A number of producers have ‘lost’ machinery whilst trying to strip peat from these areas
increase the sand content of the entire blend or, in clearer terms, a 70/30 topdressing may contain as much as 95% sand with the remainder being silt, clay and a small amount of mineral (organic).
Topsoil dressings can improve surface levels and can also improve surface drainage, however, they are not very economical due to their bulk density characteristics.
Reed Sedge Peat is a more consistent organic option, however, this too has some drawbacks. Reed Sedge Peat can only be quarried during dry periods as they are essentially found on boggy ground. A number of producers have indeed ‘lost’ machinery whilst trying to strip peat from these areas. This is also considered to be the non-environmentally friendly option, especially as these areas are natural wetlands and a great source of wildlife habitat.
Sphagnum Moss Peat is a very consistent source of organic, offering the added benefit of also being acidic. Adding only a small percentage (14%) to a blend can reduce a sands ph from 7.5 to around 5.5. In terms of topdressing, ph on its own is insignificant though, as a topdressing will naturally assume the ph of the root zone.
Sphagnum Moss Peat is sterile and is added to sand dominated rootzones to reduce leaching of water and nutrients. This organic has little to offer to a topdressing.
Compost: Traditionally, compost is made up of animal waste, straw etc. and is not typically used on UK amenity areas.
Real Compost, or commonly known in the UK as recycled Green Compost, should only be sourced from approved, certified producers. The standard they should be working to is pas 100/2005.
This type of compost is Soil Society approved and, as well as being the best form of organic amendment in terms
of environmental impact, it also offers a number of major benefits when blended into a good quality sand to produce a topdressing.
Green Compost offers these tried and tested added benefits:-
• Improved soil structure
• Improved water holding in sand soils
• Reduced bulk density. Topdressings are typically 1.45t/m3
. (10000m2 12mm = 174 tonnes)
• Slow release of macro and micro plant nutrients
• Green up and hardening of turf sward
• Increased cation exchange capacity
• Improved wear tolerance • Reduced surface hardness
• Biological disease suppression
• Weed free
In conclusion, yes you should ensure that all topdressings remain consistent in terms of particle size, and this can be achieved by a number of the market leading topdressing and rootzone producers. However, you should consider the other benefits that topdressings can offer with the right organic amendments added.
Throughout my eight years research, both in the USA and subsequently in the UK, I firmly believe that sand combined with Certified Green Compost dressings offer significant real benefits over the others. Our customers report that they are saving on irrigation, fertiliser and fungicide costs since using compost amended dressings over the last seven years.
In essence then, yes it is ok to change topdressing suppliers as long as the particle size range remains consistent and that your new supplier’s products offer added benefits.
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We can send out individual copies of Pitchcare - The Magazine on request for just £5.95 each, this includes p&p. Here is a brief summary of some of the main items in each issue:-
Issue 1 - Preparing Test wickets for the Ashes; Headingley Stadium; St Andrews hosting the Open; Cheltenham croquet Club; Grass seed selection; Leicester racecourse; Soil fundamentals and Soil nutrients; Swansea's new stadium; Warton cricket club.
Issue 2 - Magnificent Madejski stadium; Where’s golf going?; Bowls Autumn renovation; Organising the workshop; Cowdray Park polo club; The potential of overseeding; Oakham School; Returfing Juventus; Wetting agents; Fescue on golf greens; Woodbury Park.
Issue 3 - Funding for Sports clubs; Review of the robot mowers; Leatherjackets; Water management; St Anne’s cricket club; Autumn maitenance of artificial surfaces; Cultivation techniques; Bournemouth’s bowling greens; the Millennium's modular system; Aeration.
Issue 4 - Coventry’s Ricoh Arena; Waste water and golf; Tain golf club; Frozen surfaces; Evapotranspiration explained; Reaseheath College; Carne Links golf course; Calculating the distribution uniformity of irrigated areas; Forest Green Rovers; Grass seed mixtures for golf courses.
Issue 6 - Which tractor report; Fast greens; Drought; Loams testing at Tonbridge; Jersey maintenance; Golf in the Hebrides; Municipal maestros at Heaton Park; Wellington College; Merits of deep aeration; Sunderland’s Stadium of Light; Monitoring the health of your turf.
Issue 7 - Water hazard; Balmer Army; Cutting the Cloth; Women in Turfcare; The Full Motty; Noise; Bath in Bloom; Sustainable golf at Delamere Forest; Man City Take That!; Drought v Turf; Fundraising; Sheriff of Nottingham; Passing an Environmental MOT; Third Generation Artificial Football Surfaces.
Issue 9 - Student Life; Not all Plane Sailing at BA Concorde Club; Controlling Light Pollution; Penwortham GC; Invasive Species; Gay Hill GC; Seaweed; Notts County FC; Robinson’s Crusade; From Dell Boy to Saint; Blackburn Rovers FC: How to kill worms; Bath Time; Bromsgrove Rovers FC
Issue 10 - Mead the new boy; When the heat is on; The Future is Green; A load of rubbish; Conkers under threat; Preparing for the Poms; Aintree to York; What makes good topsoil?; Do you need an agronomist?; Sustainable Golf; A secret of success; Wilde about recycling; Big Boys!
Issue 11 - Staying in Toon at Newcastle United; Augusta Syndrome: Roll On; Beneath the Surface; Spring Renovations; Sudden Oak Death; Tree Selection on Golf Courses; Agua Issues; Timing Matters in Turf Culture; Keeping within the Boundary; Drought and Summer Stress
Issue 12 - In the Grove, Creating future classics; The Perfect CV for a Groundsman; Bard Day at the Office; Manana Menorca; Meet the Ellesmerian; Talking Rot; In a Festive Mood; What a State to get into!; Bad Press; What’s your problem? Slit Drainage; Yorkshire CCC Academy
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