Pitchcare Classifieds TREES
TURF SUPPLIERS
Algae Blooming Stuff!
Specialist growers of sportsturf and golf turf with a wide range of grades, rootzones, thick and fibre reinforced turf
Tel: 01904 448675
sales@turf.co.uk
www.turf.co.uk TURF SUPPLIERS Spearhead Turf LTD Premium Turf Direct From the Growers
Growers of natural & rootzone sports turf using the very best STRI cultivars
• Custom grown turf • ‘Instant play’ sports pitch turf • Reinforced fibreturf
•Washed turf available in all turf grades
• Nationwide delivery at a time to suit you
• Forklift offload • Contracting service • Overseas supply
Tel: 01724 855000
email:
info@countyturf.co.uk www.countyturf.co.uk
TERRAIN Turf and Trees
10” drill aeration 1m air injection 1m soil coring Air excavation
www.terrainaeration.com terrainaeration@aol.com
TYRES Tel: 01449 673783
Specialist growers of turf for sport and amenity
Winter sports Football and rugby
70% Ryegrass 30% Smoothstalk Standard thickness up to 50mm Golf
Greens, tees, fairways, bunkers ••••••
Specialists in 1.2m wide big roll - supply only or supply and lay
Tel: 01652 678 000
www.tillersturf.co.uk
Advertising in this classified section costs as little as £200 a year. Telephone: 01952 898516
www.spearheadturf.co.uk 01638 742901
TURF TO BE PROUD OF Algae untreated in a water based pitch
This autumn’s weather conditions, with near record high temperatures, a lack of frost, lots of rain in parts of the country and plenty of sunlight, have given rise to the worst algal bloom on courts and pitches I have seen since I became involved in the industry.
Sweepfast’s Sam Breeden explains F
rom short pile tennis courts through to water based and sand dressed or filled pitches, the result is the same; everything was going fine then, one morning, the surface starts showing signs of sludge across the surface.
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Simplified, the typical drainage scenario on a sand based pitch is as follows; for several years everything appears fine, and drainage is good. Suddenly, the drainage rates slow down and then, after a further year or so, the drainage fails. Water can’t percolate through the surface as it should; the organic contamination in the pitch floats to the surface, water then drains slowly through the lowest spots on the surface, leaving the sludge behind as dark coloured puddles. Usually, with either a visual assessment or sedimentation testing, it is possible to determine what stage these surfaces are at in their lifespan, in respect of drainage and sedimentation. However, algae nullifies everything. Really rapid blooms can lead to temporary drainage failures, and this has the same result as a
conventional drainage failure. Water cannot drain through the surface, even relatively small percentages of contamination can be flushed to the surface and leave the dreaded sludge puddles.
This autumn, I have seen blocks of tennis courts and parts of pitches completely covered
with brown algae. So, what’s the solution? Answers on a post card please! We have ongoing trials with numerous chemicals but, at the moment, obtaining consistent results from these is proving impossible, so what chance in the real world. You can remove the sludge from the surface, but as with conventional drainage failures, as soon as it rains again it’s back! You can spray it with any one of the dozen or so chemicals available, keep your fingers and everything else crossed and hope that you have good results!
The other reason that algae is so bad this year is that, after two cold winters, problems did not manifest themselves until this year.
I am just wondering whether the Eskimos have a frost dance, something similar to a rain dance, I would quite happily take the next plane to the north pole to learn the steps and chants that are needed to induce a couple of hard frosts, because a couple of them will kill the stuff off and return everything to normal.
So, by the time you read this, if winter has arrived with a vengeance, please don’t blame it on the middle aged man you saw on the news, performing a strange ritual on his local tennis courts, clad only in a seal skin, wearing a silly fur hat, brandishing a whale bone and chanting mumbo jumbo.
AERATION
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