News

Helpringham Bowls Club Solves Thatch Problem
ONLY TWO YEARS after being built, Helpringham Bowls Club in Lincolnshire developed a serious problem with thatch.

“It was such a problem that we genuinely thought we were going to lose the grass altogether,” said club chairman Brian Ash.

“We had to find a way of breaking through the thatch to aerate and allow water and air to penetrate. At a bowling greens seminar  we heard about the DJ Turfcare Plugger, went online and ordered a PL400. It has transformed our surface and saved the day.”

Greenkeeper Richard Musson used pencil tines on the Plugger PL400 through the late spring and early summer to break through the thatch.

“At a bowling greens seminar  we heard about the DJ Turfcare Plugger, went online and ordered a PL400. It has transformed our surface and saved the day.”

Greenkeeper Richard Musson used pencil tines on the Plugger PL400 through the late spring and early summer to break through the thatch.

“The Plugger has just transformed our day-to-day operations,” says Richard, who has been involved with the bowls club for 30 years, and has looked after the new green since it was built three years ago.

Helpringham won the Sleaford League Cup in Federation Bowls the season before last and the club is staffed entirely by village volunteers, including Richard, Brian and treasurer Fred Jervis.

The previous club site was sold for development and the money used to create the new green and clubhouse.

Four years ago the site of an old football pavilion was cleared to make way for the bowling green and clubhouse.

“ We turfed the green and the contractor did an excellent job,” says Brian. “In fact it was the first bowling green they had constructed but they did such a good job that they have been asked to do a few more since based on the results here.”

But two years after the construction of the Helpringham green Richard found it a struggle to keep the grass growing, despite scarifying – with a John Deere pedestrian - and overseeding.

“The problem was a massive build-up of thatch,” he says. “I knew we had to break through that and encourage root growth. After buying the Plugger PL400 we were able to pierce the thatch with the pencil tines and start putting some life back into the rootzone. The next stage is to use the hollow-core tines after the season has ended and get some top dressing into the holes to encourage more root production.”

One of the main problems with the thatch has been run-off during heavy rain. The thatch caused water to run off rather than get to the roots where it was needed – even when we applied lots of irrigation. Water was simply not improving the situation.

“Using the Plugger every 10 days with the needle tines has worked a treat and the results are incredible,” says Richard. “The roots are way down now and able to keep the surface grass looking good, despite the very hot dry weather we have had this year.”

Irrigation, from a hose and sprinkler on a tractor unit, during the very dry early summer months was able to give the grass a real boost.

Club chairman Brian Ash, a former builder and retired footballer who played for Skegness and Boston, won the singles bowling title at the Skegness open in 1977.

“The bowls club is a central part of village life,” he says. “The club is vitally important to our 20 or so members and we are lucky to have been able to develop such a great facility with an excellent clubhouse. Helpringham has had a bowls club for more than 70 years.”

Richard says the Plugger PL400 has given the green a new lease of life.

“We had heard about the results it could achieve at a bowling green seminar and it has lived up to all the expectations. It is the best bit of kit the club has.”

Richard’s plan of action for the green is to use granular weed and feed products together with moss killers early in the season.
This is followed up with summer feeds and an autumn feed.

“Being able to aerate on a regular basis gives us a chance to keep the green in perfect shape,” says Richard.

DJ Turfcare managing director David Jenkins says:

“The Plugger is a very versatile aerator for fine turf, with various tines for different jobs. We are delighted that the Helpringham team have had such success and that it is helping to keep their bowling green one of the best in Lincolnshire.”

Click on the following link for more information on the DJ Turfcare Plugger.



Bio-Lime solves acid soil problems for healthier grass
BIO-LIME, from Vianos organic fertiliser range, is a lime fertiliser mixed with bacteria (Bacillus sp).

It not only reduces the acidity of the soil but is also beneficial for the uptake of nutrients and the decrease of moss development.

A further benefit is that the bacteria digests thatch making scarification less necessary.

