Bolton Wanderers may not be in the Premier League but a front garden at a house in Bolton certainly is!

Pukka Turf has made quite a transformation, with a little help from Johnsons Sports Seed. Pukka Turfs’ Daniel Hibbert has been tending this garden for 14 years and wanted to improve the quality of the surface. “I’d heard that J Premier Pitch was the choice of premier league pitches and, after I tried it out elsewhere, suggested it to the customer,” he said.  “The results have been outstanding, the biggest compliment I get is that people think it’s artificial! We’re all really pleased with the quality finish that we’ve achieved.” 

Derek Smith, Amenity Sales and Marketing Manager talks to Turf TV at BTME 2015 about new mixture formulations within the Johnsons Sports Seed range and the lastest Tetraploid Perennial ryegrasses coming onto the market.

Sustainability is currently a buzzword and the more sustainable the sward the better. A key problem that some greenkeepers face is that Poa Annua cannot be maintained sustainably – it has a high demand for water and fertiliser and is prone to disease and thatching up if not cared for adequately. Therefore to increase sustainability, Greenkeepers can increase the proportion of perennial grasses in the sward. Johnsons Sport Seed parent company, DLF Trifolium wanted to determine the effects of oversowing a Bentgrass/annual meadow-grass sward with different Bentgrass seed mixtures.   Their belief was that putting new seed into an existing turf bed would see that turf taking nutrient away from the new seed.  It followed then that their nutrient coated iSeed would be beneficial during the transition process. 

iSeed^® is a patented seed coating that focuses on improving nutrient utilisation during the early stages of plant growth. Fertiliser is coated onto the seed meaning the germinating and developing seedling receives the benefit, not the surrounding plant. This is particularly important when overseeding into a competitive sward. 

The STRI was selected to carry-out the trial and their ‘Trial Report TP101930’ was completed on behalf of DLF Trifolium in 2012.  It was officially notated as ‘The effect of oversowing bentgrass, with or without seed coating, using the Graden Sand Injectior on seedling germination and establishment in managed amenity turf’.  This trial aimed to determine any difference in seedling germination and establishment among different bentgrasses, with or without seed coating, following oversowing with the Graden Contour Sand Injector (CSI) in golf-green turf with high organic matter content.

Trial plots were to be sown with [1] Unsown, [2] Manor, [3] Jorvic, [4] J All Bentgrass, [5] Ji All Bentgrass seed coated and [6] J Velvet Bentgrass mix.  All plots (50/50 Poa/bent sward with high thatch level) were oversown using the Graden CSI system (remove organic matter, back fill with fresh rootzone and seeds  in one operation) on 3rd July 2012 at approximately 4 g m^-2.  As iSeed is heavier it was expected that around 50% less iSeed was sown in plots compared to uncoated seed plots.  

July was chosen to represent an ideal time to establish new seed and obtain recovery most quickly, but the summer of 2012 was mild and wet.  However, due to this mild, wet weather the seed germinated and in-filled the Graden lines in a few weeks with all bentgrass mixtures germinating equally within 20 days from oversowing.  Therefore, less optimal germination and establishment conditions were required to elucidate the potential differences among the treatments.  By August 2012 the weather conditions were judged to be the best conditions for a second trial.  Primo Maxx (400ml ha-1) was applied on 24th August in preparation for this a second oversowing on 31st August trial, again with the Graden CSI

Establishment within the Graden lines allowed ‘heal-up’ and closing of the lines more quickly in plots oversown with seed coated Ji All Bentgrass - up to 4 weeks earlier compared to non-coated bentgrass seed. This was shown in the subjective Graden line closure assessments and turf quality scores and the objective chlorophyll metre assessments. Therefore, the addition of the seed coating provided extra benefit by decreasing the ‘heal-up’ time post Graden treatment compared to non-seed coated J All Bentgrass.  Acceptable turf quality was achieved one month earlier with the seed coated seed and was visibly better than uncoated Bentgrass for a further 5 months.  By the end of the trial period all plots showed a similar level of content but confirmed that the iSeed parachuted the new seed into growth much earlier due to its own nutrient.

Throughout the trial, J Velvet Bentgrass did not provide any extra benefit in terms of closure of Graden lines compared to other seed mixes. But at the end of the trial this mixture had significantly higher content of Bentgrass in the sward. In part due to the more invasive habit of this type compared to the other bentgrasses in the trial.

The conclusion of this bent grass research was that the establishment of the bents with the iSeed coating was up to month quicker than non-coated seed and would help to bring areas of play back much more quickly.  It was also the opinion of the STRI that based on the results it would be reasonable to assume that a combination of the J Velvet blend and the iSeed coating would improve species transition significantly.  DLF plans further trial work to investigate 

Note: The area chosen for this trial had a very high level of organic matter present, as this if often where oversowing with bentgrass seed is most challenging. Previous research has shown that multiple oversowing operations are required at the same time as organic matter removal before beneficial effects in sward species composition change is observed. Therefore, it is unsurprising that two oversowing operations did not provide a significant change in this trial.

