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EDITOR'S BLOG

PREVENTING DISEASE ONSET
Tips for end of season renovations
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

With the wet and warm conditions we've experienced lately, I have some recommendations of good practice to help turf professionals prevent and manage turf disease outbreaks.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for most cricket clubs up and down the country, trying to get their end of season renovations completed before the weather breaks - which is what happened last weekend.

After several weeks of sunny weather, a new weather front moved in bringing with it some heavy downpours - not what you want when you just top dressed and seeded your square.

However, that said, with ground conditions being so dry, this change in the weather will be a welcome relief for many turf professionals who want to get any seed sown to germinate whist soil and air temperatures remain in double figures. These warm and wet conditions will help promote some final growth before the winter sets in. However, it may also promote some outbreaks of disease.

Dew removal

Recently we have seen evening air temperatures dropping dramatically, especially when there are clear cloudless nights, resulting in heavy morning dews on our playing surfaces.

This combination of early morning dews, warm and wet weather and diminishing daylight hours increases the risk of fungal disease outbreaks.
The three disease factors: susceptible grass / host, pathogen, and environment, provide the evidence for disease diagnosis. Symptoms are the expression of the susceptible grass to the disease and can take on a variety of forms.

Symptoms may appear on the leaves as small, circular, tan-coloured lesions surrounded by brown or purple borders (leaf spotting); as yellow, red, or tan blotches over most or all of the leaf blade (blighting); stunting; wilting; or as a brown or black rot on the crowns and roots. The appearance of these symptoms will also vary depending on the type of disease, the severity of the attack and the developing stage of the disease.

Early identification of the symptoms is essential for good disease management; however, the best form of management is using preventive, cultural turf maintenance methods that reduce the ideal environmental factors that these diseases require for development.

Therefore, a programme of regular brushing/switching of the grass to remove excess moisture, regular aeration to allow gaseous exchange and water percolation.

We have, over the years, developed many methods of removing dew from playing surfaces. I remember the times I spent dragging hose pipes over the Fratton Park pitch. I also remember using switch canes to remove dew off bowling and golf greens. However, these laborious tasks have been superseded with the development of brushing attachments that can be fitted to both mowers and utility vehicles to speed up operations. Hand switching does also give you an opportunity to get close and personal and keep an eye on what’s happening though.

Other cultural methods to help reduce disease pressure would be removal of thatch (which harbours pathogens), by verti-cutting and end of season renovations - as well as checking mower blades are sharp to provide a precise cut of the leaf blade and reduce the potential for disease.

Disease identification

Identification of these diseases can sometimes be difficult in the early stages of attack. It’s often only possible to recognise the type of disease when the fruiting bodies of the disease produce structures such as spores, mushrooms, or mycelium (small, thread-like filaments produced by fungi) that can be seen without the aid of a microscope. A good example of this is Red Thread (Laetisaria fuciformis) where the distinctive red filaments can be seen amongst the grass.

Site characteristics and turf management practices have a large influence on disease management. Factors such as air movement, drainage, soil conditions, and the amount of sun or shade, slope, fertilisation, and aeration programmes are important in influencing the development of turf diseases.
It is important to remember that pathogenic fungi can survive and remain in a dormant state in plant debris and soil until favourable conditions arrive again to stimulate another disease outbreak.

The Pathogens that cause these diseases are always around lying dormant in the thatch layers waiting for the ideal conditions to become active. Once these spores are activated and have found an appropriate host, they are able to grow and reproduce themselves, spreading new spores and infections to other areas of turf. This cycle continues whilst favourable conditions prevail.

Understanding the disease cycle and implementing works that can break up the disease cycle will help reduce the opportunities for disease development and outbreak.

When it comes to disease identification, there is as much emphasis on you as the turf manager to provide appropriate turf samples for analysis as there is for the lab to accurately identify the problem. In most cases, the best place to remove a turf sample for analysis is from the leading edge of the symptoms, where the affected or discoloured plants give way to healthy turf.

It is also important for the lab to be able to see what the general composition and condition of the sward is like and what the rootzone profile is like and, for those reasons, a 90mm diameter core sample, taken to a depth of approximately 60mm using a golf hole changer (or similar) makes for an ideal sample.

If possible, email some photographs of the symptoms so that the lab can get an idea of how the problem is developing - a good picture can often tell so much more than a detailed written description.

There are several excellent laboratories that offer disease recognition, along with some good weather services that offer disease watch forecasts. One I reccommend is Syngenta’s Greencast service.

Common Diseases that can be active and cause concerns at this time of the year are :- Red Thread, Fusarium and Dollar spot.

With the limited availability of fungicide products now on the market, we now have to look at a range of other Integrated Pest management (IPM) strategies to help prevent the outbreak of pests and diseases.

NEWS

LEARNING LIVE '21 PROGRAMME REVEALED
Education at SALTEX

In our first WEB ONLY story the GMA have unveiled what they describe as an all-encompassing education programme designed for all sectors of the groundscare industry.