The Problem

All soil in which grass grows becomes more and more acidic. There are two key reasons for this.

1. The first is the continued uptake of nutrients by the grass, needed for growth and strength.


2. The second is the ever increasing amount of acid rain. These two facts cause pH levels to drop, making it more difficult for the grass to take up nutrients so any fertiliser which is applied will only have a limited benefit.
   

Viano Bio-Lime will optimise the pH levels of the soil and prohibit the development of moss.The other disadvantage of acidic soils is that they provide the ideal conditions for moss to thrive.

For healthy grass the ideal pH range is between 5.5 and 7.0, where 7.0 is towards the alkaline end of the range and 5.5 towards the acid end.

The Solution

The way to combat these problems is to sweeten the soil by using  Bio-Lime, which also includes magnesium and bacteria.

Application should be twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn.

The lime element helps to correct the pH while the magnesium gives the grass a healthy green colour throughout the winter -  and the bacteria helps to digest the thatch so that oxygen can get down to the roots.

Bio-Lime provides an excellent tonic for grass, particularly if the pH is below 5.5.

Supplied in 20kg bags (granular form), a bag will cover 200 square metres.

Buy Biolime today and give your lawn a head start this Spring.



Recovery gives stressed grass a boost in Autumn and Spring
Recovery Organic Fertiliser, from the Viano stable of organic fertiliser products, is formulated to help turf overcome stressful conditions associated with drought, flood or overplay. It is an ideal autumn and spring fertiliser to give grass a great boost.

This organic fertiliser contains the effective ingredients of nitrogen 8, phosphate 6, potash 13, plus magnesium 3, all mixed with Humifirst - a unique ingredient which creates biological activity and acts as a plant growth stimulant.

Humifirst attaches itself to particles of soil to improve the soil structure so that it is able to hold more nutrients and water.

Grass roots latch on to these soil particles which stimulate healthy growth that is almost immediately evident.  The sward will continue to improve, look healthy and be fed effectively for up to 12 weeks.

Recovery is ideal for use by turf managers after times of high grass stress - including scarification, drought, flooding or hard wear.

Supplied in 20kg bags (granular form), a bag will cover an area of 200 square metres.

Buy Recovery organic fertiliser today.

How the Turfsaver transformed life for a Wiltshire lawncare company
Ian Handy “retired” 12 years ago at the age of 58 – but having been the largest garden machinery dealer in Wiltshire he couldn’t relax.

And his experience of all things horticultural gave him the idea to start his own lawncare service.

With no shortage of knowhow or professional equipment he took on some prestigious clients with large gardens and “The Lawn Doctor” was born.

It wasn’t long before he was joined by another lawn expert – Gareth Case, who has been with the company for 10 years. He had previously been a landscaper with his uncle, on whose land Ian Handy had a barn.

And now two youngsters have joined the team, David Sanders (three years) and Sean Curran, who is three months into training.

With most of their clients owning a couple of acres or more, and some with large estates, the need for drastic lawn-care measures is often called for.

And the team, on one of their regular visits to IOG Saltex at Windsor, spotted a machine on the DJ Turfcare stand that was just what they were looking for.

“We are often called on to do some serious scarifying and overseeding,” says Gareth. “We had been looking for a machine that does both jobs – and then we saw the Turfsaver on the DJ stand.”

Since buying the machine, immediately after the show, Gareth has used the Turfsaver to scarify and overseed a cricket square, croquet lawns, a tennis court and a golf green – as well as domestic lawns.

“This business is all about education and we go on courses run by the IOG and local colleges to keep in touch with the latest techniques and general turf science,” says Gareth, a member of the IOG. “It’s because of this knowledge that we know how important scarifying is."

“Some of the clients are a bit worried when they see their grass being ripped up, but we carefully explain that before long they will have a completely healthy sward – with all the thatch gone and new healthy grass coming through.”

He finds the Turfsaver ideal for scarifying jobs that need a heavy-duty machine which is easy to handle and transport.

