A new state of the art computerised weather station is being employed by Sovereign Turf, one of Europe’s leading turf growers. It will help maintain consistently high production standards of their quality turf – whatever the weather.
“Information fed into the computer assesses rainfall and the irrigation required to maintain the correct moisture level for the grass,” says Mac Bailey, general manager at Sovereign. “The weather station has made a dramatic difference as we can now predict the necessity for water up to 10 days ahead. The system only applies the correct amount, at the correct time, without any wastage.”
This is the first year the system will be fully utilised, following successful trials last year. Linked to tensiometers – used to measure the amount of water in the ground – readings are taken every 15 minutes and the weather centre also takes into account wind and humidity. Water levels were previously checked every other day by taking readings in the field and these were used to predict five days ahead.
“Irrigation equipment is filled from our own licensed water supply,” says Steve Williams, sales manager at Sovereign, “as our hard water is beneficial to the turf plant. Fine turf which is grown in soft water areas and then transplanted to hard water areas may suffer take-all patch disease which wipes out the bent grasses.
“We make sure all the land we take on has a reservoir or borehole,” he says. “These days this is the only way to ensure all year round availability and continuous growth through the summer months.”
Sovereign Turf www.sovereignturf.com Freephone: 0800 9159846