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JOHN RICHARDS, Pitchcare’s Operations Director and new Granddad, reports from Down Under where he joins the Turfgrass Association of Australia on their Summer Seminar trip


Members of TGAA viewing turf at Anco Turf Farm


A Pom On Tour S


omebody had to do it I suppose, so why not me. Being the elder statesman at Pitchcare


and likely to suffer most from the cold this winter a fact finding trip down under to discover what our Ozzie cousins get up to was a business perk going to no-one else but me!


Summer starts early in Melbourne. In the middle of November this year, temperatures were already getting into the mid 30’s. Too hot for a Pom and too hot for everyone associated with the local turf industry. They have had 7 to 8 years of drought conditions to deal with; reservoirs are currently at 50% capacity but have been as low as 7%. It is a situation which has dictated a dramatic change in how turf professionals and turf businesses undertake their work, a situation I will go into in more detail in a future article.


No sooner had I arrived in the city than I was in contact with the Turfgrass Association of Australia, an organisation formed in 1989 to give all turf managers and allied trades a single representative body. From its beginnings in Melbourne there are now branches in every state in Australia. The secretary of the association, Simone Staples, could not have been more helpful. I was given as much information as I required, but then was kindly invited to join them on their Summer Seminar trip taking place on


the 6 December. An offer too good to refuse. For some reason turf people


across the world do not appear to need much sleep, so it was a very early start to the day, 6.15am the first pick up. I boarded the bus somewhat later at 7.30am on the west side of the city. I was warmly greeted by Rob Savedra, a former president of the organisation, the curator of Wesley College and one of the association's members who had visited the UK in the summer as guests of the ECB. We quickly got into a chat about the previous night’s rainfall, about 33mm, half their average monthly total in one night. A similar amount had fallen 5 nights previously so there was some optimism that this year would be good as far as water availability was concerned. Since 2003 all the sports clubs in Victoria have been required to produce a Water Conservation Plan explaining how they are going to reduce their water


consumption by a minimum of 10% each and every year. Recycling, use of grey water, water efficient practices are the foremost considerations for all sports turf professionals. A situation we in the UK may have to tackle ourselves in the not too distant future! We headed down the west coast of Port Phillip Bay and, following another pick up, we arrived at Anco Turf Farm in Torquay, a 300 acre site providing turf for the sports and domestic markets. It was


one of four such farms owned by the company and, like everything else, had been affected by the previous years’ droughts. The farm we were visiting was irrigated totally by treated water from a nearby sewerage plant. The water was not as good as they would prefer, it was classified as grade 3, but the owner was working with the sewerage plant and the local government to try to get it upgraded. After a quick cuppa (good to see old English traditions are still upheld) we were shown a couple of fields, one with a variety called Sea Isle Paspalum, a salt tolerant turf used mainly in coastal areas, and another with a couch grass called Conquest. According to my hosts, this variety is used widely by schools and local authorities on sports fields where heavy use is expected. Rob Savedra explained to me that couch grass was becoming predominant in the state because of its ability to tolerate drought conditions. There were some drawbacks, mainly the high levels of thatch created and the fact that the grass goes dormant and turns brown during the winter. The latter problem, Rob believes, is a matter of educating players and spectators into accepting less aesthetically pleasing pitches; the thatch can be dealt with by continuous


maintenance, scarifying, verti- cutting etc. Some venues still have rye grass pitches but these are becoming more scarce; some are experimenting with


couch varieties oversown with rye to try to overcome the browning problem during their winter.


BACK on the coach to Geelong, a town which in the mid 1800’s was vying with Melbourne to be the capital of Victoria, but lost. A very picturesque port which made its fortune from sheep farming. Our next visit was to the Botanical Gardens, dating back to 1851 when a 81 hectare reserve was created originally for the purpose of plant introduction, acclimatisation and the assessment of the horticultural potential of the region, but which has now become a very popular tourist and local attraction Our guide was a lovely, wellspoken lady called Jayne Salmon, a volunteer helper at the Gardens, who was quick to point out that “I have never had to deal with so many blokes!” To Jayne’s great relief I can report that we were on our best behaviour as we had our tour, some magnificent mature trees from all parts of the world, but the Garden’s pride and joy is their award winning 21st Century Garden. Located at the entrance to the Botanical Gardens the area, built at a cost of over $2A million, is very dramatic and, using their words, is ‘a showcase of indigenous regional flora’. Interestingly, the 21st Century Garden promotes itself with the line - ‘No swathes of green grass, this is a garden for our times’! The


TGAA members pouring through official entrance to Botanic Gardens


Newly seeded main cricket square at


Geelong Grammar School


Jayne Salmon entertaining the blokes at Geelong Botanical Gardens


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