BATTERY POWER ONLY
Manufacturer promises no petrol machines at show

A new battery launch is under wraps until the show

In our next WEB ONLY story a major manufacturer has announced their stand at this year's SALTEX will feature only battery electric mowers.

MKM TAKE ON ISEKI
New dealership appointment

Iseki UK md welcomes MKM's Anthony Deacon to the network

MKM Agriculture Ltd have announced that they are now dealers for Iseki UK & Ireland.

MKM posted a video of Iseki's David Withers (left) welcoming MKM's Anthony Deacon to their family of dealers

The dealership said they are looking forward to a successful working partnership with the manufacturer at both their Bedford and Bury St Edmunds branches.

Announcing the appointment via a video posted on social media from their stand at the East Anglia Game Fair last week, MKM's Anthony Deacon said, "We're very excited to be able to announce that we're now an authorised dealer for the full range of Iseki products.

"We can't wait to work with Iseki to get these products out there to our customers."

David Withers, md of Iseki UK and Ireland joined MKM on the stand and added, "It's really great to welcome MKM Agriculture to the Iseki family of dealers. I think they'll do a great job with the customer base that they serve. I think the products that we have are really appropriate for their needs."

ALLETT CROWN CREATIVE STRIPES COMPETITION WINNER
International search complete

The top six entries came from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the USA.

The Allett creative lawn stripes competition is in its ninth year with the company welcoming entries regardless of the size of lawn or where they are in the world.

The company says the standard of this year’s entries has again been incredible, with the top six entries coming from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the USA.

This year’s judge was Andy Wain, head gardener at Euridge Manor and last year’s winner. An internal vote was done by a specialist Allett panel with the top six entries forwarded to Andy to pick his overall winner.

First place went to Dennis West of Provo, Utah, USA, who was sixth in last year’s competition.

The winning lawn

The judges’ comments were: "This is a really clever design. The way the pattern flows around the house is fantastic - Incorporating both stripes and different cutting heights has come together to create a really outstanding piece of art. Congratulations! Beautiful."

Dennis works from home as an instructional designer for a telecommunications company headquartered in Maryland, and worked as a graphic designer for many years. He has a BFA in Animation and an MS in Instructional Psychology and Technology. A little over three years ago, he moved to a newly built house that had no landscaping and over the next two years, he set to installing sprinklers and managing the hydroseeded lawn. He watched many YouTube videos on DIY lawncare and became more and more impressed by what he saw could be accomplished in a lawn. In March 2020 he purchased an Allett Kensington 20H and began raking, sand levelling and conditioning the lawn to grow at a shorter length. For this year’s competition, he tried something different from his first entry but decided it wasn’t good enough. Following more experimentation, he saw online some Zen garden patterns and felt that was a good place to start.

To design the pattern, he measured out the lawn and drew an outline in Adobe Illustrator. Accurate measurements were key to scaling down the lawn to make line widths equal to the 20-inch width of cut on the mower. Then, to get the pattern on the lawn, Dennis used a string and stakes to make the curves. He established the pattern over a few weeks using different heights of cut but felt it lacked something, so he experimented by adding directional stripes, but they obstructed the main design. To bring it all together, he used the mower’s brush cartridge, which helped the design stand out as if it was above the directional stripes. An additional challenge was that Utah is a high elevation desert, so accurately measuring and adjusting the watering was important.

“I am so honoured and humbled by being chosen as the winner this year,” says Dennis, “so many great entries were finalists, I really had some great competition. My family, friends, and neighbours are all so supportive and pleased by this honour, it’s really a great pleasure!”

Dennis now becomes the proud owner of an Allett Liberty 43 battery powered cylinder mower alongside the ALLETT Complete Lawn Care System of six interchangeable cartridges comprising an aerator, a scarifier, a lawn brush, a dethatcher, a verticutter and a 10-blade cartridge together with two cartridge stands.

The runners-up in the competition were:

2ND PLACE
Tim Sanken USA

3rd PLACE
Dale Buchanan-Murtagh, Scotland

4th PLACE
Tito Triana from East Sussex

5th PLACE
Dave Boyd Scotland

6th PLACE
Sammy Graham from Northern Ireland

SLEAFORD SEEK HIGHER STANDARDS
Site of Special Scientific Interest

The club's greens chairman has developed a passion for wildlife and environmental management.

Set in the heart of Lincolnshire, Sleaford Golf Club is an 18-hole private members course redesigned by Peter Alliss, with an additional 6-hole Academy par 3 course. Described as an inland links with sandy, well-draining soil, it is renowned for once having the longest first nine holes in the country, with no par 3s.

Dealer Adamsons Langworth depot manager Simon Fountain and Sleaford Golf Club course manager Brian Sharp (front left and right), director of golf Nigel Pearce and greens chairman Nick Lawson (centre left and right) with (left to right) greenkeepers Ben Clark, Gavin Taylor, David Smith (assistant course manager) and Finley Hide (Michael Baines missing from photo).

