WELCOME TO
Praying for dry days and night time showers
As I write this foreword our renovation works are complete at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC’s Molineux and training ground and the newly seeded areas are all growing well. This is a total contrast to last year when, although we enjoyed an early close to the football season, temperatures remained low resulting in slow germination.
This year the warm weather and regular showers through the last few weeks have enabled rapid establishment of the new seed.
Whilst we have the luxury of pumped irrigation, those that don’t will also have had a great chance to complete the work and watch the new grasses come through.
Forecasts suggest another warm summer, so it will be important, where possible, to irrigate carefully, and during the late evening when the sun will not evaporate much of the water put down.
For the last couple of years we have taken on much of the renovation work ‘in-house’ and I have written a diary update later in this issue.
We do use contractors for specialist work, such as Koroing, drainage and power harrowing, and our own staff work alongside them. There are a number of valid reasons why we do this which I will outline below.
Often during the work schedule it becomes apparent that more passes of a particular
operation (than were originally specified and priced for) are necessary. Additional
scarifying, (hollow/solid) tining, drag matting and seeding all make for a better job.
Involving the staff in the work allows them to feel personally part of the rejuvenation process and, hopefully, instills a little extra pride for the future maintenance of the surfaces.
By taking on the work directly staff knowledge is increased, this will also serve them well in the future if they oversee contractors as they will know what they should expect and if any corners are being cut.
Finally, the cost savings for completing the work internally can be quite large, and the monies saved can be re-directed towards the purchase of additional machinery/products.
The good weather will no doubt have helped everyone after the dry spring, plenty of growth means speedy recovery. It has certainly helped the cricket guys at all levels and it’s good to hear players and commentators heap praise on the county and test match venues so early on in the year. Large numbers of runs are being scored this season off uniform, well-prepared strips. In fact some of the press were suggesting that the Old Trafford strip was the hardest and fastest it has ever been. Well done Pete Marron. He was also subject of a tea-time spot on Sky TV. Further proof that the profile of our industry is being raised.
Good luck to all of you for the summer. I’m praying for warm dry days and night time showers.
DAVE SALTMAN Managing Director
Inside
greenkeeping operations are unpopular; some are very unpopular!”
THIS ISSUE “Some essential
PAUL LOWE
News .............................................................................. 2-8 Wells Done! ............................................................ 18-20 Talking ’bout a revolution .................................... 22-23 Renovating Wolves ................................................ 24-27 Ecology - does it have a role in golf? .................. 29-31 What Sand? ............................................................ 46-49 Matters Arising! ...................................................... 52-54 Know your enemy .................................................. 56-57 Aquatic Weeds ........................................................ 58-60 Environmental gobbledegook explored .............. 64-65 Getting the most out of turf analysis .................. 70-7
PLUS •IRB Sevens at Concorde Club •Robert Jones Diaries •An opportunity for Life •Online Disease Prediction •Frank Newberry •Delivering the Dream •In the frame •N-Fusion Bio Nutrition
No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. Editorial contributions are published entirely at the editor’s discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. Pitchcare make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the contents but accepts no liability for its consequences. Pitchcare - The Magazine is printed by the Gemini Press, Dolphin Way, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 6NZ
the PC team DAVE SALTMAN
Managing Director. Happily settling in to his new life as a fortysomething. We still can’t get him to slow down though! In the rare moments of spare time that he gets Dave enjoys a spot of coarse fishing and we were all delighted to find out recently that his ‘tackle’ still works.
JOHN RICHARDS
Operations Director. Tanned and relaxed after a week in sunny Spain which was preceded by his daughter’s wedding - no wonder he needed a holiday! The nuptials allowed him to see his 18 month old granddaughter who flew in from Oz - with Mum and Dad obviously!
LAURENCE (WRITING) GALE
Editor. Has been travelling the length and breadth of the country judging this year’s Cricket Groundsman of the Year awards. He finds being alone in his car rather taxing as he has nobody to talk at (sorry, to). At least he’s had the chance to catch up on his Kylie back catalogue!
PETER BRITTON
Sales & Production. As a life long Spurs fan this magazine has been a tortuous affair with him having to type ‘Arsenal’ over twenty times (there’s another one!) Still, he’s happy that his team won Premiership II - that’s fifth place behind Arsenal (bugger) if you didn’t know.
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