AERATION , IRRIGATION & DRAINAGE
Wiedenmann Terra Spike XF central to new era at Bishop ’ s Stortford College
ne of Hertfordshire ’ s leading
O independent day and boarding schools has embarked upon a new era of grounds maintenance across its 130-acre site , with a team restructure and additional grounds investment .
Bishop ’ s Stortford College appointed Adam Smith as their new Head Groundsman in March , with responsibility for both the sports surfaces and the extensive ornamental gardens . With over 1200 pupils , and a reputation for sporting excellence , rugby in particular , the College is a ‘ Partnership School ’ with Premiership rugby neighbours , Saracens RFC .
Specifically on sport , Adam , plus two staff , Ben Baker and David Beckenham , look after 20 hectares of sport surfaces which include five full size and 10 junior rugby pitches , an assortment of training grids and pitches , one full size and five junior football pitches , six cricket squares -consisting 34 tracks , two Astros and a MUGA . is key to our maintenance programmes to improve our carrying capacity for training and sports fixtures . We are really pleased with the XF ’ s work rate and our ability to aerate multiple pitches in one day ; a junior pitch is taking less than an hour .
“ The cricket squares had their first aeration in mid-November and held up well ; depth was 150mm with 16mm tines . They also got a little feed using Sierrablen Plus 3 19-5-18 + 2Mgo + TE . I was happily surprised the disturbance was so negligible . Seeing as little disturbance encouraged me to revise my plan … an additional run , took place before Christmas , instead of just the once … at 200mm to try to break the pan a little deeper , and then they had 100 mm in January .
“ The outfields were another pleasant surprise . The XF covers our 1st team outfield in just five hours using 16mm tines and a 4x4 pattern going down 150mm , which is impressive considering it ’ s 14 000 sqm , Often , though , we opt for punching more holes in the ground rather than chasing speed . It ’ s so productive whichever way you look at it and was the definitely right decision for us .”
For more information contact Val Graham on 0141 586 6789 / 07504 704407 or email Val @ fairwaysgroup . ltd . uk
“ An aerator was central to our plans . For me , Wiedenmann are renowned for build quality , so it had to be the XF6 , to support productivity within our maintenance regimes . Regular aeration
16 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | Spring 2021