HEADLAND PROGRAMME
SUCCESSFULLY TACKLES HIGH-WEAR
PROBLEMS AT LEICESTER TIGERS RC
The facilities at Leicester Tigers Rugby some specific products to target the great all-round plant health with
Club play host to a packed schedule of problems we faced.” Headland’s Seamac® Ultra Plus. For
To strengthen the plant and root had behind the dead-ball area on the
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.
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
a particularly waterlogged patch we
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
When Ed took over as Head fungicide applications, but together used Headland products previously,
Groundsman in December 2016, he with aeration, has given us a noticeable they have proved to be reliable and
took a fresh look at the nutritional improvement in wear tolerance and effective on their own or when used
regime, with the aim of resolving a coverage. Where previously training in combination with other products
few key problems as well as improving would begin in November and the from the range. Alex has been a great
overall plant health at both the pitch would be virtually destroyed help in formulating this programme
Welford Road stadium pitch and the by January, we can now train from and we will continue to work with him,
club’s training ground. “Along with August right through to the end of the fine-tuning the regime, to achieve the
two soil-based pitches, we have one season” Ed explains. quality surfaces we’re looking for.”
Desso surface at Oval Park, which was
struggling to cope with the rigorous
demands of winter training. 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
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Landscape & Urban Design Issue 38 2019
“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
1 Burr Elm Court, Main Street,
Caldecote, Cambridge CB23 7NU
Tel: +44 (0)1223 491090
www.headlandamenity.com