Terrain Aeration

Deep aeration of a bowls green during the season

he majority of a turf care professionals remedial maintenance is carried out during the non playing season there is, inevitably, much work that has to be completed either side of matches and tournaments.

To keep a bowling green in top class condition a greenkeeper will have to balance the needs and demands of a clubs playing membership against the needs and demands of the grass root-zone.

An exceptional amount of foot traffic will walk up and down the rink an compound the soil surface. This compaction makes it difficult for the roots of the grass to breathe.

Decompaction of sports turf and root-zones across Europe

We have the machinery and we will travel to most of mainland Europe to assist turf and tree care professionals with the aeration of compacted soil on sports surfaces, including rugby and football pitches, golf courses, tennis courts and bowling greens.

We can also treat the root-zone areas of fruit orchards and vineyards to a depth of one metre by injecting compressed air under high pressure to break up soil pans or to relieve poor drainage.

If you would like more details then please email us

Aerating shady and overused areas of a football pitch

Any groundsman will tell you of the constant battle and challenges they they face when having to deal with areas of a football pitch that may suffer with over use, poor air circulation or lower light levels due to the presence of the supporters stands.

Ipswich Town Football Club are no exception but are burdened with a further complication in the corner of the ground where the south and west stands meet because it is the point where the players run onto the pitch and where the ground staff gain access to the pitch to carry out maintenance.

Studying soil layers and profiles in sports turf

A turf care professional does not need to leave it to luck when dealing with the weather and how the ground that he cares for reacts.

By taking core soil samples and analysing the soil structure it is possible to plan your maintenance regime easier using the right information with far better results.

Our soil samples, which are encased in a one metre plastic tube can serve more than one purpose when used as a soil analysis technique.

Firstly the soil layers are visible to the full one metre depth that the probe operates allowing anyone to see the profile of the soil beneath the turf and how it may have been treated or what might be causing restrictions.

Drain wet ground and alleviate the effects of summer drought.

The Met Office say that the UK is on course for a possible heatwave with a hot and dry summer saying that it will be "warmer than average temperatures and near or below-average rainfall."

The topic of climate change is constantly in the news as water becomes scarce. It is time for every gardener and lawn owner, groundsman or greenkeeper should start planning an alternative strategy than just pump unnecessary amounts of water into the ground.

Terrain Aeration in South Wales

We will be despatching a team into South Wales in the week beginning 4th May 2009.

If you have a need for our de-compaction service treating turf or tree roots with compressed air to a depth of one metre then please email us asap.

Deep drill turf de-compaction

We are delighted that we are now able to offer a deep drill service to compliment our range of rootzone turf de-compaction treatments.

For me it represents a very nostalgic and proud moment because I was originally responsible for importing the original machine in September 1992.

Sadly, in the intervening years and while concentrating on building up Terrain Aeration, I did not have dealings with the deep drill machine; until very recently when we rescued her from a dank barn, in a battered and broken state, purchased her and began the task of re-building - from that day on she became 'Phoenix'.

De-compacting a public football pitch

By fracturing the soil with compressed air, our main aim is to re-instate a 'two way street' by removing the 'road block' of compaction thus allowing water and nutrients to flow and at the same time allowing the essential air to circulate.

There are so many positives that come out of our rootzone treatments that it is difficult to name them all, or perhaps even put them into any kind of order of importance; I suppose it depends on the use of the ground we are treating and the objectives of the management team that have called us in to respond to their specific problem.

One of the greatest joys for Terrain Aeration is probably being able to ease a problem in community sports pitches, where local young people come to play and train, but are often curtailed because, due to a mixture of overuse, lack of money to do maintenance or poor historical rootzone structure, football or rugby is often called off when surfaces become unplayable.

Appeal to Irish turf care professionals

No, this is not a desperate plea for help but we just wanted to let you know that Terrain Aeration has projects booked in Dublin and Belfast during the week of 11th May.

We will be using our Scamper machine so if there are any groundsman or greenkeepers who feel that they might be in need of our services then perhaps you could send us an email asap.

In case you are wondering, Airforce Scamper can be used on football and rugby pitches, racecourses, golf courses and open spaces as well as around trees. Play can continue immediately following the treatment.

If we can find some extra work to coincide with our scheduled treatments we would be delighted to reduce the costs of travel, pro rata, over all of the work.

Treating public parkland for soil compaction

Being a park manager is not an easy job at the best of times. Grass cutting and maintenance operations have to be carried out when park users are enjoying their surroundings.

Keeping the grass in tip top condition is always a challenge for grounds staff and with parks also getting a funding boost for restorations and improvements the facilities are seeing increased activity.

In August 2008, St James' Park in London held the Olympic handover ceremony concert. As a result the grass areas of the park were left with severe compaction caused by foot traffic, the stage area and vehicles used for delivering staging and outside broadcasting units.