Bloxham School, in Oxfordshire, has recently purchased three new SISIS tractor mounted turf maintenance machines - the Powaspred, the Variseeder and the Flexibrush.
With a plethora of synthetic and natural grass sports pitches at Bloxham School, grounds manager Glenn Davies and the rest of the grounds team have their work cut out. It is safe to say that their armoury is full to the brim with a range of market leading turf maintenance equipment – with one particular brand featuring prominently.
“The SISIS name has always been synonymous with quality and the striking orange colour makes it easily recognisable. We have got a good range of SISIS equipment in our lock up and the products are perfect for what we need.”
After seeing excellent results from his existing SISIS products - the Auto Rotorake MK5, the Quadraplay, the SSS1000 Sweeper and the SISIS Twinplay implement frame – Glenn decided to increase his fleet of SISIS machinery even further when he purchased the Powaspred, the Variseeder and the Flexibrush.
The SISIS Flexibrush is a tractor mounted brush which is equally effective to disperse top dressing and remove excess material on natural turf and on synthetic surfaces, keep infill mobile to prevent surface compaction. The versatile Flexibrush performs all of these tasks, and can also be used for dew dispersal and striping for improved presentation. It has a 5.35 metre working width, its brush sections float to follow ground contours and the outer sections fold for transport and storage.
“The tractor mounted Flexibrush is a particularly good piece of kit for the rugby outfields,” says Glenn. “We use most mornings before cutting to remove the early morning dew and stand the grass up. We also use it on the rugby pitches to get the stripes in for presentation.”
For Bloxham’s seeding requirements, Glenn and the team rely on the SISIS Variseeder, which is a versatile easy to use tractor mounted seeder with a variable seeding rate ideal for sports field maintenance. It is renowned for its extremely fast work rate and low maintenance – something which Glenn is particularly impressed with.
“We really like the Variseeder because it’s easy to use and has very little maintenance requirements – there are no belts, no drives and there is simply no messing around with it. You just drop the seed in, set it from A to D, and off you go. You look through the window of the tractor and can tell when seed has gone out. Generally, we set it so two bags will do a rugby pitch but we’ll have it set up for one bag per cricket square, depending on the size of the square.
“We will re-seed all of the rugby pitches with the Variseeder in spring after they come out of use and it will be done as the last job we do before putting the Powaspred on for the cricket squares.”
Boasting infinitely variable spreading rates, accurate placement and an oscillating base plate to prevent bridging, the SISIS Powaspred is a unique top dresser which spreads a wide range of materials at the desired rate with an even and consistent spread.
“The Powaspred is easily manoeuvrable,” says Glenn. “It’s nice and light so we can use it no matter how wet it is and it does not mark the pitches with its weight ratio. You can get rid of a good three-quarters of a tonne in one go and it’s easy for one person to do on their own.
“We top dress the cricket wickets with it and some fine aggregate sand on the rugby pitches which is done to break the ground. It just makes the surfaces more playable and much easier to put the divots back.
“Overall I would highly recommend all of our SISIS equipment because you know that it’s not going to let you down. Anybody can use them - they’re good quality machines but not too technical. A lot of the machinery you get today takes forever to set up but with SISIS machines you can get started straight away.”
