A Wet Winters' Tale- December advice from Complete Weed Control

Alan Abel, a Complete Weed Control franchisee for over thirty years, gives his advice for turf managers over the festive period.

The past six weeks have brought nothing but torrential rain which has been bad news for golf clubs and sports pitches all over the UK. Many golf clubs have had to close because of rainfall and football and rugby pitches come under real pressure. Many grass roots games may be cancelled so revenue will be hit badly for clubs in the run up to the Christmas holidays.

We all hope for just a break from the Atlantic lows and storms that we have recently seen. Even today the waves are breaking over the seafront at Porthcawl: but the sky is, well, nearly blue. At least the wind will help dry things - or is it blowing in another front?

For turf managers; the weather has caused lots of headaches with machinery unable to travel on rain soaked and flooded grou‎nd. A dry spell is very much needed by everyone - even if it results in cold weather. At least it would be more beneficial compared to what we have just now.

Grass and weeds are still growing in areas, and with many council's carrying out their last cut in October, the verges and open spaces will be difficult to bring into order come Easter.

Moss is much‎ more prevalent these days, not only due to the damp weather, but because our air is so much cleaner than it used to be. The Clean Air Act has meant that acid rain is a thing of the past and moss spores thrive in the conditions we now have. Also, with dichlorophen no longer used to combat moss, we are left with products that do a decent job but not an excellent one.
See table below for products and application rates.

Product	Supplier	Active Ingredient	Optimum Water Volume	Application Rate	Surface
Jewel	Everris	Carfentrazone and Mecoprop-p	500lt per hectare	1.5kg per ha	Turf
Mogeton	Certis	Quinoclamine	10,000lt per hectare	15kg per ha	Golf Turf
Soluble Iron	Headland Amenity	20% Fe	500lt per hectare	20kg per ha	Turf
Soluble Iron	Turfcare	20% Fe	500lt per hectare	20kg per ha	Turf
New Way Weed Spray	Headland Amenity	240g per lt Acetic Acid	400lt per hectare	100lt per ha	Hard Surface
Greentec Mosskiller Pro	Headland Amenity	4:0:4+9%Fe	n/a	35g per sqm	Turf
Greenmaster Prolite	Everris	6:5:10+6%Fe	n/a	35g per sqm	Turf
Greenmaster Mosskiller	Everris	14:0:0+8.9%Fe	n/a	35g per sqm	Turf
MMC Pro	Brintons	DAC C9-C11	250lts per hectare	1000lts per hectare	Hard Surface
Stay Clear	Pitchmark	DAC, propanol	2000lts per hectare	1000lt per ha	Hard Surface
Moss-go	Thames Valley for UK Cropcare for Ireland	Quaternary Ammonium	See Internet Website for details	See Website for details	See website for details
Qualgex	Rigby Taylor	Citric Acid plus DAC plus penetrant	2000lts per hectare	1000lt per ha	Hard Surface

Worm control has been difficult since the wet weather began and it would seem as though we are in for a long season. Worm casts are the ideal seed bed for weed seedlings so suppressing casts is an important part of a spraying programme. Carbendazim is the active ingredient, and a penetrant is always advisable to add to the mixture, to ensure that the pesticide gets into the soil as well as the usual pH buffer to ‎make the water more acidic and therefore produce your desired result. The use of the correct nozzle and water rate is also important.

Fusarium has also ‎been apparent on fine turf surfaces such as golf greens and bowling greens. With the mild temperatures and some growth, patches have been recovering quite quickly. It is always worth applying different fungicides to avoid a build-up of ‎resistance.

The Grandfather Rights date has now passed and new laws are in force and so trainers in NPTC pesticide application have seen a marked increase in business. Where someone hasn't gone through the relevant training and certification is where Complete Weed Control can help. We have teams all over the country that are all Amenity Assured who are happy to give advice and apply the necessary pesticide within the law.

We also have our winter maintenance and gritting services available - Complete Ice Control and will be at BTME in January on stand number C48 with our new Complete Grounds Maintenance service.

Have a great Christmas and New Year and hopefully we will see you in Harrogate.

For more information, please contact our National office on 01325 324 277. You can also follow CWC on Twitter @CWCLimited for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

Find out more by calling Complete Weed Control on Free Phone 0800 954 9679 or visit www.completeweedcontrol.com