“The Turfsaver is ideal for us,” says Gareth. “We have a machine that can combine several jobs – and that is always a bonus with demanding clients like ours.”

Says Ian Handy: “It’s easy to recognise a machine which is versatile and the Turfsaver is a tough piece of useful kit for contractors.”

About the Turfsaver

THE TURFSAVER is a new machine from the US that de-thatches and overseeds (or fertilises) in one compact unit ideal for contractors and groundsmen.

Fitted with blades to verti-cut, it covers a 22-inch wide swathe in a single pass.

Manufactured by SourceOne, innovative designers of the Plugger aerator, reliability is guaranteed
Self-propelled, by a powerful 10hp Briggs and Stratton Vanguard engine, it has four forward speeds plus reverse and neutral to enable the operator to choose the ideal speed for the job.

Knife spacing goes from fine (20mm/0.8inches), normal (40mm/1.6inches) or flail reel to match the job in hand.

Blades are made of high carbon steel with eight teeth per blade ensuring a clean finish and minimal disruption.

The seed or fertiliser spreader is rust-proof with a see-through cover to enable the operator to easily check the content level.

The DJ Turfsaver slices up to 20per cent more turf than comparable models to increase seed penetration and germination.

The optional flail reel can be installed in minutes to allow the Turfsaver to be used as a premium dethatcher even in rough terrain.

Large pneumatic wheels and well-designed handlebars create excellent weight balance making the Turfsaver light and easy to use and manoeuvre

Says David Jenkins, managing director of DJ Turfcare:

“The Turfsaver is proving incredibly useful to turf professionals because of its versatility. To have one machine capable of doing many jobs makes this a vital piece of kit, particularly for groundsmen and contractors.”

Cotswold landscapers win Atom Professional Edger in our draw
A Gloucestershire landscaping company has won an Atom Professional Edger from DJ Turfcare in a prize draw entered at IOG Saltex on The Landscaper stand.

Martyn Powell (35) has run his own landscaping business, Martyn Powell Landscapes, in Cheltenham since 1999.

He has a BSc in landscaping horticulture from Pershore College and has worked in the US and the Middle East.

With him in the company is drystone waller and hard landscaper Michelle Kirby (34) who started her training during school holidays in Oxford at the age of 16. She has been working with Martyn for eight years.

Between them they tackle landscaping projects that range in cost from £1,000 to £100,000, including the complete creation of the garden and hard landscaping where we took our pictures.

“All our projects tend to be largish gardens in the Cotswolds,” says Martyn. “Because they always have superb lawns we needed an edger that would take the strain out of the job and give us perfectly clean edges. The DJ Turfcare Atom Turf Professional Edger, which we saw at Saltex, does just that.”

It was only the second time Martyn had been to Saltex and he entered the competition on The Landscaper stand at the Windsor show.

Editor David Curtis said: “There was a great response to this competition and we were delighted to team up with David Jenkins to offer such an excellent prize.”

David Jenkins, managing director of DJ Turfcare, said:

“Many of our customers read The Landscaper and we get a great many inquiries from the magazine."
"Martyn Powell is just the sort of customer who will benefit from the Atom Professional Edger – I’ve seen his customers’ lawns and they are magnificent.”

MO Bacter still at top of organic fertiliser and moss destroyer list

Save backache with moss destroyer which eliminates need for raking

WITH various moss killing products coming off shelves in the next few months, DJ Turfcare’s unique MO Bacter organic lawn fertiliser - which destroys moss without leaving debris – is proving even more popular.

“Because this is a totally organic product which eliminates moss and fertilises lawns without the need for raking debris, MO Bacter is still getting many repeat orders,” says managing director David Jenkins.

The BTME award-winning product from Viano of Belgium has received much praise from both professionals and amateur gardeners alike.

MO Bacter is an organic slow-release granular fertiliser from Viano of Belgium, which eradicates moss, feeds grass and improves the soil. Scarifying after treatment is not necessary.