Much of the course is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that includes some of the most important calcareous grassland areas in the county, if not the UK. Nick Lawson, chairman of the club’s management committee and also greens chairman, has developed a passion for wildlife and environmental management and says:

“We are delighted to be working with Natural England and to play our part in maintaining the biodiversity of our environment, while ensuring that a natural evolution of the course is maintained.”

Part of this evolution has seen the introduction of the club’s first John Deere course maintenance equipment fleet supplied by local dealer F G Adamson & Son at Langworth, and supported by a five-year John Deere Financial lease deal. The new machines include a 2750E hybrid electric triplex mower, 7700A PrecisionCut fairway mower, 9009A TerrainCut rotary rough mower, a ProGator 2030A utility vehicle equipped with an HD200 amenity turf sprayer, and a TH 6x4 Gator utility vehicle.

The club says the combination of new hybrid electric and programmable TechControl mower technology and advanced sprayer controls now enables the course to be managed in a more environmentally friendly manner, while also saving costs.

Nick Lawson has been a member at Sleaford Golf Club for over 30 years, and was persuaded to join the management committee in order to bring his financial and accountancy experience to bear. Together with director of golf Nigel Pearce, who has been at Sleaford for 20 years and was the club professional, and new course manager Brian Sharp - all three have been in post for less than three years - they embarked on an investment programme to improve the overall maintenance regime and bring everything back up to a higher standard after several years of decline.

“We had inherited an old five-year lease contract, so the new management committee set a good budget pre-Covid to replace and upgrade the machinery fleet,” says Nick Lawson. “This was put on hold during lockdown, but we consider the golf course to be the club’s prime asset. As soon as we were able to, we asked Brian for his wish list and then arranged a number of machinery demonstrations by the different manufacturers to see what worked best for us.

“We then went to tender, with John Deere and Adamsons giving the best presentation and their all-round choice of machinery just a little ahead of the others, so we signed the deal at the beginning of April. With the finance, we need flexibility to take advantage of the latest technology and different machinery wear rates, so in time we may have to adjust our budgets accordingly.

“We’ve never been down this route before, so we’re still learning the best way forward for the club and the course, but Brian and his team now have all the tools they need to do the job to the best possible standards.”

“One of the key reasons we chose the A Model mowers is being able to set up the mowing speed and frequency of cut for a consistent finish across the course, whoever’s on the machine,” says Brian Sharp. “We also needed a sprayer that was accurate and could speed up the job, particularly on the fairways. "

Nick Lawson adds: “By offering more flexible membership and guest options, our numbers are picking up again now. There’s been a net gain since the beginning of lockdown, and we’re confident things are now moving forward for the club.”

WHITE HORSE TURN TO KORO
For hybrid pitch renovations

White Horse Contractors say they have been experiencing increased demand for renovations on hybrid and natural turf.

White Horse Contractors Ltd partnered with GrassMaster at the end of 2020 to offer hybrid turf sports construction in England and Wales.

The company say that this partnership and increased demand for renovations on hybrid and natural turf, led them to look for the best option on the market for fraise mowing. They say they opted for the Koro FTM with Campey Turf Care System's Universe rotor.

"We have had the machine since April, and we've carried out renovations throughout the spring and summer, and it's performed very well," White Horse managing director, David Smith, said.

"We know when we set it exactly what results we'll get, and that is important for the customer and us. That precision is especially important when working on hybrid surfaces, so you don't damage any of the fibres..

"We're installing more hybrid fields at the moment due to demand and our partnership with GrassMaster in the UK, but a big part of our service is the renovation contracts and programmes that follow. We want to ensure our customers get the best service and pitch possible, and a part of us being able to provide that is the service we get from Campey.

"We run a lot of other Campey equipment, and this is a continuation of our partnership with them. We get very good customer service from Ben Taylor, and with a machine like this that is used heavily during a specific time of year, the backup is crucial. We haven't had any issues with it, but working with Campey before, we know that anything we need is sorted out quickly, and that's why we chose and continue to choose to work with them."

JOBS

LUTON TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB
Assistant Groundsman

Luton Town Football Club is seeking to appoint an Assistant Groundsman to work on permanent full-time basis.

To role will support the Head Groundsman and Ground Staff team in the day-to-day management of the Clubs premises, with particular focus on the maintenance and preparation of the pitch for first team home fixtures and other matches.

This will extend to the training facility and across all Club premises. This is a busy and varied role, where matchday and work out of hours is required.

The role requires an experienced individual who has successfully maintained sports turf to a professional standard. The individual must also hold or is working towards the appropriate technical qualification, such as; Level 2 City & Guilds Diploma in Sports and Amenity Turf Maintenance, or an NVQ Level 2 Sports Turf Management.

Luton Town does not require the assistance of recruitment agencies for this vacancy.

Remuneration

Competitive and commensurate with skills and experience. The Club is a Real Living Wage paying employer.

How to Apply

To apply, please send your CV and Cover Letter to richard.bird@lutontown.co.uk. As part of your application please provide details of your salary expectations and notice period. All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. Applications will close on the 8th October 2021.

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