Over 120 delegates attend Turf Stress Seminars

Avoncrop Amenity Products organized two seminars one at Whitchurch Golf Club near Cardiff and the second at Maidenhead Golf Club in Berkshire. Over one hundred & twenty delegates attended the two days, which focused on managing turf stress and the problems associated with extremes in the weather.

Following the success of a similar seminar programme last year Avoncrop Amenity Products in partnership with Barenbrug, Scotts UK, Syngenta Crop Protection and WBB Minerals gave presentations on symptoms of stressed turf and problems that can be expected. Solutions and management practices that could assist in reducing the level of pressure were highlighted.

Simon Barnaby of Syngenta explained how stress manifests itself in turf, in many cases as disease, saying that the extremes of climatic conditions have brought different problems and far more aggressive disease outbreaks.

Pest problems have increased with Chafer Grubs, which until a few years ago have never been reported in Scotland, it has to be asked is global warming causing new problems. Simon used this opportunity to cover the importance of correct selection of fungicides in relation to their mode of action, thus avoiding potential resistance build up. He also introduced BannarMAXX fungicide a new broad-spectrum active ingredient for the turf industry.

Over the two days of seminars Nick Martin John Noyce and Michael Fance delivered the Scotts presentations. They covered the subject of turf stress management both from the principles involved in the selection of the correct product technology as well as the practical implementation of sound turf management practices.

Nick Martin, Field Sales Manager, commented that "the subject of turf stress management is extremely relevant to professional sports turf managers as they face ever changing climactic conditions and ever increasing pressures to produce quality playing surfaces. Scotts are very pleased to have been involved in two such well organised and well attended seminars and look forward to participating in more similar events in the future."

Jayne Leyland after lunch covered advances in turf species breeding to cope with both drought and water logging which is so topical at the moment. The advances in breeding have resulted in Tall Fescue such as RTF Rhizomatous Tall Fescue, which has superior tolerance to water logging and drought combined with excellent wear tolerance. Further research identifying cultivars that offer low or high temperature germination to extend the renovation window and to offer solutions to climatic change were also highlighted.

WBB Minerals technical manager Mick Higgins explained the principals of rootzone drainage and the importance of matching existing rootzones with compatible top dressings. Mick demonstrated how a mismatched top dressing applied to a properly constructed rootzone rendered it totally useless due to root break.

Chris Briggs of Avoncrop Amenity Products says we will continue to organize these seminars as there is a huge wealth of information and knowledge that can be drawn upon for the benefit of turf managers, from what ever discipline they come from be it golf or small sports clubs.

The afternoons were rounded off with lively question and answer sessions, many of the delegates commented on how much they had been able to get out of one day.

For further details contact Chris Briggs Avoncrop Amenity Products Ltd 07775 726667