Moss dies as a result of excess potassium but leaves no black debris. The dead moss is then digested by the bacteria in MO Bacter (npk: 5-5-20). The product does not stain stonework, patios or paths.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has seen remarkable results in which two inches of moss at one cemetery in Oxfordshire was virtually eliminated in six months, with no need for scarifying to remove debris. And headstones were completely unmarked.

MO Bacter’s high potassium content results in moss dying. It does not go black but is digested by bacteria. Lawns are left free of debris. Grassed areas will be fed evenly over a three-month period.

The product is harmless to animals and wildlife and will not damage border plants.

“This product is revolutionising the way moss is treated on grass near stonework,” says David Jenkins, managing director of DJ Turfcare, based in Surrey, sole UK distributors for Viano products.

It is harmless to animals and wildlife and will not damage border plants.

DJ Turfsaver Scarify and Overseed all in one

THE Turfsaver is a new machine from the US that de-thatches and overseeds (or fertilises) in one compact unit ideal for contractors and groundsmen.

Fitted with blades to verti-cut, it covers a 22-inch wide swathe in a single pass.

Manufactured by SourceOne, innovative designers of the Plugger aerator, reliability is guaranteed.

Self-propelled, by a powerful 10hp Honda GX270 engine, it has four forward speeds plus reverse and neutral to enable the operator to choose the ideal speed for the job.

Knife spacing goes from fine (20mm/0.8inches), normal (40mm/1.6inches) or flail reel to match the job in hand.

The seed or fertiliser spreader is rust-proof with a see-through cover to enable the operator to easily check the content level.

The DJ Turfsaver slices up to 20per cent more turf than comparable models to increase seed penetration and germination.

The optional flail reel can be installed in minutes to allow the Turfsaver to be used as a premium dethatcher even in rough terrain.

Large pneumatic wheels and well-designed handlebars create excellent weight balance making the Turfsaver light and easy to use and manoeuvre.

Says David Jenkins, managing director of DJ Turfcare: “The Turfsaver will be incredibly useful to turf professionals because of its versatility. To have one machine capable of doing many jobs makes this a vital piece of kit, particularly for groundsmen and contractors.”

To read more about how the DJ Turfsaver can help save your lawn, click here......

DJ Turfcare at IOG Saltex 2008

At IOG Saltex 2008 DJ Turfcare added several exciting new products to their Turfcare portfolio.

Return to News or to DJ Turfcare

MO Bacter wins New Product of the Year Award at BTME

DJ Turfcare has won a Turf Professional New Product of the Year Award with MO Bacter, an Organic Fertiliser which also destroys moss without leaving debris.

"We were impressed by the qualities of MO Bacter Organic Fertiliser and by the fact that it is genuinely new to the industry and developed with the environment in mind"
said Chris Biddle, Editor Turf Professional.

MO Bacter, from Viano of Belgium, is a slow-release granular fertiliser (launched at IOG Saltex) which eradicates moss by secondary action, feeds grass and improves the soil. Scarifying after treatment is not necessary.

Moss dies from an excess of potassium but leaves no black debris. The dead moss is then digested by the bacteria in MO Bacter (npk: 5-5-20). The product does not stain stonework, patios or paths.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has seen remarkable results in which two inches of moss was virtually eliminated in six months, with no need for scarifying to remove debris. And headstones were completely unmarked.

“This product will revolutionise the way moss is treated on grass near stonework,” says David Jenkins, Managing Director of DJ Turfcare, based in Surrey, sole UK distributors for Viano products.

Renowned head groundsman Eddie Seaward MBE said he had tested MO Bacter and found it to be

“very effective and very efficient.”

MO Bacter is unique as a moss killer because moss does not go black but is digested by the bacteria. Lawns are left free of debris and there is no need to scarify. Grassed areas will be fed evenly over a three-month period.

It is harmless to animals and wildlife and will not damage border plants.

MO Bacter, which is granular, is available for both professional and domestic users.

For more details, please view our page on MO Bacter Organic Fertiliser of feel free to contact us.