Sales development executive at Collier Turf Care Sally Jarrett is not a football fan but as stories of divot-strewn pitches she has sympathy for grounds keepers under the spotlight during the Euros tournament held in Germany last June."When football pitches are getting ready for big tournaments, they undergo a lot of work...it could be that some of that weather has either stopped work being able to be done. Or the work that was done had to be redone because maybe it was ruined with the torrential rain that we had.""It's really difficult because there's such a large expectation on turf managers and there's nothing they can do about the weather...as a turf manager, that's your pride and joy. That's your pitch and you've got it on the world stage...it must be devastating for some of those turf managers to be looking at some of the pitches and getting the comments that are coming back to them."She discusses the impact of climate change and and extreme weather that is making a the tricky job of turf managers more challenging still with an increase in pest and diseases another side effect.Time was when turf managers would cure everything with a liberal spray of chemicals but "things have changed" Sally explains and the new way is an "integrated method" to help prevent or mitigate pests and diseases including environmental measures, air regulation, cutting heights and feed programmes.As with other sectors "the staff levels are getting worrying" as replacing those retiring can prove difficult she says. She echos calls for more discussion of horticulture in schools to help boost the sector's profile.Sally welcomes new technology as robotic mowers and automated irrigation systems can help free staff up to carry out other tasks.She also talks through the challenges of those notorious turf foes, chafer grubs and leatherjackets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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