Darren Greatbatch is an amenity and invasive weeds expert, currently working for Japanese Knotweed and Environment Controls. He has been pivotal in developing a new system of herbicide application that significantly reduces chemical, water and plastic usage. Greatbatch has spent over 20 years within amenity weed control working mainly for local authorities, landowners, and homeowners, as well as advising commercial businesses on weed control best practice.
He will be speaking on HortWeek's Integrated weed management: realities vs. government goals panel at GroundsFest.
Join us on September 9 in the Landscape Zone in the HortWeek seminar area at GroundsFest at 11am.
This essential event is sponsored by Kersten.
You’re on the Integrated Weed Management panel at Grounds Fest this year – why should visitors come along?
The panel will give industry insight into an important topic, for the sustainable use of pesticides within the amenity sector, and how herbicides such as glyphosate can be integrated into a weed control management plan.
How long have you worked at Environment Controls and what is your role there?
I started at Environment Controls in 2019. My current role is specialist advisory manager. I cover all in-house training for amenity and invasive species, herbicide recommendations and along with a fantastic team assist with the day-to-day planning and running of the amenity weed control covering large municipal contracts throughout the UK.
I am a CSJK qualified surveyor of knotweed and work closely with the teams on developing new treatment techniques for invasive species. I have also provided advisory consultation to large councils to assist with their sustainable weed management strategies.
What kind of clients does the company work with?
The business has a wide range of clients for all aspects of the business, from residential clients to large developers, property management, and large local authorities, with a wide range of contract sizes.
You’ve recently developed a new system of herbicide application – what is its goal and how does it work?
The system we now utilise is low volume application with spray shields to limit any potential drift. The system is proving highly effective and a full analysis of the findings with regards to herbicide and water usage will be collated at the end of the season. Current data has shown on one contract alone a herbicide saving of over 30% on last year and water usage of 70%, as a note we had already reduced herbicide usage by 20% on this contract.
What other methods of vegetation management does Environment Controls work with?
We also use controlled droplet application technology for our amenity contracts and stem injection, leaf wiping, stem filling for our invasive weed species.
