Tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi my name is Alun Stevenson I’m 41 and have been a greenkeeper for 25yrs.
Where do you work?
I’m self employed maintaining bowling greens and lawns in west coast of Scotland.
What do you do when your not working ?
When not working I enjoy watersports in the summer with the kids and snow sports in the winter.
As we all know the weather patterns we are experiencing now are ever changing, like this week here it has been torrential rain all day and forecasted frost tomorrow just crazy.
What is the biggest thing you have learnt ?
I would say the best thing I have learnt so far is you just cant beat nature, we just need to adapt our ways to the current weather patterns.
What is your favourite piece of kit ?
My favourite piece of equipment changes from seasons,during play I would say my farmura f25 sprayer as it’s so versatile from spraying iron for a pre tournament green up to my cocktail of liquids from seaweed to beer and everything in between. Did I just say beer no I’m not drunk,yes I spray the slops from the clubs when pipe cleaning it’s a great way to apply both yeast and carbohydrates to feed the bugs in the soil rather than the grass plant itself.
In the winter my favourite would definitely have to be my old sisis outfield spiker the machines nearly as old as me but definitely best bit of kit for gentle aeration through the winter that I have.
Describe yourself in 3 words?
Stubborn ,practical and honest.
What would you like to change ,about the industry?
Personally what l think needs to change is the players expectation, some of my members expect perfect surfaces every week of the playing season regardless of the weather i.e I don’t have irrigation at a club so during drought I raise height of cut and these guys complain, we have periods of heavy rainfall the green slows up they complain there are a lot of measure out with our control that could lead to added stress levels on top of these criticisms.
What motivates you to get out of bed on the cold and wet days?
What motivates me I would say is striving to better both my knowledge and practical skills on the tools I’m constantly checking online for different ways or more natural ways of dealing with problems that arise on my bowling greens I haven’t sprayed a fungicide on my greens in about 4yrs using simple homemade cocktails to combat issues that may arise.
Alun
Sure you are all aware now but we are changing from nomadgroundsman to turfcareblog ,different name but still the same content and aims.
Have a wonderful New Years evening 💥
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