of the UVC180 is calculated, so that the machine can be used in the most efficient way.
AZ Alkmaar trialled the UVC180 three years ago and it kept the main pitch free of fungi. One month after the test expired, grass diseases developed. AZ no longer use fungicides to combat grass diseases. Jan Dijkhuizen concludes: “With the UVC180 we have everything under control.”
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For more information visit www.sglsystem.com
THE RIGHT ADVICE
Headland’s experts help keep Leicester Tigers’ ground healthy
The facilities at Leicester Tigers Rugby Club play host to a packed schedule of training and matches, with the Oval Park training ground alone hosting over 200 games last year. Despite this, the pitches are appearing to stay stronger for longer which head groundsman Ed Mowe attributes to Headland Amenity’s input into the club’s nutritional programme.
“Along with two soil-based pitches, we have one Desso surface at Oval Park, which was struggling to cope with the rigorous demands of winter training,” Ed explains. He contacted Alex Hawkes, Headland’s sports turf specialist, who came in and conducted soil analysis. “Following this we structured an overarching feeding programme, along with looking at some specific products to target the problems we faced.
“We’ve been using C-Complex during our renovations, which helps with microbial activity and root development, and Terafirm soil penetrant which has improved the moisture draw-down on the surfaces.
GrasPro Pitch Management System has become a vital data collection tool for Forest Green Rovers’ head groundsman, Adam Witchell.
Adam is into his fourth season with the League Two football club, and he has used GrasPro throughout that time to record data from the club’s stadium and training pitches. The system has saved time recording data and generating reports.
“It’s one of my main tools as a head groundsman,” Adam says. “I’ve trialled other data collection systems and for me this is the best one. It takes away data recording in the evening because it doesn’t take long to put it into the GrasPro system, so it saves me time and energy that I can concentrate on other parts of my job.
“I can look back on things that worked and didn’t work by doing pitch
For a particularly waterlogged patch we had behind the dead-ball area on the stadium pitch, Alex suggested we try Xpedite which dramatically improved water infiltration.” Following the success here, Ed applied Xpedite on some of the line-out and scrummaging areas at the training
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For more information visit www.headlandamenity.com
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
The GrasPro Pitch Management system records essential data for Forest Green Rovers
The organic pitch is easier to manage with reliable data
ground to good effect. quality standards on the pitch. I think I’m the only person working with an organic vegan pitch. It’s a very heavy clay pitch, it has its problems, but you can look at when disease might be in and then you can look at how the pitch performs with some of the products you’ve used.
“Another part of it was getting to speak to Einar Brynjarsson at GrasPro. Working closely with Einar means if there are bits that aren’t in the system, I can contact him. [For example] they’ve come up with an excellent machinery section of the system which takes a lot of headache away. I have a lot of plate spinning in my job, and it’s something that I don’t have to worry about now.”
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For more information visit www.gras.pro
