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| Home » News » GWAZAE brings business in drought |
| GWAZAE brings business in drought |
By Richard Rennie
No one in Australia wants or welcomes the drought and its effect on farmland, parks and daily living.
For Matt Cornford of Kyneton, Victoria, the purchase of a Gwazae Ground Probe Aerator means he has gained something positive from the drought’s ongoing impact in his region.
Matt decided to purchase a Gwazae single probe machine 15 months ago after seeing a twin probe on display at a trade show. His business involves extensive grounds care for football clubs, golf courses and local bodies.
Matt was looking for an on-going, longer lasting method for vertical aeration and drainage to offer his clients. Fields and courses were often under high usage and stress- stress that was only increasing as the long dry spell continued.
His previous experience with verti-draining had revealed its inability to penetrate very far below the soil surface, limited to only around 15cm (6-7 inches).
“The ability to get in further was limited by the pressure on the tines and obviously as the ground hardens up, the ability to penetrate is reduced,” says Matt.
He finds the Gwazae will easily penetrate over twice that depth. The placement of high pressure compressed air directly below the soil surface means the break up of any compaction is direct and well placed, well within the soil profile.
With the on going dry conditions, Matt has found the Gwazae is fulfilling a vital brief his customers are demanding. That is to ensure the water being applied to grounds and trees is being taken up as much as possible, rather than being lost to evaporation or poor percolation through the soil.
“There is a need there to break up the surface to get water to the roots. Given most places have water restrictions they need to make the most of what water they get.”
He says his clients appreciate the visible impact of the Gwazae as it injects the highly pressurised air beneath the soil surface.
The effectiveness of the Gwazae was highlighted with a client’s need to ensure more effective watering for a strip of heritage elm trees in Ballarat.
Their irrigation water was literally going down the drain until Matt’s aeration work with the Gwazae ensured better percolation and downward movement. No further run off into the city gutters saw the trees watered more efficiently through the remainder of summer.
Salinity issues can also be dealt with effectively using Gwazae in the dry weather. Putting liquid gypsum into the air blast ensures salt leaches through the soil profile better.
With no summer rain, salt otherwise tends to accumulate on the surface of golf courses in particular, damaging grass and reducing fertility.
Matt sees “limitless” opportunities for using the Gwazae, and ones not limited to turf management.
“Basically anywhere there are compaction issues. We have a lot of tree crops here in Victoria that are affected by the lack of water supply, including blue gum plantations, and the areas affected are huge that could require aeration.”
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