Winter Sports - Football
The turfcare industry is one of the few where everyone talks and helps each other out and I think that attending shows, seminars, demo days, road shows is essential for networking
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Shepherd (44 years old and 20 years service), Paul Thompson (43 and 7 years service), Dan Tunnicliffe (29 and 10 years service), Dan Elvey (22 and 6 years service) and Paul Hitchcock (49 and 7 years service). All have achieved NVQ level 2, with further training given when required. Andy is currently looking to employ an apprentice. Pride Park is a modern stadium facility with a seating capacity just short of 33,600. The pitch is a Mansfield Sand Fibresand construction, with the top 100mm being fibre rootzone overlaying a medium sand profile that sits on a stone carpet drainage layer. There is undersoil heating at a depth of 250mm and 300mm apart. “I have to be careful when using the
undersoil heating not to ‘over cook’ the rootzone and dry out the pitch profile, so I water the pitch to keep it moist at depth,” confirms Andy. “Talbot Turf help out with the renovation
work, which begins as soon as the four weeks of corporate events are completed. We normally start the work in the first week of June, which gives us plenty of time to grow in before the first fixture. We have a new pitch every season; everything is koroed off and then power harrowed to open up the fibres. It’s then topdressed with 225 tonnes of new 80/20 rootzone material with a small percentage of fibresand added.” “The area is then overseeded with MM60 at a rate of 40g/m2, designed specifically for
rapid establishment and good wear tolerance.” “A pre-seed fertiliser is applied with an
NPK ratio of 8:12:8. Once the seed has germinated, and reached a height of 35mm, we will begin our cutting regime, first using our Masport pedestrian rotaries, before bringing on the Dennis G860 cylinder mowers, gradually reducing to the match height of around 26mm. Through the season, we will cut between 25-28mm, depending on weather conditions and how the pitch is performing. Recent weather patterns have provided a bit of a challenge, but we just have to adapt, which we do quite well,” says Andy.
“Managing sand based pitches is not easy, PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
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