WELCOME TO pitchcare What a
difference a year makes!
This time last year I was lamenting the continual barrage of Atlantic storms that came our way, bringing with them large quantities of rainfall. Of late, I’ve received plenty of comments from footballers saying we’ve not had much rain, so everything must be better. A layman’s perception, if ever there was one!
The weather brings that degree of unpredictability to all of us in this profession and, with no two years the same, the reality is that it’s difficult to compare one year to the next.
Whilst last year was very wet, it was also mild, right up until February when we then had a prolonged cold spell. The mild weather meant that we were still topping the grass off until the end of January; growth meant recovery and well drained surfaces were coping very well.
This year has followed a different theme, whereby we have had alternating milder, but damp days, followed by cold snaps. It has been like this since December with little or no growth for the last three months and, therefore, negligible recovery. The grass has been undecided on what it should be doing.
Officially, spring starts on March 20th. The spring equinox is based on the astronomical calendar that determines the seasons due to the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis, and its orbit around the sun.
Two years ago, the spring weather started on March 1st with daytime temperatures reaching 24O
C. Last year, it arrived about eight weeks later than that.
Given that I’ve spent much of my working life on winter sports maintenance,
Say that again!
“Essentially, golf courses are products, similar to a box of cereal you buy in the supermarket. You will normally buy based on price, how it looks, previous experience or recommendation” Sam Evans, Fulwell Golf Club
“A certain amount of thatch is desirable as it helps to keep the turf together, but it needs to be managed” Richard Osgood, Newbury Racecourse
“There’s a good reason the rinks are moved and it would be helpful if bowlers, and especially committees, were a little more supportive in the efforts made by the greenkeeper” Pitchcare editorial
February/March is the time when you start hoping that warmer weather is around the corner and that the grass will start growing and recovering to bring the pitches back quickly. Looking around the lower leagues at the moment, it can’t come quick enough for a lot of clubs.
Whilst I’m on the subject of winter sport, and football in particular, it was with avid interest that I read that the Football Association has been in front of Parliamentary ministers this week to face a vote of no-confidence. There is a real threat that public funding will be withdrawn from football’s governing body unless it is prepared to instigate reform.
For many companies in our industry, this will be viewed as a very welcome step forward. The current PIP scheme has been shrouded in controversy regarding its anti-competitive nature and the restriction of trade to all suppliers.
If you want cash strapped clubs to improve their facilities, you surely don’t create a cartel-type system that removes choice and fair trade for end-users.
Cheers Dave Saltman
“Pride is a massive word in groundsmanship and our aim is to help create the wow factor when someone comes here for the first time” Ian Barber, Cheadle Hulme School
“I made my way into the industry in 1998 as a pimple- faced sixteen year old working as a groundsman at Pennant Hills on Sydney’s north shore” Chris Rae, Orkney Golf Club
“Physical harm often occurs where mowers are run close to trees. Many trees show bark wounds around the base and this is an obvious result of that impact damage” Guy Watson, Certhia Consulting Limited
“We have more root mass now than we did after the pitch was re-turfed in February last season, so I have my fingers crossed that the pitch will get us through this season”
Dave Saltman, DWStadium PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 I 1
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