ICL helps Rhinos’ busiest year

“The response, quality, longevity, and variety of ICL products has allowed us to push our usage and quality of surface, as well as allowing us flexibility in the types of events that we can host.”

Ryan loosely follows an ICL integrated turf management programme but due to the unique situation at Headingley, he takes a somewhat relative approach as to when he applies products.

He pin-pointed three ICL products which have made a significant impact:

“ProTurf 15-5-15 (a controlled release fertiliser) always provides us with a good base. The longevity we get from the feed, and the colour and the response are first-class.

“That’s where the Sportsmaster NK 12.0.9+Fe (a phosphate free compound fertiliser) comes in. It’s an old-school product, which I like, and the response we get from it is rapid. The colour it provides is fantastic and it is an ideal product for match preparation or recovery. How often we apply it really depends on the pitch, but I like to think of it as giving an athlete who is very tired a can of Red Bull.

“We’ve also used H2Pro TriSmart wetting agent,” continued Ryan. “We’ve seen great results from it retaining the moisture and it has had a good effect on our root depth.”

Ryan was also keen to emphasise the vital importance of excellent customer service.

“Communication from them has always been fantastic, throughout the whole organisation - whether it is the man on the ground like Craig Lalley who comes in and sees me, through to Ed Carter, Andy Owen, or Henry Bechelet – it is all of them that go above and beyond.” n www.icl-sf.co.uk