WELCOME TO pitchcare
Predictably unpredictable
I have certainly noticed the cooler temperatures and the growth of the grass being checked in the last few weeks as autumn starts to take hold. It’s a favourite time of year for me as the trees become transformed with their display of colour and the heavy spring/summer workload of mowing, feeding and disease checking comes to an end, allowing us to come up for air.
It’s a time to catch up on jobs that have simply had to sit in abeyance, such as checking drains, machinery servicing and repairs.
Living on the west side of the UK, the weather hasn’t been great this summer; there has been plenty of rain about to make roots lazy and not have to travel far in search of moisture. Groundsmen and greenkeepers will have had to work harder to improve root growth this summer, and we have been as ruthless as we could with regular aeration practices to give ourselves the best possible chances going into the winter.
Which then brings in the forecasting ‘guessing’ game. We’ve enjoyed reasonably mild winters in the last two years and there’s always the predictions that this year (as the previous two years were forecast), a coldest winter for a while will descend. From all the various weather predictions that I’ve been watching so far, we actually look to be in for another reasonable and relatively mild one, so I won’t be betting on a white Christmas just yet!
Last winter, we were still cutting grass at the end of January, in fact it was February before the first decent regular frosts and colder weather moved in. Predictions at the moment put the west side of the country on higher than average rainfall this side of the New Year (no surprise there then) and drier towards the east.
Of course, we are in the hands of the jet stream, which can change, but like last
year, I see us reaping the aftermath of the Atlantic hurricanes that sweep through the Americas.
The first of this season’s hurricanes, Matthew, should have reached the UK just before this magazine comes out. Last year, it was all about the storms and the significant rainfall that they brought with them. Although they aren’t intensely powerful cyclones by the time they reach our shores, they still contain a lot of moisture. The American weather authorities are predicting a higher than average storm season, with the possibility of a few major hurricanes evolving from initial tropical storms.
Last year, with the way the jet stream was moving, we would usually endure the subsequent wind and rainfall around a week or so after the East Coast of the US.
We record our daily rainfall, and there were a number of occasions last winter when we had 35mm or more falling in twenty-four hours. That’s a lot of rain to contend with, particularly when you’re trying to maintain the schedule of events at a venue.
Whatever the weather brings, no doubt we’ll all be working as hard as ever to make sure sport is performed on exceptionally good natural grass surfaces.
Good luck to you all.
Cheers Dave Saltman
Say that again!
“Whatever we have as an acceptable standard of education must not replace or stifle the sort of talent that we have in individuals who may not be particularly academic” Andy Mackay, Sussex CCC
“The primary challenge to scoring a low medal round on this flat ‘target-golf’ course revolved around not three putting!”
Lorne Smith, FineGolf
“It’s good to stand with a straight back, with a genuine smile, no matter who you are talking to and that’s something we look for in both suppliers and customers”
Richard Taylor, RTM Machinery
“They say that ‘a little knowledge is dangerous’ and in the context of this mowing subject, I would say that a little knowledge is expensive” James Whitton
“Every word you say or have ever said or recorded on a particular issue is dissected and taken down to use in evidence against you as the solicitors build the maximum possible claim” Paul Worster, Minchinhampton Golf Club
“The ground is owned by the council, who provide all the equipment and materials needed to maintain it, but we do all the work throughout the season” Andy Beck, New Milton Cricket Club
“Unfortunately, the one thing we still need to work on is how employers see what we do - soil scientist, plant scientist, manager, politician, accountant, to name just a few” Adam King, Radley College
PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016 I 1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164