NOTTINGAM Sherriff of
Head Groundsman at the Nottingham Tennis Centre
By DAVE LAWRENCE
LIKE many other tennis and cricket groundsmen I was waiting a long time for some decent warm weather to help me prepare our facilities for the new season. We had an awful winter, it was so wet we could not get on the courts for ten weeks.
May was tough, we were trying to play catch up, with me and my staff putting in well over 60 hours a week to get the courts up to speed. We spent hours covering and uncovering the courts to optimise the maintenance regimes. Nottingham tennis centre has nine championship standard grass courts and 27 plexipave hard courts. We stage a number of competitions leading up to Wimbledon so, as best as possible, we try to replicate the same playing characteristics. Our grass courts are constructed
with exactly the same loam material and grass species that are used at Wimbledon, a 22% Surrey loam and AberImp and AberElf ryegrass species.
The success of our season is very much dependent on the success of our previous autumn renovations. Last year we managed to get on the courts early in September with some deep scarification down to 6mm using our Huxley scarifier, we then spiked, top-dressed and overseeded. During autumn renovations, to help
reduce the poa, we apply a dose of ethofumesate. It has been very successful, we are now seeing less than 5% poa in our courts compared to the 50% level we had to deal with when we first started the programme in
“We had an awful winter, it was so wet we could not get on the courts for ten weeks”
Dave Lawrence, Head Groundsman 2002.
That was when I joined the club and I had no alternative but to Koro the courts, it was the only way to remove the poa. We have not had to use the Koro since, so the use of the ethofumesate has saved the club a substantial amount of maintenance money. From September to February we aerate on a monthly basis using our Core Master, the rest of the year we use the Hydrajet. During the breaks in the weather this spring we also carried out a light top dressing of loam followed by another reseed. Our fertiliser regimes are based around the regular soil tests we undertake in the spring and autumn. Once we know our soil Ph and nutrient status we can then feed accordingly.
A Scotts spring and summer granular fertiliser was applied in May to take us up to our first competition in mid June. Dependent on the weather and soil conditions we may also apply a liquid feed, but not too near the competition as we do not want a flush of growth during the matches.
The courts are cut on a daily basis using Saxon pedestrian nine bladed mowers. The grass is maintained at 9mm for most of the summer and brought down to 8mm for competitions. Early in the year, due to the poor conditions, our mowing regimes were severely hampered, thus the sward was not as dense as it should have been. Some warmer weather in the weeks leading up to
Dave Lawrence (centre) with his team on Centre Court
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