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Worms, not my friend...
What is the answer to the worm cast problem? do we all need to have sand constructed pitches to deter worms? It's not an option for everyone.
We all knew it was coming one day but hoped it would last another year or two. I heard of the brave groundsmen and greenkeepers who decided to go carbendazim free as soon as it was announced the licence was being revoked at the end of August. Not me, I brought as much as I needed for one last spray on the 31st August and hoped it would see me though as long as possible!
It didn't last long... I never thought Carbendazim was great any way, but it was better than nothing. It's better than what we have now, although we have trials ongoing with two products, Clear Cast supplied to us by Rigby Taylor and StimZyne from Sheriff Amenity. by creating a barrier on the surface the worms don't want to pass, should in theory work, until rain/irrigation dilutes it or washes it though, but It's a little early to tell whether this is going to be a solution, or even a compromise. I'm all for protecting the environment, but I'm also striving to produce the best turf I can.
The recent game versus Norwich City on Sky showed up areas of casts which have been squashed by the mowers rollers and left it looking like a teenager with acne.. for a time in the morning, we knocked the areas back, trying to lift buried grass from the cast. Fortunately, this couldn't be seen really from the edge of the pitch or from the cameras. But I knew it was there.
Clear Cast had been sprayed 5 days before the game.
I gather only 3 species of UK worms come to the surface, therefore cast. I'm pretty sure most of the national population are in the Ipswich area!
This autumn the pitches are the best I've seen them. They have a dense sword, are a good colour and all are showing good health. There also seems to be considerably less annual meadow grass about this year for us. I'm putting that partly down to the purchase of a new koro field top maker. The old "green and yellow" was struggling to get through a renovation season with constant breakdowns and spilled half of the arising out of the back. We weren't getting as clean a pitch after stripping the surface off as we would have liked. Technology moves on and keeping on top of the latest equipment isn't a cheap conquest. We are hoping to buy 3 pieces of renovation equipment over the next three years. 2017 was the Koro and I'm hoping to add a vredo twin disc seeder to our kit in the spring of 2018. It was trialed last year with great success, all of the pitch germinated without any missed lines where the seed hadn't drilled in evenly.
Despite good progress this year, there is always something we can do better and we strive to achieve the next goal. Let's hope it starts with reducing the casts this autumn.
We all knew it was coming one day but hoped it would last another year or two. I heard of the brave groundsmen and greenkeepers who decided to go carbendazim free as soon as it was announced the licence was being revoked at the end of August. Not me, I brought as much as I needed for one last spray on the 31st August and hoped it would see me though as long as possible!
It didn't last long... I never thought Carbendazim was great any way, but it was better than nothing. It's better than what we have now, although we have trials ongoing with two products, Clear Cast supplied to us by Rigby Taylor and StimZyne from Sheriff Amenity. by creating a barrier on the surface the worms don't want to pass, should in theory work, until rain/irrigation dilutes it or washes it though, but It's a little early to tell whether this is going to be a solution, or even a compromise. I'm all for protecting the environment, but I'm also striving to produce the best turf I can.
The recent game versus Norwich City on Sky showed up areas of casts which have been squashed by the mowers rollers and left it looking like a teenager with acne.. for a time in the morning, we knocked the areas back, trying to lift buried grass from the cast. Fortunately, this couldn't be seen really from the edge of the pitch or from the cameras. But I knew it was there.
Clear Cast had been sprayed 5 days before the game.
I gather only 3 species of UK worms come to the surface, therefore cast. I'm pretty sure most of the national population are in the Ipswich area!
Despite good progress this year, there is always something we can do better and we strive to achieve the next goal. Let's hope it starts with reducing the casts this autumn.
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