2023 NZC Hort Services (Sports Turf) L4

4.4 RTZ Sports Turf Rootzones 2023

Sports Turf Rootzones provides a comprehensive understanding of how different physical factors interact within a turf rootzone, and how these can be modified to ensure ideal sports turf growth.

This course builds on your understandings of soils, and water movement, from the Level 3 programme, and introduces options to improve drainage and to combat wear.

It also introduces you to some hybrid and synthetic turf products used in New Zealand, their advantages and disadvantages, and their basic maintenance requirements.

4.5 SUR Sports Surfaces Management 2023

Sports Surfaces Management focuses on developing a deeper understanding of surface performance needs, and how a surface can be altered to meet these needs, not only for the sporting code you're familiar with, but for other codes across the wider sports turf industry, making your skills transferable.

This course builds on the basic knowledge of different turf plants from the Level 3 Botany of Turf Plants course, and introduces examples of different surface media.

4.3 SUR Manage Sports Surfaces (new catchup version)

Surfaces focuses on surface performance: how the players and the ball interact with the sports surface in the context of each different sport.
Managing sports turf to deliver the best surface performance involves knowing the specific playing quality requirements for the sport; knowing the performance standards of that sport and measuring the relevant aspects of surface performance; and carrying out the turf management tasks that will improve or maintain the standard of surface performance.
This course looks in depth at the turf management needed for a range of sports on natural turf, and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of artificial sports surfaces and their maintenance requirements.

4.7 IRD Principles of Irrigation Design 2023

Designing irrigation systems for turf is a highly-specialised skillset requiring extensive knowledge over a range of factors including water dynamics, hydraulic engineering, and soil types, which is well beyond the content of this course.

As such, this course focuses on the general principles and factors to be aware of when it comes to the design and layout of sports turf irrigation systems. It provides the knowledge needed to understand the general requirements for a specific sports turf site, how irrigation system layouts can meet the requirements of a specific design to suit a site, and the installation procedures for an irrigation system.

This course builds on the knowledge of the components and operation of irrigation systems developed in the Level 3 programme.

4.8 CON Control Sports Turf Pest Weeds and Diseases 2023

Control Pests, Weeds and Diseases provides an understanding of the types of agrichemicals used for sports turf PWD control and how they work, including issues such as agrichemical astratresistance and agrichemical degradation.

It also covers the planning, implementation and evaluation skills needed to carry out a control programme effectively, with a focus on accurate calibration of a boom sprayer.

The course builds on knowledge of pest, weed and disease control, and agrichemical application skills, developed in the Level 3 programme.

4.9 FER Fertilise Sports Turf 2023

4.10 OPS Manage Sports Turf Operations 2023