The turf is prepared for harvesting using an intensive mowing, vacuuming and watering programme
first cut in the third week. The sward gets fed with a number of fertiliser products, with focus placed on P and K applications, to help promote root growth. The fields are tested for micro, and macro, nutrients annually. Once the turf is established it is all about feeding, mowing and watering. The frequency of these operations depends on weather conditions, time of the year and stage of the growing cycle. The turf is always cut prior to
irrigation; mowing takes place between 2-3 times each week. The turf is also vacuumed to remove unwanted clippings using a 6 metre dedicated vacuum cleaner. This is particularly important prior to harvesting.
Cannons have two boom irrigators and six rain gun irrigators. The boom irrigators are more efficient and accurate, delivering 15 mm of water to a 20 hectare field in a day. Watering is mainly done at night to reduce water loss through evapotranspiration. The boom irrigators can cover 450 metres in one single run, taking 6 hours to complete.
60 million gallons of water are available, predominantly winter fill. This means that Cannons can irrigate every acre with 15mm of water 11 times during the year. The turf is prepared for harvesting using an intensive, mowing, vacuuming and watering programme. The staff often start at 4.00am in the morning, and will have harvested and loaded by 6.00am for morning deliveries.
CANNONS offer turf in both standard roll (1 sq metre 407 mm by 2489 mm) and big roll formats (737mm wide containing 12-20 square metres per roll). They employ two full time drivers, who can deliver harvested turf to any part of the UK within 24 hours. and a full-time harvester operating a Trilo 110 BV Turf Harvester. The machine was a considerable investment, at £146,000, but it is a cost effective piece of kit, being the only model in the marketplace able to stack and wrap up to 1000 metres of turf an hour as a single man operation with high level in-built quality control, unlike any other machine in the UK.
Tim says that the service back up for
the Trilo has been excellent. The machine has an on-board computer, which can be accessed by phone, so the engineers in Sweden can offer solutions within minutes. Cannons work very closely with Trilo and have helped the company make a number of improvements to the machine. In 2003 Cannons acquired a landscaping company to complement their turf sales. They are now able to offer a wide range of landscape products such as gravel, stones, cobbles, bark and soils and, more recently, ornamental stone water features, all of which sit nicely alongside their turf sales. Tim and Will remain confident that Cannons are moving in the right direction. With the company’s larger portfolio, they are able to provide a range of quality products for the ever changing, and demanding, turf industry. Cannons - Tel: 01526 354411. www,
cannonsturf.co.uk
ComputerTOOLS Webcam
Another small bundle of metal and plastic with a computer chip is the webcam. Use one to have video conversations with distant family, friends and relatives, or perhaps to act as a CCTV
camera for your garage. My boss installed a webcam last week so he can see his granddaughter in Australia grow up; and I have a friend who uses a webcam to monitor his reptiles when he is away at work. A webcam is a low quality video camera that does not have a videotape recorder built in, ie the video footage that you take goes straight from the camera into the computer. The computer performs some magic and the picture is transmitted through the internet to the person you are having a video conversation with. The quality is not as good as a normal video camera for a couple of reasons - it keeps the cost of the camera
down and allows the picture to be transmitted more easily over the internet. Consumer webcams connect to the
computer through USB and sometimes include a built in microphone or headset. They may come with stands or rests, some have a cover and some do not. You can get slimline models for use with laptop computers but the size of most consumer models is somewhere between a ping-pong and tennis ball. Business quality webcams can connect directly to a network, may have pan, tilt and zoom functionality and should produce a higher quality image. Installation of consumer webcams is straightforward, just follow the instructions on the disc supplied. I found an unbranded consumer webcam
online for just £7 but I would expect to pay around £25 for a reasonable quality model. Creative and Logitech are manufacturers to look out for. Business quality webcams cost upwards of £80 and Axis are one of the best manufacturers.
Links
www.bookbrain.co.uk
The smartest way to buy books on the web. Compares prices between 14 online book retailers.
Pitchcare’s web monkey, Alastair, looks at the tools of the IT age.
www.bored.com
A selection of links, ideas and ‘stuff’ to entertain you when you are bored.
www.miniclip.com Free games to play
online. A large selection of games, some of which are multiplayer where you can take on people around the world
Shortcuts
Save your wrist, use the mouse less by taking advantage of these handy keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts are useful when writing documents, moving files etc. There is an unseen area, known as the clipboard, in the computer’s memory reserved for holding text/area/files temporarily. In most programs:
• Ctrl + Z: Undo the last action/command • Ctrl + X: Cuts the selected text/area/files to the clipboard
• Ctrl + C: Copies the selected text/area/files to the clipboard
• Ctrl + V: Pastes the text/area/files from the clipboard to the current context.
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