Search

   Read more and comments about the report here.

 

  Download a copy of your report. 

  Click here or on the screen shots to watch the video 

  

 With around 4,000 employees in R&D globally, we continue to search for new and improved ways of raising the quality and yield of crops worldwide.R&D in the UKOur work means we keep developing new products to help protect the world's crops from weeds, insects and diseases.Jealott's Hill Research Centre in the UK is our centre for Crop Protection Discovery, Bioscience, Weed Control Research, Seeds Research, bioperformance enhancement and Product Safety Research. We also have seed breeding research stations at Whittlesford (Cambridgeshire) and Market Stainton (Lincolnshire).Scientists at Jealott's Hill work closely with colleagues in Basel, Stein and Münchwilen (Switzerland), at Research Triangle Park in the USA and at Goa in India. Their work throughout the R&D process ensures that Syngenta products hold a premium in agricultural markets worldwide. To help support this, the company has field stations in all the world's major climatic zones.

 Heat, drought and stressful conditions over the summer can have a significant effect on turf health and vigour. The increasing trend for a cold, slow start to spring and periods of extreme wet or heat can add to challenges.That means, come the autumn, turf could be at even greater risk of disease attack and frost damage during the winter, unless plants can be actively encouraged to build carbohydrate reserves over the autumn.Greenkeepers and turf managers could help to stimulate development of essential plant carbohydrate reserves - which would enable turf to survive harsh winter conditions more effectively - with a Primo Maxx II programme in the autumn.It is also especially important to be diligent with nutritional programmes and irrigation regimes to optimise turf health while growing conditions allow. Primo Maxx should be an integral part of the programme to promote healthy turf.Retaining reservesTrials have shown that Primo Maxx treatments can enhance turf health, vigour and carbohydrate build…

  Anthracnose basal rot is now widespread on sports turf surfaces (above), reports Ruth Mann of STRI. During the winter months, symptoms are seen as individual annual meadow-grass plants becoming yellow. The youngest leaf may turn brick red in colour and a black rot may be present at the base of the stem (below). Anthracnose is caused by Colletotrichum cereale, which can cause two types of disease depending on the weather conditions. During warm summer months foliar blight may develop. This is often mistaken for drought stress. Any areas that appear droughted should be checked for the presence of acervuli and the hair-like structures called setae (below). Irrigation at this time can exacerbate damage, as it helps to spread the spores of the disease and make further infection more likely. Under cool, wet conditions basal rot may develop. It is common for basal rot to develop on areas that were infected with foliar blight during summer months. Basal rot is the most commonly identified form…

ASOOTY TOP TIPS - ANDREW KERR Andrew Kerr has been recognised as the UK's top amenity sprayer operator, in the inaugural Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year Awards.Course Manager at West Malling Golf Club in Kent, Andrew has shared his experiences and Top Tips for best practices to make the spraying process easier, more accurate and, ultimately, safe. Andrew has checked the water volume marks of the sprayer tank are accurate for the amount actually put in the tank - some tank gauges can be inaccurate or difficult to read precisely. The sprayer is always parked on the same level area for filling. Best practice is to fit a flow meter on the water filling hose, to check exactly how much is going into the tank. That's particularly important if the area to be treated often varies, when selectively treating just a few susceptible greens for example - see the Top Tip below for measuring greens area. Andrew's sprayer is regularly serviced to keep it in good condition. Although the machine is several…

 The Amenity Sprayer Operator of the Year 2016 Awards was launched at BTME Harrogate this week (19 January). It is the second year of the prestigious Awards, which aim to reward top sprayer operators across the amenity industry, and to share their best practice to enhance standards for all.The Awards, run by the Amenity Forum are sponsored by ICL and Syngenta, and supported by BASIS. Sprayer operators are encouraged to now enter one of four separate categories of the Award:Sports and amenity turf using boom sprayerSports and amenity turf using hand held equipmentHard and porous surfaces using vehicle mounted equipmentHard and porous surfaces / Invasive weed species using hand held equipmentThe 2015 winner of the Sports and amenity turf using a boom sprayer category, Andrew Kerr, Course Manager of West Malling Golf Club in Kent, highlighted the Award was positive recognition for the club and staff for the investment and attention to detail to consistently achieve accurate and safe spraying."We were…

 Effective spray application can make the crucial difference between an acceptable 95% control, and an outstanding result of 98% or more.More aggressive and difficult to control disease pathogens, including the increasing incidence of Anthracnose and Take All, pose greater challenges for turf managers, reports Syngenta Application Specialist, Tom Robinson.. "Turf presents a difficult spray target to achieve good spray retention on the leaf and coverage of lower leaves in a tightly packed fine turf situation. Penetrating the dense leaf area is important for soil-borne disease control, including Take All and Fairy Ring, requiring a very different approach to foliar disease control." The widespread use of liquid fertilisers on sports turf surfaces puts additional demands on spray application. Environmental and legislative pressures demand the highest possible standards in turf sprayer maintenance and application accuracy. Having invested in high uality control products, getting the very best…

Avoiding Anthracnose as summer heat rises Rising temperatures could trigger damaging Anthracnose attacks on turf quality this summer. The risk has been raised this year following record rainfall earlier in the season, which will have leached out nutrients and could have left turf plants deficient.Anthracnose (Colletotrichum graminicola) is the second most common disease on turf and widespread across the UK. The problem has been getting progressively worse in recent years.Possible reasons for increased Anthracnose issues:Higher average summer temperatures favour aggressive attacksDeficient nutrient levels increase susceptibilityLower cutting heights add stress on plantsGreater player demands quickly highlight surface quality loss Anthracnose can occur as Basal rot in cool, wet weather through late autumn and winter, but in summer it's the Foliar blight infection that gives rise to irregular patches of tan-yellow infection which affect surface playing quality, and can result in extensive die…