SPORTS PITCHES
Headland programme
successfully tackles high-wear
problems at Leicester Tigers RC
he facilities at Leicester
Tigers Rugby Club play host
to a packed schedule of
training and matches, with the Oval
Park training ground alone hosting over
200 games last year. The high usage
keeps Head Groundsman Ed Mowe
and his maintenance team of three on
their toes. Yet, despite this, the pitches
are appearing to stay stronger for
longer which Ed attributes to Headland
Amenity’s input into the club’s nutritional
programme.
T
When Ed took over as Head Groundsman
in December 2016, he took a fresh look
at the nutritional regime, with the aim
of resolving a few key problems as well
as improving overall plant health at both
the Welford Road stadium pitch and
the club’s training ground. “Along with
two soil-based pitches, we have one
Desso surface at Oval Park, which was
struggling to cope with the rigorous
demands of winter training.
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Alex Hawkes, Headland’s Sports Turf
Specialist, came in and conducted some
tests and following this we structured an
overarching feeding programme, along
with looking at some specific products
to target the problems we faced.”
To strengthen the plant and root
development on the desso pitch, Alex
recommended the Headland ‘20/20/30’
tank-mix. This strategy combines
Liquid Turf Hardener, Turfite® and
Seamac® ProTurf Fe plant elicitors
and protectants to maximise health
and restrict the onset of disease. “This
proactive approach has not only reduced
our requirement for reactive fungicide
applications, but together with aeration,
has given us a noticeable improvement
in wear tolerance and coverage. Where
previously training would begin in
November and the pitch would be
virtually destroyed by January, we can
now train from August right through to
the end of the season” Ed explains.
“We’ve been using C-Complex® during
renovations, which helps with microbial
activity and root development and
Terafirm™ soil penetrant which has
improved the moisture draw-down on
the soil-based surfaces.
We’ve also achieved great all-round plant
health with Headland’s Seamac® Ultra
Plus. For a particularly waterlogged
patch we had behind the dead-ball area
on the stadium pitch, Alex suggested
we try Xpedite® which dramatically
improved water infiltration.”
Following the success here, Ed
additionally applied Xpedite® on some of
the line-out and scrummaging areas at
the training ground to good effect.
Final word from Ed, “While I hadn’t used
Headland products previously, they have
proved to be reliable and effective on
their own or when used in combination
with other products from the range.
Alex has been a great help in formulating
this programme and we will continue to
work with him, fine-tuning the regime,
to achieve the quality surfaces we’re
looking for.”
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019
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