The Manchester United groundscare team has won the IOG Campey/Imants Professional Football Grounds Team of the Year Award – and the club’s grounds manager, Tony Sinclair, was awarded the Alex R Millar DLF/Johnsons & Ransomes Groundsman of the Year Award - at the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) Industry Awards, held in partnership with the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA).

In a prestigious ceremony at Milton Keynes’ stadiummk hosted by talkSPORT Radio presenter Mark Saggers, the team award was presented by Campey Turf Care managing director Richard Campey, while Tony Sinclair collected his accolade from DLF amenity sales and marketing manager Derek Smith and Ransomes Jacobsen sales director Rupert Price in front of an audience of more than 400 of the UK’s and Europe’s leading groundscare experts, as well as dignitaries from the governing bodies of sport and influential sports administrators.

The Red Devils’ 30-strong groundscare team expertly looks after four sites covering 20 hectares in total – Old Trafford stadium and the AON training complex, as well as two additional training grounds that are used by the club’s academy teams, the Salford league and the local community.

The team, says grounds manager Tony Sinclair, has desire and determination in abundance, and they adopt the latest and best pitch maintenance methods – underpinned by the appropriate training – to, he says, “produce the best pitches possible”.

Manchester United contested the team award with Burnley FC, while Tony Sinclair was shortlisted for the individual award with groundsmen from the categories involving professional grounds teams.

The prestigious UK-wide IOG Award scheme highlights the high standards of volunteer and professional grounds professionals and facilities, from grass roots to professional stadia level. Embracing categories of entry covering sport, young people and the environment, the awards are judged by an independent panel on criteria that include effective use of resources, budgetary control, presentation and housekeeping standards, as well as environmental considerations.

Commenting on the high standard of award winners, IOG chief executive Geoff Webb, says: “This year’s winners demonstrate the high standards of groundsmanship within the UK.  To win the award against such stiff competition is testament to the skill and dedication of the teams and individuals who - week in, week out in all weathers - make such a vital contribution to sport.” 

“The trick to success is to know your ground, and know what it needs,” says Clive Liddiard, Head Groundsman at Hampton School.  Clive, or ‘The Scientist’ as he’s nicknamed, has been at the school for 12 years and looks after seven football pitches, four rugby pitches & six cricket pitches.  Sport is very high on the agenda at Hampton School.

His first job was as a 15 year old sweeping bunkers and assisting the team on a golf course. To him, Golf had always been quite ahead of the field when it came to surface maintenance.  So it was no surprise that when he made the switch to sportsgrounds he brought a lot of different skills and techniques with him that he believes really hadn’t been used often in Groundsmanship, - an MSc in sports surface technology and a number of other qualifications including HND, NDT and City & Guilds has helped!

Clive has a team of seven groundsman, who also work on all the gardens, site clearance etc. 

A Johnsons Sports Seed customer, Hampton School traditionally used to overseed in the spring and again in the autumn, of which only about 50% would take.  Knowing that different kinds of seed grew at different temperatures and in different conditions, Clive decided to change the overseeding regime so that they sowed the right type of seed at the right time of year to get optimum germination with minimum waste.

Clive was then able to work with Bob Scott at DLF/Johnsons Sports Seed to come up with what he required for the different times of the year, getting the right type of grass for his requirements and getting them to germinate and deliver good results. By planning ahead the seed sown in the spring is now in optimum condition in June/July so when he re-opens the grounds in September the grass is strong and offers better playing surfaces.

Clive also consults the STRI list, but he believes Groundsman should consider this book to be just a guide not a bible on how things should and shouldn’t be done.  He says for him it doesn’t matter where a mixture is on the table, he looks for what cultivars he needs for his ground – the use of science should come into play.  This forward thinking, and analytical approach to species and when to sow them, has managed Clive to select his mixtures to suit what he needs.  He would encourage other Groundsman to adopt the same approach. 

His pitches are 99.5% weed-free as weeds only grow where they have got room to grow.  Clive’s’ approach, and Johnsons Sports seed mixtures, create such a dense sward that there’s no room for weeds to grow. Grass will always outgrow the weed and his method of overseeding also means there is seed in the soil at near enough all times growing or ready to grow so as to create nowhere for the weeds to go. You just have to keep the bank of seed topped up.

They are currently sowing a ryegrass mix, blend (PM81) which germinates better in the warmer, early autumn temperatures. The weather in September 2014 was ideal for ryes, with night temperatures holding and still plenty of light around meaning Clive stood a really good chance with the PM81.  He anticipates from the latest work they will get 90% germination rates. This has been applied on all surfaces except cricket. Clive will also shortly be taking delivery of J Rescue from Johnsons which he will then sow as part of his winter overseeding programme. J Rescue contains Double 4Turf tetraploid perennial ryegrass to increase disease resistance, offer high wear tolerance and fast establishment under low soil temperatures.