Ever increasing pressures are being placed on turf managers to ensure their surfaces are maintained to the highest standards. This means the modern day Greenkeeper needs a diverse range of maintenance tools at his disposal to ensure he can carry out the best possible maintenance practice that is suited to the prevailing conditions at that time.
The new SMARTVertiCut™ cassette, shown for the first time by The Grass Group at Saltex 2013, is part of the ATT Turf Management System and fulfils the need for a verticutting tool that produces less stress on the grass plant.
It employs non carbide tipped blades, laser cut, to help minimise any bruising effect that can sometimes occur when using regular carbide tips. Bruising of the plant leaf has been shown to lead to increased plant pathogen attack. However, non-carbide tipped blades suffer from accelerated wear resulting in a rounded tip which can diminish their effectiveness and also lead to bruising of the plant.
The advanced design of the new ATT SMARTVertiCut™ counteracts this by the ability of the rotor shaft to be turned through 180° making the blades “mirrored”. This feature enables the use of both sides of the blade tip to maintain a sharp edge being offered to the grass at all times. In addition, the non-cutting side is then self-sharpened whilst the cassette is run. In practice the cassette can be ‘turned’ every 6 greens or so to achieve a consistently sharp cut.
The cassette can be quickly removed from the chassis due to the quick release design of the deflector shield and reinstalled in reverse. The cassette has a motor plate either end with an equally quick removable counterbalance weight. The cassette can be contra-rotated, again extending the versatility of use.
Being able to use both sides of the blade tip prolongs the life of the cassette but also makes sure that the effects on the sward are consistent over time and are less damaging. Each blade has five tips and is separated with a brush spacer to ensure maximum surface hygiene. They can be spaced at either 5 mm, 10mm or 20mm apart.
This cassette joins the line-up of nine other cassettes available from The Grass Group to create the ultimate in turf maintenance for the TMSystem™ for triplex mowers, or ATTs’ pedestrian unit – the INFiNiSystem™ – recently awarded the Quiet Mark for its low noise output from the battery power capability.
The Grass Group www.thegrassgroup.com
ATT Turf Management System www.advancedtt.com