Bedford School head groundsman George Mills acted quickly when he came into post just over a year ago, with decompacting the heavy clay soil profile his priority.
“The pitches hadn’t been aerated much over recent years,” George explains. “An old machine on site was out of action and on this type of ground, with the usage our pitches get, that just wasn’t sustainable.”
After investing in a Redexim Verti-Drain 2519, the equipment has become one of the most trusted machines in the school’s fleet, he says, used often from October to March to help ease compaction, encourage drainage and support healthier root growth across the school’s extensive grounds.
Speed counts
“The biggest change is how much ground we can cover so quickly – the 2519’s speed would allow us to aerate the entire site in under a week. In practice we’ve plenty of other work going on but that capability makes a huge difference to us.”
The ‘2519’ suits sensitive areas such as sportspitches, tees and greens. Although compact, it offers aeration down to 10 in (25 cm) and can run on lower horsepower tractors.
“We use it on a 66 hp tractor,” George says. “It’s 1.8 m wide and works so efficiently on that size of tractor – no struggle, even going in 9 inches deep with ¾-inch tines. With larger ones, we run at around 3.2 km/h: smaller ones around 2.8 km/h.
Solid and smooth
“That may not sound fast but for us it’s huge – we can start in the morning and have them fully aerated, marked and ready to play on in the afternoon – it’s even helped save fixtures. Solid and smooth to use, the ‘2519’ doesn’t bounced around like you’d expect with some machines. Like going through butter.”
Tine options give George the flexibility to adapt through the season. “We mix tine size and depth to vary results each time. Adjustment’s simple and it’s all easy to manage, helping us move between jobs quickly.”
Fixture pressure is intense, with rugby played six days a week and pitches often hosting prep school and senior matches same day. Aeration is not just part of the routine but the core of everything the grounds team does, George states.