making turf matter
holes encourage deep rooting and the sizes of drill channel vary from 19mm to 32mm. The Drill ‘n’ Fill puts the soil amendment directly into the rootzone. This holds open the drainage channel, giving extended duct life and facilitating nutrient exchange between the amendment and the grass roots. Playing surfaces can be fully reinstated as little as one hour after Drill n Fill work, causing minimal closure of facilities. Ecosol also operates the Deep Drill 60/18 aerator which can penetrate between 25mm and 450mm and is ideal for deep aeration and gas exchange where no backfill is required. One of the first golf courses to take up the challenge of the then new treatment was the legendary St Andrews Old Course in early 2001 where one green was under-performing and it was thought that major refurbishment works would have to take place. Deep Drill gave significant levels of rootzone extraction coupled with compaction relief. As a result, grass roots went deeper and this increased the plant’s health and natural resilience to wear and tear and the green was dramatically improved. Also part of Ecosol Turfcare’s armoury is the Graden linear aerator which rips out thatch and injects sand into grooves up to 40mm deep. Soil amendments can be incorporated. The Graden is a gentle pedestrian machine which can be used all year round and can be employed after Drill n Fill. Very compacted sports grounds, notably goal areas and centre circles can benefit from Ecosol’s Vertiquake aerator which has a set of knife blades to slice into hard ground and relieve the compaction.
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New universal range of core collectors Groundsman Industries have launched a new universal range of Flexblade Core Collectors available in swath widths from 60cm up to 210cm to fit all makes of Pedestrian and Tractor Mounting Aerators including Groundsman, Toro, John Deere, Wiedenmann, Charterhouse and Sisis. The original Flexblade collection system developed by Groundsman follows the aerator closely catching the majority of the cores before they touch the ground, the remainder are scooped cleanly from the surface by a series of linked Flexblades that follow surface undulations with precision like multiple shovels for the cleanest possible collection, dumping them in a pile when the aerator is lifted out of work. The Flexblade works in all conditions, powder dry or soaking wet, saving vital time and labour, damage to the surface of the green is minimised as is overall disruption on the course. The new range of Groundsman universal collectors use the original proven Flexblade collection system. This implement was for many years only available for use on Groundsman aerators but as the reputation as a simple, low maintenance but extremely efficient method of collecting
cores grew, so did the demand for the Flexblade to fit other aerators. The new range are sporting a sleek black curved and slotted collection canopy and slotted blades. The changes are however, much more than cosmetic. The new shape adds extra strength to the canopy while reducing the overall weight by more than half. The collection blade check chains have been replaced by
robust folding check links for consistent accuracy and reliability. Groundsman Flexblade Collectors are also available for three point linkage mounting on compact tractors plus many types of turf vehicles for follow-up collection of cores and linear aeration soil. The FLEXBLADE Collector can be supplied to fit most turf vehicles and compact tractors.
Turf Matters | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 | 53